To say that Days of the New's history was tulmultous would be an understatement.
The band's origins dated back to 1995.
Frontman Travis Meeks would growing up in Charlestown, Indiana which was separated from
his future home Louisville, Kentucky by the Ohio River.
Meeks had musician father, named Gary , who recorded with The Box Tops, which was fronted
by Alex Chilton.Gary would bond with his son Travis over their mutual love of Led Zeppelin
and Pink Floyd.
But, despite their shared love of music, Travis had a very unstable upbringing, that likely
contributed to his volatile behavior To distract himself from external events in his life,
Travis would find comfort in music.
His father Gary would recall to leoweekly “I had a little recording setup at home.
When he would get all whacked out, he’d get in his room and record these songs acoustic,”.
“I was just blown away by it.
That’s when he went ahead and said he would take the bull by the horns, doing the acoustical
stuff.”“Travis was a real introvert.
I always knew he was,” he said.
“The music was kind of his saving grace.
It was his therapy and his way of communicating.”
You can’t really understand Travis Meeks without first knowing the story of his father
Gary.
His father wasn’t a great role model in fact the younger Travis later life mirrored
that of his dad.
His father at the age of 13 would start playing guitar professionaloly and it would be a Lousville
Kentucky DJ who worked at WAKY who took notice of Gary.
The DJ knew people in Memphis who worked in the music industry and opened doors for Gary
to start working in studio at the young age of 16.
By the middle of the 70’s Gary’s manager was urging the young musician to relocate
to Nashville and try a stab at being a country artist.
He would recall to leoweekly.com “At that time, in 1974, all the Memphis
guys moved to Nashville, and it ultimately led to the Nashville sound,”“I wanted
to rock ’n’ roll, and wasn’t much interested in Nashville at the time.
The Memphis thing was more rock and blues" he'd say.
By 19 Gary was working as a touring musician, but he also took a liking to alcohol.
He would recall to the same publication “I’d hear all the stories about Elvis.
I’d see him and think, ‘He’s the king, and he don’t seem like he’s having too
much fun,’” “You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist.
It’s so hard in the business because everybody wants to stroke you.
It gets pretty sick" he'd say.
He would end up marrying a women who gave birth to tTavis, but the couple split up by
the time their son was just 2.
Gary would disappear for several years and wouldn’t reemerge in his son's life until
he was 6 and was finally sober.
It was at that age thatTravis started living with his father .Travis for his part struggled
in school due to his psychotic episodes and it wasn’t until he was an adult that he
would be diagnosed with aspergers a milder form of autism.
Travis soon became entrenched in drugs at a young age & would be in and out of treatment
centers between the age of 11 and 15.
Gary would transfer him to special schools, but it little to alleviate his problems, but
despite all this, Travis still had his music.
. In the mid 90’s Travis would meet, drummer
Matt Taul. and basist Jesse Vest who would share a mutual love of bands like Metallica
and Pantera.
Prior to adding guitarist Todd Whitener the band was a trio who originally played experimental
rock and groove metal calling themselves Dead Reckoning.
Meeks would tell billboard the original sound was and i quote “kind of like Metallica’s
“...And Justice for All” an aggressive feel but not that nasty.
The band would soon move to Louisville, Kentucky play clubs in the area and change their sound
to more acoustic instruments and add guitarist Todd Whitener.
Meeks vocal style would see comparisons to both Alice in Chains frontman layne staley
and the doors jim morrison.
The band also underwent a name change around this time to Days of the New.Travis for his
part had written Days of the News first album all by himself with the frontman admitting
to Billboard magazine that his bandmates were little surprised at the proposal to change
the group's sound saying “Bringing the band together, Days of the New, was one of the
most difficult things.
Because we’re talking … the music was already written, the guitar player didn’t
know how to play acoustic guitar.
I had to teach the drummer how to lay back and understand that the acoustic guitar was
(the main) instrument,” “To make that first album happen, I had to pull my hair
out to make these guys focus.
I spent all my time trying to get these guys to focus.”
Days of the New would win a Battle of the Bands competition IN Lousville which brought
them to the attention of R.E.M. and Nirvana producer Scott Litt who signed the band.
Days of the New was the first band Litt would sign on his label Outpost Recordings, which
was distributed by Geffen Records.Litt also produced their debut album which was released
in 1997.
Their first album also know as yellow spawned three huge singles including touch, peel and
stand, the downtown and shelf in the room.
The album would go on to sell over 1.5 million copies.
Keep in the mind these guys were barely out of high school when they got their first taste
of success.
During the promotional cycle for their first album, frontman Travis Meeks was hinting at
where the band could go next telling mtv at the time "If you listen to the (current) album,
there's a world flavor to it, an ethnic feel.
There'll be a lot of that on the new record, too.
And female vocals will match that.
There'll be more Spanish influences on the guitar, and we're going to have a Celtic
feel present, also."
“”
The band’s success brought about a lot of internal problems.
During the tour to support their debut record, MTV was starting to report that following
a cancelled show in Florida, the band members appeared physically injured with some of them
sporting black eyes and bruises after an apparent brawl with each other.
Some critics weren’t fans of the group pointing to their youth writing them off the group
as a hard-rock version of bubblegum stars like Hanson, or America's answer to Australian
grunge band Silverchair.
Side note guys i’ve done a few videos on silverchair.
The links are down below.
Meeks would respond to critics telling MTV at the time All I know is that I've had a
pretty fd-up life," "But I back it up with music, with the words
and emotions I express in the songwriting.
We're not trying to market my problems, we're not trying to
sell a ton of records with it.
We're just being ourselves, and if critics are
trying to dismiss that, well ... critics will be critics.
I've met a lot of people on tour who understand what I'm getting
at.
And that's comfortable" he'd say.
It was during the promotion cycle for the band’s first album the record label and
his bandmates would see just how unpredictable and volatile Travis meeks behavior could be.
In the summer of 98 Days of the New got a strange opening slot touring with both Metallica
and Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell.
Given that the band's sound was drastically different from Metallica, frontman Travis
Meeks would criticize the billing, claiming the band should have been touring with Dave
Matthews.
Ahead of the tour with Metallica, Meeks would also out against his bandmates claiming they
were holding him back and claimed he would be firing them from the group.
Label executives would scramble to brush off Meeks claims in the press, but by the end
of 1998 the original lineup of the band was done.
Following the dissolution of the original lineup of the group, Meeks posted a rambling
message on a fan board where he apologized for and i quote "giving people the impression
that Days of the New was a band " and "promoting it as a band format." going on to say
"It wasn't truly a band format," types Meeks.
"É it is my fault for leading you on and setting you up to get attached to the prior
members."
Meeks would claim that his bandmates left over being jealous of him because he wrote
most of their songs and collected a bulk of their publishing money.
It has been rumored for a long time that Meeks fired the other band members, a claim he denied.
Rolling Stone would publish an article on february 6, 1999 confirming the band’s break
up.quoting the group’s manager who cited“artistic differences,” for the split..citing Meeks
desire to change the band’s sound ofr their second record.
Rolling Stone would write at the time “ That material — injected with lush
orchestration, Middle Eastern instrumentation and experimental
vocals — did not mesh with the band’s Metallica-esque
Sensibilities, In the same article the band’s manager was quoted as saying
“When you hear the new music you will understand why these guys had to split … it doesn’t
rock towards that metal influence.
It’s more symphonic and those guys didn’t want
to be limited by that,” “Those three will be fine … they are in
the studio doing their own thing and looking for a singer now.”
Meeks for his part would keep the days of the new band name while the group's ex members
would go on to form the band C14 before renaming themselves Tantric.
Meeks former bandmates had some success with their own endeavor with Tantric's debut record
went platinum, but following their brief success they saw a further decline in record sales
with each subsequent release.
By the late 90's meeks would spend time at his distillery commons studio in Louisville,
Kentucky.
By late 1998 he would already assemble close to 30 songs which formed the basis of Days
of the New 2nd album also known as the green album or days of the new 2.
While the band's debut album was known for being fairly stripped down and acoustic, their
sophomore record was much more bombastic, featuring a choir, orchesteral arrangements,
female vocals and even electronic percussion and a young female singer named Nicole Scherzinger
who paused her studies at Wright State University to work with Meeks .The frontman claimed he
wanted a female singer on the record to as he put it to “deliver some world operatic
textures and sounds” and she would perform on six of the album's songs and would even
tour with the group.
Meeks wold claim that the 2 had a fling despite the fact that she had a boyfriend.
And following the band's tour to support Green Scherzinger and Meeks would grow apart with
the frontman claiming she didn't seem to understand music very well.
In 1998 Travis would tell Billboard Magazine what he hoped to accomplish with the group’s
second album revealing “I wanted it to be deeper, have richer texture.
The album is closer to my creative vision, bigger better sounds in arrangements where
all kinds of ideas can converge whether it be orchestral bits or rhythm sampels”
He would go on to say “the songs are intentionally more direct and confrontational.
I want to shake people up.
I want them to walk away from this record thinking long and hard, that’s what she
said, not so much about the music, but about their lives.
It was during this tour that meeks dealt with a kidney stone and soon became addicted to
pain medication and moved onto other drugs.
Despite being well received by critics and fans the album didn't meet commercial expectations
selling around 450,000 copies which was significantly less than their debut album.
As meeks turned his attention to recording days of the group's third album there was
a major shakeup at the label.
Geffen records would be acquired by interscope who dissolved outpost records the label that
the band was signed to, Jordan Schur, who was responsible for helping limp bizkit become
popular was assigned to work with days of the new.
Rick Smith Meeks manager would tell leo weekly No one at Interscope had any feel for Travis,”
“It was a situation where nobody understood.
They wanted a single from him.
The band would sink half a million dollars to record their third album only to have Schur
force the band to re-record the material.
Days of the New would release Red also known as days of the new 3 two weeks after 9/11
and it sputtered out only selling 80,000 copies.
It was around this time that Rick Rubin took notice of the band and wanted to sign the
group to his def jam recordings label, but interscope didn’t want to let the band out
of their contract.
By 2002 it was reported that Meeks was considered by the former members of GUns N’ Roses to
front their new project Velvet REvolver.
But that fell through and they would end up going with scott weiland of stone temple pilots.
Side note i’ve done a whole video on velvet revolver's career, the link is down below..
In 2005 Meeks appeared on the A&E program Intervention that chronicled his struggle
with addiction and it was around this time he started to write Days of the New's 4th
album tentatively titled Purple, but it would never see the light of day and it was around
this time he was diagnosed as having aspergers syndrome.
Meeks would tell leoweekly I did not have the tools to stand up … with Asperger’s,
and I had no one to back me up,” he said.
“People kissed my ass all the time.
They enabled me.
I got my ass kissed so much that it just cornered me.
I would complain because people would kiss my ass.
I couldn’t stand it" he'd say.
Interscope meanwhile released a best of compilation in 2008 and it was also around this time that
Meeks gave an interview to a Louisville, Kentucky publication giving an update on the band's
upcoming record claiming the album would have a very theatrical sound incorporating instruments
such as the cello and the harp Several of the songs planned for the record would in
fact be performed live including where it ends, superhero and nothing is wrong.
Meeks would be in the news in 2011 when former Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr was found
dead in his home.
Starr had been staying with Meeks and was found unresponsive in his bedroom and the
cause of death was ruled an overdose.
By the way guys i’ve done a whole video on the life and death of mike starr of alice
in chains.
The link is down below!
Meeks would re-emerge in 2014 when it was announced that he reuniting with the original
lineup of days of the newto do a summer tour and record a new EP that fall.
It was a reason to celebrate for longtime fans, but the only problem was that the reunion
tour would end in shambles.
At a reunion show in Missouri, the band abruptly ended their set due to Meeks being too inebriated
to play.
according to reports, the band's bassist Jesse Vest abruptly grabbed the microphone and told
the crowd this was the band's final show of the tour.Meeks' bandmates released several
statements to fans claiming there are many things to address here and they don't want
to keep feeding the negativity.
saying We do want to let it be clear that Travis was in no way pressured into this reunion,
in fact it was very much the other way around.
Travis literally begged us to do this reunion tour on the phone, in text and in person and
he had burned so many bridges in his career that no one would hire him to do a show anymore
for the fear that he would not show up.
Now he knew that the original lineup would lend credibility to the project and it would
help him rebuild his career they'd say in a statement
In the years that followed meeks disappeared from the public spotlight with news of a few
arrests and a single performance in 2018 in Madison, Indiana making the rounds..
Those close to him claim he was back living in Utah.
Just last year it came out in August of 2020 that meeks was arrested for being drunk in
public in arizona.
Earlier this year reports surfaced of unreleased material or possibly older bootleg material
showing up on streaming platforms including spotify without any promotion with some debating
whether it’s part of the band’s long awaited 4th album.
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching be sure to hit the like button
and subscribe and we'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories.