Travis Japan -- Till the Dawn

 

The first time that I had ever heard of the first or last name Travis was on the 70s/80s CBS sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" through the character of Andy Travis. Since the fictional program director on the ailing radio station had that laidback and cordial attitude (most of the time), that feeling has been imbued into my image of the name.

So, you can imagine good ol' Andy popped up in my head again after so many years when a commenter told me a few weeks ago about the current SMILE-UP group Travis Japan. Until I got the comment, I had no idea about this sestet but they've been around for over a decade since 2012. As for how a former Johnny's group ever got a name like Travis Japan, it was due to a tribute to American choreographer Travis Payne who had helped the original lineup while the boys were being shown the ropes in Los Angeles.

Interestingly enough, the commenter recommended this particular song "Till the Dawn" which is a track on Travis Japan's very first album "Road to A", which only came out last December. It's already done well though by scoring a No. 1 ranking. "Till the Dawn" has some good dollops of the type of music that WKRP DJ Venus Fly-Trap would have played during his nighttime show: I can pick up on the soul, AOR and yep, even some City Pop. Erik Gustaf Lidbom and Alexander Marcus Karlsson were behind the melody while June and D&H took care of the lyrics. Y'know I can even hear some Bruno Mars in there, too.

I've read that Travis Japan had their fifteen minutes of fame on "America's Got Talent" but unlike the Japanese dance group Avantgardey which instantly wowed the AGT judges from the get-go, the path for Travis Japan has been a little steeper. To be honest, I had initially thought the album title stood for "Road to America's Got Talent" but actually, it stands for "Road to Authenticity".😏