Pat Travers Biography
Patrick Henry Travers, 12 April 1954, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This Canadian guitarist began his career playing in his brother’s band. Having moved to London, England, he set up a group of his own comprising Peter ‘Mars’ Cowling (bass) and drummer Roy Dyke (of Ashton, Gardner And Dyke). In 1976 they played at the Reading Rock Festival, and this led to greater recognition of their debut, Pat Travers. In 1977 Nicko McBrain (b. Michael Henry McBrain, 5 June 1952, Hackney, London, England), who subsequently joined Iron Maiden, replaced Roy Dyke. Travers himself turned his talents to songwriting, his music taking a more experimental turn, and being aided by other artists, including Scott Gorham. During their 1977 tour, Clive Edwards replaced McBrain, and Michael Dyche added another guitar.
Guitarist Pat Thrall, who had been a member of Automatic Man, and Tommy Aldridge (drums), formerly of Black Oak Arkansas, were recruited to work on the following year’s Heat In The Street, an extremely powerful album. Their relationship with the band was short-lived, however. After the tour to support 1980’s Crash And Burn, Thrall and Aldridge departed in order to work with Ozzy Osbourne. Subsequent recordings featured Sandy Gennaro (drums), Don Harriss (keyboards) and Michael Shrieve (percussion, ex-Santana), and were notable for their solid, blues-like sound. In 1984 he teamed up with a group of session musicians to record Hot Shot, an album that was not a commercial success. There was then a lengthy break in Travers’ recording career until 1990 when he released ‘School Of Hard Knocks’, featuring Cowling, Jerry Riggs (guitar) and Scott Zymowski (drums). The following year Travers was working again with Thrall, Aldridge and Cowling, touring Japan along with Riggs and Zymowski. After this came a series of blues-orientated albums for the Blues Bureau label, including the well-received Blues Tracks (1992) and Blues Magnet (1994). In the early 00s, Travers teamed up with Gunter Nezhoda (bass) and Aynsley Dunbar (drums) to record the Power Trio album. He subsequently collaborated with renowned rock drummer Carmine Appice on a series of albums under the Travers & Appice moniker. Travers has also toured with the Voices Of Classic Rock show.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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