Travis T. Merle is an accomplished solo country musician, sometimes augmenting his sound with the virtuoso playing of his idiot savant Brother George W. Merle, sometimes touring with a full band ... this though is dependant on family feuds, who is out on parole and not in rehab. It is a difficult act to describe and rather than try to put it into words we would direct you to his website www.myspace.com/travistmerle Travis has just added his song 'Freddie Can Kiss His Own Helmet' to this site as a free download. Down the years he has covered some truly weird song themes such as bestiality in the wild west; gay orgies in S&M clubs with Eminem (involving a date-rape drug and resulting in the latter's homophobia); and of course The Ballad Of Randy And Annie, a song about sex and disability, prostitution, spiritual healing, violent death and eternal life. 'Freddie Can Kiss His Own Helmet' plumbs new depths though. It resulted from Travis being introduced to the game of cricket by a London cab driver who was listening to a match being broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in his taxi. As a result Travis is intending to satisfy his curiosity by checking out a match in the forthcoming England v Australia World Series whilst down in the Antipodes for the Adelaide Festival ... now that he understands that the Cabbie's offer to 'take him up the Oval for the final test' didn't mean what Travis took it to when he jumped out of the cab at traffic lights and fled! The current show Travis is touring - and premiering at The Adelaide Festival - is a reprise of his Edinburgh Fringe hit show SEXUAL DEVIANCY AND THE HISTORY OF COUNTRY MUSIC including some of the original songs that have stood the test of time but incorporating also new material to take account of the ongoing moral decline behind the tinsel and glitter of Nashville and the heroic myths of the wild west. The original plan had been to tour his new show A REDNECK'S RIPOST TO THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES. This though was felt to be too risky after the first run was pulled following the preview having to be abandoned due to violent demonstrations and threats of castration with a blunt knife from from an unholy alliance of those Travis refers to as 'The Feministas' and the 'moral majority' in the Bible Belt. Hence Travis' current world tour includes Europe, Asia and Australia ... but not the U.S.
Fringe Vault Home
0 Comments