WRITING TO TEACH YOU
Frontman Fran says seeing impact of toxic sites led him to set his sights on influencers for his latest track and reckons its time for teenagers to take a break from phones for the good of their health
TRAVIS singer Fran Healy has revealed how the harmful impact of social media on teenagers compelled him to write a song for his band’s new album.
The frontman of the Glasgow rockers, who has a teenage son, has penned the new tune for upcoming album, LA Times, released later this month.
I Hope That You Spontaneously Combust includes the lyrics “such a shame that your brain is the size of a grain, I hope that you spontaneously combust and give us all some peace at last’’.
Los Angeles-based Fran, originally from Possilpark in Glasgow, wrote it in response to the negative effects of social media and influencers on tech-addicted society.
He said: “It’s a song about influencers. Some people say social media is the modern town square, but I think that is absolute nonsense.
“In what town square would you go up to someone and be horrible right to their face? That’s what happens on these apps.
“The internet gives the idea that it’s social, but it’s actually the opposite. It’s causing a lot of weird fractures in everyday life, and some really bad behaviour.
“It’s enough to make it feel like a toxic environment. You can call me old fashioned if you like but I think that bad behaviour is spilling over into the street.”
Fran, whose hits include Why Does It Always Rain on Me, Driftwood and Writing to Reach You, pointed to recent comments by America’s leading public health official, who has called for cigarette-style warnings on social media apps like X, formerly Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy suggested last week that social media increases the risk of anxiety and depression among kids. Murthy now wants users to be shown a message stating that sites are “associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents”. Fran said: “It’s all having a terrible effect on the mental health of our kids. They’re considering banning phones in schools in LA and now the surgeon general is calling for warnings on apps. “They’re realising these innocent little apps created by your Mark Zuckerbergs and the rest are damaging the mental health of our kids. So the song is a response to all those people out there being nasty.” And the singer took a thinly
The internet.. is causing weird fractures in everyday life and bad behaviour FRAN HEALY ON HIS SOCIAL MEDIA CONCERNS
veiled swipe at one of America’s most prominent social media users, saying: “It’s especially aimed at a certain person, who is the ringleader in America, a man who I won’t name.” Ahead of the new album’s launch, Fran and his bandmates Neil Primrose, Andy Dunlop and Dougie Payne returned to Glasgow last week on their tour with The Killers, playing three nights with the Las Vegas rockers at Glasgow’s Hydro. Killers frontman Brandon Flowers joined Fran for an emotional cover verson of Aztec Camera hit Somewhere In My Heart on Thursday. Fran said: “I saw a quote from Antony Bourdain recently about Glasgow being the antidote to the rest of the world and I thought that nailed it. I miss the place. LA has none of its craic. If LA was a person you met at a party, they’d bore the face off you. “There’s a bit of that Glasgow cheek on some of the songs on this album. A song like Gaslight (their recent single) is that side of my personality that people who know me off stage will recognise. I’m dead cheeky, but in a Glaswegian way.” It’s 27 years since the release of the band’s first album Good Feeling, and 25 since the success of LP The Man Who, which will be celebrated by a BBC Radio Scotland documentary.
Fran and the band will launch the new album with a gig in Fat Sam’s in Dundee on July 14, before they return to Glasgow for a Christmas gig in December, as a part of their Raze The Bar world tour, supported by Edinburgh singer-songwriter Hamish Hawke.
Fran said: “We are in great shape as a band and are playing better than ever.”
Speaking about his new bright red hairdo, Fran said it’s about attracting attention to the new album.
“I’ve never had so much attention in my life. And it’s about making people smile. We shouldn’t take things too seriously. We might not be here tomorrow.” ●Travis’s new album LA Times is out on July 12. The documentary Travis: The Man Who at 20 is on BBC Radio Scotland on July 16.