Words with Travis Guichard

Hi Travis, how did you end up in Whirlpool ?

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I was working with Rodney Sellars at Revelation Records in 1994 and we were putting cd’s together or something and came up with an idea for a band to work out some of the stuff he had been writing that wasn’t going to be used for Sense Field. It basically developped from that idea. Rodney and I started getting together and rehearsing a lot, soon, Rodney’s roommate Travis Laws (Final Conflict) was playing bass with us and Trav’s brother Brandon was playing drums. After playing some shows, we decided to jump right into recording an album. While recording the first album, we realized that we wanted to add another element to the music… I knew Rachel Stolte from the Orange County music scene and at the time she had just stopped singing for local band Cold Water Crane. She liked the idea of trying something new, so she and Rodney started writing vocal harmonies that would work with the existing ones on the recording. We recorded the tracks and that was that.

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First album, 1995

Was it a full time band for you ?

It wasn’t quite what you would call a “full time band” for any of us. We all had other things going on at the time. Rachel had acting, Travis had Final Conflict and some other projects, Brandon was in Emission, Rodney had Sense Field, and I had Mean Season and Outspoken.

How do you feel about it more than 10 years after ?

I guess I feel the same about it now as I always did. I'm glad we recorded the 2 records and got to spend so many good times together. Meeting other bands like Shades Apart, Engine Kid, Iceburn, etc. I always wished that we had done a little more with it, pushed it a little further, but we were all just too busy with other things at the time. Not to mention, Sense Field was in the middle of signing with Warner Bros Records. Sense Field's new touring schedule made it hard to play as much as we would have liked, and it wasn’t just Rodney … by this time Scott Mcpherson from Sense Field was playing drums for us as well. This is when it REALLY became a side project! Haha! Anyway, I still feel great about it more than ten years later.

Did Rodney write all the songs ? How were you involved in the composition process ? Is that you singing on "Suppositions" ?

Yeah, Rod wrote almost all of the lyrics and music. On the first record he wrote everything and Travis, Brandon and I just added our own personal parts. I think that all of the lyrics that Rachel sung on that were written by Rod. On the second record, Rodney came up with most of the music ideas, but the rest of the band had a lot more to do with the writing process. It was more like…we all created them together, and I definitely think it shows. Travis Laws wrote the lyrics to “Suppositions”. If I remember correctly, Rod and Trav Laws came up with the weird timing and chords, then Scott added his part, then me. Travis Laws sung on that one (you can hear my faint backup vocal on the chorus). Rachel and Bob Stolte (her Dad) wrote the lyrics to "Insecurity" (Rod, Trav, Scott, and I did the shouting backup vocals), that’s a good one! I will add a story… "Cindy Crawford Pumpkin". Rachel was going to UCLA and had these 2 Hawaiian Tropic model roommates (I’m not kidding) and on Halloween they actually carved a Cindy Crawford pumpkin. Ridiculous. So that is where that song idea came from. Haha.

What were the bands you tour with ? Did you play outside the US ?

Well, we didn’t really officially tour “with” anyone per say, but we played a lot of shows on that tour with Shades Apart, Engine Kid, Deadguy, Iceburn, Texas Is The Reason, Braid, and one in Florida with 108.

How was it to be on Rev ? Did you feel like a family with the other label's bands ?

It was great to be on Revelation ! Jordan was (and continues to be) a great help. I guess it did have a kind of family atmosphere, we all hung out a lot at that time, went to shows, parties, etc...

How was your public ? Hardcore people, punk people, whatever people...

Our fan base (or lack thereof haha) really seemed to vary, all of the above ! We were on the soundtrack to a surf film, so we reached that community (I actually talked with a lot of surfers who knew us from that). But yeah, all kinds of people seemed to be into it.

Do you feel you were part of the emo scene ?

Ummm. I guess so. I suppose that our music could be classified as “emo”, but then again…I have a hard time with the term “emo” ha. We played with all kinds of bands, from Smile to Deadguy to Braid to Texas Is The Reason and on and on, so I don’t really think that we were really that much a part of just the emo scene.

Greatest memories ?

Ha ha, there are a lot of those ! The first would be the tour we did in summer 95. Innertubing in Connecticut, playing in NYC at CBGB’s at the 95 CMJ festival , shooting the video out in Palm Springs with Jim Brown, recording with Jim Monroe. The list goes on and on.

What is this video you're talking about ?

We did a video in 95 for the song “Blinding light” out in the desert in Palm Springs. Jim Brown shot it. It was a lot of fun to do and the video is pretty funny. I remember we stayed at Jim’s parents house on the golf course out there, pretty cool.

What is your favorite Whirlpool record ?

I would have to say Liquid Glass. We had been together for almost a year by the time we recorded that so we were tighter, and I don’t know of many drummers who are tighter than Scott. Also, as I said before, we were all more involved in writing that one.

Liquid Glass, 1996

Do you stay in touch with all the other Whirlpool guys ?

Yeah, I am in touch with all of them, myspace, emails... Travis Laws came for a visit earlier this year and a while ago Rachel told me that Great Northern might be doing a European tour.

Any chance for a reunion ?

I wouldn’t really count on a reunion, but you never know, it’s not out of the question. I’ll talk to them about it, ha ha. Of course everyone still has something going on. Rodney is doing The Year Zero, Scott plays with so many people I can’t keep up. He played with Elliott Smith, I think he plays with Bright Eyes now, Rachel plays in Great Northern, Brandon plays in Slippers, Travis L. plays in Knives of the Official Disappointment and I am doing photography full time in Prague, Czech Republic (I do as much home recording as possible). A reunion would be fun.

Which band you played in do you consider the most important ?

I think that Mean Season would be the one. I did more with that than with anything else, wrote more of it, toured the States and Europe twice, actual fan base, haha! Can’t forget Outspoken though, that one was pretty popular in the hardcore scene too. Outspoken could never do enough. We could never really do a full length tour, never went to Europe…could have done a lot more with it, but John Coyle (our singer) lived up in San Francisco with his wife Tina and their daughter…so he was pretty busy with his family life.

Travis with Outspoken

What inspired you to play music ?

My mother was a singer and my father sings and plays guitar as well…they also played a lot of rock records while I was growing up. Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys, Doors, etc... so that had a huge influence as well. My younger brother Ben started playing drums in 6th grade, so I ALWAYS had him to practice with.

What did hardcore mean for you ? How about straight-edge ?

To me it meant hanging out with my friends and having a good time. Listening to and playing music…just good times! I think that straight edge is a positive thing if it is kept in perspective, but extremism can be dangerous. Some of my friends (from the old days) are still Edge. Many (like myself) aren’t anymore. It was good for me at the time and I’m glad to have been involved.

Do you feel "out of step with the world" ?

I suppose I was always kind of a black sheep haha! But I still fit in pretty well.

How did you end up being a photographer in Prague ?

My Dad is a professional photographer, so I grew up around it, hung out at his studio as a kid (when I wasn’t BMX-ing!) and learned from him. I never took it that seriously until I moved to Prague as an English teacher and realized that I hated teaching English. I had some connections here, so I started assisting a guy and shooting as well. There are quite a few models to shoot in central-eastern Europe, so I stay busy enough.

"Guichard", isn't that a french name ? What do you feel about France in general ? Have you ever been there ?

Yes, it’s a french name. My ancestors came over from Holland though. I’ve actually never been to France, so I don’t’ really have any experience with the place. It’s one of the few countries in Europe I haven’t been to and I want to see it. I’m not really that far away… maybe I will make a road trip soon.