Greetings and salutations my excitable friends! Welcome back for the new edition of the 311 fan spotlight. This week we learn all about Mr. Brett Travis!
The year – 1994. The place – a hibachi steak house. Brett was working there at the time and prior to one of his shifts, he was hanging out at his coworker/friends apartment “getting right” as he called it. The friend put on the album Grassroots for Brett to listen to. “I was instantly drawn to the dual vocalists, the slap bass, and the psychedelic feel of that album.” Not long after his introduction to 311, another friend at work heard Brett talking about the band and let him borrow his bootleg copy of Music. Then shortly after that the Blue album was released and 311 played at the Electric Ballroom in Knoxville. From then on, Brett was hooked.
The “secret show” at the Hive Bar in Omaha was number 129 for Brett. He’s seen them in 32 different states. His favorite individual show was number 100 in Chicago in 2014. “Nick dedicated “Borders” to me. What an unbelievable honor and they slayed that track. I was over the moon.” Then favorite event so far has been cruise number 2. “So much going on, so many good people, so man good shows. And 311 on the beach!”
“All Mixed Up” is the song that means the most to Brett, since it’s sort of become he and his wife Suzanne’s song since they started traveling to shows together. Some of his favorite lyrics are: “We spend our lives learning, if you like learning, life is large. It could never be only the ups, the downs will always come around” and “And if you don’t know I say check the show, do what you got to on the dance floor.”
Knoxville, Tennessee is where Brett was born and raised. Both of his parents were teachers and he has one younger sister named Paige. He and his family traveled a lot while he was growing up. “My parents took advantage of the summer breaks from teaching school, and we made the most of those opportunities to see the country. My parents are big baseball fans, so lots of our travels included visiting major league ballparks to see games. We made many trips to Florida for spring training games. My mom is a civil war buff, and I can’t tell you how many civil war battlefields we toured. But it wasn’t all history museums and educational stuff! We went to theme parks and beaches and did fun stuff, too. Looking back, it’s amazing all the stuff we got to do on two public school teacher salaries.”
College wasn’t something Brett took very seriously so he didn’t last long after he started. After spending a couple of years working in food service he landed a job at a local magazine publisher where he learned a great deal about desktop publishing, the printing business, and troubleshooting personal computers.
Brett met his wife Suzanne at a University of Tennessee football tailgate back in the fall of 1998. They then had their first date attending a UT/Arkansas game and announced their engagement to their family on New Years Eve the following December. While Suzanne attended UT Pharmacy they lived in Memphis and he worked at a label manufacturing company plant. They then spent a year in Murfreesboro before moving back to Knoxville in 2004. Suzanne’s job then required them to move to Indianapolis in 2013 and they still reside there. “We miss the mountains, but are enjoying life in Indy.”
Back in 1997, Brett was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, which is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes your colon to become enflamed because it thinks it’s supposed to be fighting some sort of attack against the body. For sixteen years he battled the disease with medications to keep the inflammation under control. He was on Prednisone which is a great drug for the treatment but did damage to his muscles and bone structure, something he’ll be dealing with the rest of his life. Finally his doctors decided to remove his colon and he had the procedure done in 2013. It took two surgeries and he is doing well now after the second. “ I have what’s called a J-pouch, which means I don’t have an appliance, and I get to make poops like a real boy! My fingers are crossed that the J-pouch gives me years of good service. My wife and family and friends have been super loving and supportive throughout the whole ordeal, and I’d be nowhere without them.”
Some things that make Brett unique are he’s great at video editing, which he credits the bug for that to his pops, who was a semi-pro videographer. “I’ve really enjoyed putting together videos from our travels. Several of the videos are from our 311 trips.” Many of you may know that Brett also makes these awesome souvenirs to give away at various 311 events. “If you’ve gotten one, I hope you enjoy seeing it occasionally and remembering the fun time you had at that show.” If you want to see the souvenirs or videos you can check them out at http://btravis311.wix.com/weakcookies. His guilty pleasure though is Farm Story 2 for iPhone. “I’m 10,000 coins away from being able to expand to Jeb’s Old Water Garden!!!”
Aside from 311, Brett has a few other favorite bands. The list includes Mastodon, Queens of the Stone Age, Faith No More, Tool, and Beastie Boys.
Brett did something original with my question about what one sentence you would say to the guys if you could – he rephrased my question to read, “If you could present a manifesto (or merely a spoiled superfan rant!) to the band, what would you say?” His answer was so well written, I couldn’t resist letting the one sentence rule slide! Here is his manifesto to 311:
“Dearest 311 Dudes,
Remember that awesome 311 Day show in Memphis in 2006? Yep, me too. I was there, going bananas with my friends. You were there, playing all the super sick jammy jams. I also remember that HDNET was there, filming the whole thing in HD. Wasn’t that cool? I’m sure we can agree that it was. Let’s also agree that, while it was a really special thing that HDNET created a 2-hour special from that footage, and presented it in spectacular high-def with great sound, it was kind of bummer that they didn’t show the WHOLE thing. They FILMED the whole thing, right? I’m sure that most everyone would say that what makes a 311 Day so special is the experience as a whole, not just selections from the show. But still, that special they broadcast WAS awesome, and we loved it and cherished it and saved it on the DVR for years until we had to surrender the DVR to DirecTV. Now I, like a lot of fans, just figured, “OK, so they didn’t show the whole thing. That footage will see the light of day sometime. It will be a great day when THAT happens, so I’ll just be patient.” Yet, here we are. It’s 2015, and we still don’t have access to that gem. At this point, I figure it’s never going to see the light of day as a consumer product. Heck, I’d just be somewhat sated if I were told just what exactly has become of it. I mean, is it lost? Tied up in a legal quagmire? Is it sitting in Mark Cuban’s basement? Did Katie Daryl trade it for a Snickers bar and a Diet Coke? Please just tell me where it is and why I can’t throw all of my money at you to get my greedy little paws on it. Please and thanks so much, and keep up the great work.
Respectfully in lifelong adoration and friendship,
Brett”
Now that you’ve read the manifesto, he’s got a personal message to all the awesome people in the 311 community:
“Thanks to all the friendly faces and charming fans we’ve met along the way. You guys are a huge reason that we continue to travel and stay involved with this community. See you at the shows!”
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There you have the story of Brett Travis my friend! A great read in my opinion and I hope you all enjoyed learning more about him. Thank you, as always, for your continued support of my project, introducing you to more and more fans each week! Keep on being awesome and spreading that positivity.
Much love – The Runt