Green Eyed Lady Born Under A Bad Sign Snortin' Whiskey Pat Travers

Green Eyed Lady Album: P.T. Power Trio 2 (2006)
Born Under A Bad Sign Album: Crash And Burn (1980)
Snortin' Whiskey
by Pat Travers

Travers was born and raised in Toronto. Soon after picking up the guitar at age 12, he saw Jimi Hendrix perform in Ottawa. Travers began playing in bands early in his teens; his first bands were the Music Machine (not to be confused with the Californian psychedelic/garage band of the same name), Red Hot, and Merge, which played in clubs in the Quebec area.

While performing with Merge, he was noticed by rock artist Ronnie Hawkins, who invited Travers to perform with him. In his early twenties, Travers moved to London and signed a recording contract with the Polydor label. His self-titled debut album was released in 1976 and featured bassist Peter "Mars" Cowling, who was a mainstay in Travers' band for several years. An appearance on the German TV show Rockpalast in November 1976 was later released on CD+DVD under the title Live at Rockpalast – Cologne 1976 in 2017. This performance showcases an early version of Travers' band featuring Cowling and drummer Nicko McBrain.

During 1977, Travers added a second guitarist to his band, changed drummers twice including using Clive Edwards, and by the time Heat in the Street was released in 1978 had put together the Pat Travers Band. This grouping featured Travers on vocals and guitar, Pat Thrall on guitar, Cowling on bass, and Tommy Aldridge on drums and percussion. The band toured heavily, also supporting Rush on their Drive til You Die tour in support of A Farewell to Kings.

The guitar Travers most often appeared with on stage and on album covers in the band's early years was a 1964/65 model double cutaway, double humbucker pick-up Gibson Melody Maker. The band's next release was a live album entitled Live! Go for What You Know, which charted in the Top 40 in the United States and included the tune "Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)" (originally recorded by Little Walter, credited to Stan Lewis), which climbed even higher on the charts, entering the Top 20. "Snortin' Whiskey" was a major American radio hit from 1980's Crash and Burn.

After an appearance before 35,000 people at the Reading Music Festival in England, both Thrall and Aldridge announced they were leaving the band to pursue other projects. Travers and Cowling teamed up with drummer Sandy Gennaro and released Radio Active that same year. A co-headlining tour with Rainbow followed, and the two bands performed in major arenas across North America. Although the tour was Travers' most successful road outing, the Radio Active album barely made it into the Top 40, reaching only number 37.

It was very different from Travers' previous work, with more emphasis on keyboards than heavy guitars. Disappointed with the lack of sales, Polydor dropped Travers from their roster, and he in turn sued the record company on grounds that he was under contract with them to record more material. He won the lawsuit, and was able to release Black Pearl in 1982.

This release also featured more mainstream music rather than the hard-driving rock Travers had recorded earlier, and included the hit single "I La La La Love You", featured prominently on mainstream Top 40 and album oriented rock stations, and in the 1983 film Valley Girl. Hot Shot was Travers' last major label release of original music, and was a return to a harder-edge style of rock than his previous two albums had been. One of Travers' best-recorded projects, it went basically unnoticed and is best remembered for the single "Killer". It was during this time that Travers also released Just Another Killer Day, a 30-minute home video featuring music from Hot Shot that was a sci-fi type short story about sexy alien women searching for information on music here on earth. In 1984, Travers was again supporting Rush. Alex Lifeson is one of Travers' many admirers.

Before the release of Hot Shot, longtime bassist Cowling left the band, and Travers would work with several different bassists including Cliff Jordan and Donni Hughes until Cowling's return in 1989. Jerry Riggs, who had joined the Pat Travers Band in 1983, helped Travers create a guitar team that fans considered difficult to rival. After Hot Shot's release in 1984, Polydor made plans to issue a greatest hits package, and then ended their relationship with Travers.

The latter half of the 1980s were quite grueling for Travers. Having entered the decade at the top of the music game, he found himself in 1986 without a record contract and being forced to earn a living once again playing nightclubs and touring constantly. By 1990, he had gained a deal with a small European label and released School of Hard Knocks. The project was completely ignored by radio. A full-length concert video, Boom Boom – Live at the Diamond Club 1990, was shot in Toronto, to be released on CD as Boom Boom next year, but Travers was still not able to return to the success he had ten years earlier, working only on indie labels, as with Lemon Recordings.

Shortly after, Travers signed a deal with U.S.-based Blues Bureau International Records, a company formed by producer Mike Varney. Travers' first recording for the label was Blues Tracks, released in 1992. Several more releases on the BBI label followed during the 1990s. In 1993, Travers parted company with both Jerry Riggs and Peter "Mars" Cowling, and Riggs was briefly replaced by former Foghat guitarist Erik Cartwright. The relationship was brief, and Travers has worked with a variety of musicians since that time. Travers sang on Boston metal band Extreme's song "Get the Funk Out" from their 1990 album Pornograffitti.

P.T. Power Trio 2 once again takes the listener back to the glory days of 70's hard rock when 3 talented guys with loud amplification, rooted in the blues and psychedelic musical experimentation, were always a recipe for a good time. Track 5 is Green Eyed Lady.

Crash And Burn is a music album released on Polydor Records in 1980.

Crash And Burn was the Pat Travers Band's highest-charting release, peaking at number 20 on the Billboard album chart. The album featured the single "Snortin' Whiskey", co-written by Travers and fellow band member guitarist Pat Thrall. This song became a significant hit on American FM radio in 1980, reaching the number one position on playlists all over the country. The album's title track was also issued as a single, but wasn't as successful as "Snortin' Whiskey". The song "Crash And Burn" was a departure from Pat Travers' usual guitar-oriented material, and was basically a keyboard song driven by the band's rhythm section of Peter "Mars" Cowling on bass, and drummer Tommy Aldridge.

Other standout tracks include a cover of "Born Under A Bad Sign", originally recorded by Albert King, and "(Your Love) Can't Be Right", which was also released as a single. The Bob Marley song "Is This Love?" was also included, and featured Dawn Shahan on backing vocals. The album was indeed a great commercial success, but many fans and critics alike cite several of the musician's other releases to be better overall projects. The album propelled the Pat Travers Band into headlining status in the United States but was the last recorded work to feature the popular line-up of Aldridge, Cowling, and Thrall. It earned gold record status initially, and later with the advent of compact discs, was reissued and achieved platinum record status.

The album was recorded at Quadradial Studios in Miami, Florida from June 1979 to January 1980 during breaks from touring. Final mixes were done at Bayshore Studios in Coconut Grove, Florida, in February 1980, and the album was released in April 1980.