Travis frontman Fran Healy has recalled the time he met David Beckham, and said that he inspired the footballer’s ‘Hoxton fin’ mohawk.
The singer was starring as the latest guest on the Restless Natives podcast, following the announcement that Travis were back and set to release their 10th studio album ‘L.A. Times’.
In the interview, Healy spoke about the inspiration behind the forthcoming LP, his life in Los Angeles and history with the band. However, there was one moment that stood out in particular – when he revealed that a chance meeting outside a Toys R Us inspired David Beckham’s iconic mohawk hairstyle.
Explaining how the footballer was inspired after seeing him sporting the haircut, Healy explained how it was his barber who was “responsible for the fin”, and gave him the style back in 2001.
“The mohawk one that Beckham took and ran off with. Do you know how that happened?” he asked. “I met Beckham when I had that and he had the big stookie on his leg. He and Posh Spice were coming out of Toys R Us, and I met him in the car park.”
“Swear to god. They came out of that Toys R Us like they’d won the jackpot in Crackerjack. Honest to god. I’ve never seen so many toys in my life and I had just had that cut and he’s like ‘Hello, mate!’ I’ve never met him before and I’m like ‘Oh my god, how’s your foot?’ And you know, we chatted for a minute,” he continued.
“Two weeks later, he had the cut and that was before the World Cup. Yet he then went off and this haircut became – Everyone had it.”
The style, which went on to be recognised as the ‘Hoxton fin’, was huge across the UK at the turn of the century, and was sported by the Travis frontman as the band were dominating the music scene.
Around the time that Beckham met Healy, the singer was enjoying the success of the band’s third album ‘The Invisible Band’ – which arrived in 2001 and included hits ‘Sing’, ‘Side’ and ‘Flowers In The Window’.
Arriving two years after their hit LP ‘The Man Who’ – which first put the band on the map and featured fan favourite ‘Why Does It Always Rain On Me?’ – ‘The Invisible Band’ saw Travis reach new heights, spending four weeks at the top of the UK Albums Chart and selling more copies in that time than their previous album achieved in half a year.
As well as sharing details of their upcoming album ‘L.A. Times’, the band also dropped the lead single ‘Gaslight’ – their first new music since 2020.
Speaking to NME last week, Healy opened up about what fans can expect from the new album, and revealed what inspired the title ‘L.A. Times’.
“My studio and where it’s based is where Skid Row is at its most intense,” he explained. “You’ve got literally people with nothing living here and driving through, [I remember seeing] this canary yellow Lamborghini, just cruising through with this guy’s arm hanging out the window. He was some dude wearing mirrored glasses.
“About six months later [guitarist] Andy [Dunlop] sent me this piece of music we’d all played on and I was trying to fiddle a song into it. This part came out about seeing all this pain and suffering because that guy had really quite a lot of jewellery on his hand. Over there, people show off their wealth and I had this image of all this being reflected off the 50 facets of this guy’s big diamond ring. That’s where the song ‘L.A. Times’ comes from.”
He added: “You can live in Los Angeles and you can live in Hollywood, Venice [Beach] and never see Skid Row. Every day I’m driving through it and there’s a lot of mental illness around there and I’m pretty sure America can fix that. [But] they’re so wrapped up in their own history right now.”
To coincide with the record’s release, Travis will be supporting The Killers across their 16 date UK and Ireland arena tour later this summer. Visit here for remaining tickets.