Travis Larson Band – Live 9/18/2008. Taken from the DVD release “Rate Of Change LIVE”.
For more information visit: http://www.TravisLarsonBand.com/
This is a newly featured artist on SalinasRadio.com, as of 8-21-09. 
Travis Larson and Pleatherface
We did the impossible and brought together two bands that, well, really don’t have much in common, at least when it comes to looks. Pleatherface is a local one man, plastic-leather mask-wearing musician that brings metal music to the stage, and The Travis Larson Band is a group of extremely talented and nationally acclaimed musicians who play mellow to high end rock music. We brought them all together at Giovane’s Restaurant before the big show, here’s what they had to say.
Participating:
Mike Rodriguez, Owner of SalinasRadio.com
Travis Larson, Guitarist for The Travis Larson Band
Jennifer Young, Bassist for The Travis Larson Band
Pleatherface, as himself.
Mike: So tell me about your bands names, what does Pleatherface mean?
Pleatherface: It means… plastic leather… glued to your face.
Jennifer Young and Dale Moon
Travis: As opposed to fine Corinthian leather.
Mike: And what about the Travis Larson Band?
Travis: After years of playing, I was the only constant musician in the band. Since I was here since the beginning, we just kinda had to have it my way.
Jennifer: We’ve been the TLB since birth, that’s the band.
Mike: Who are some of your inspirations? Who inspired you to start the band?
Pleatherface: Jimi Hendrix, Bach, and Danny Gunton.
Travis: Jeff Bech is what got me to start playing. Steve Morris later on, he plays with Deep Purple. Rush is a HUGE inspiration.
Pleatherface: Rush is great. My step dad made me memorize every Rush lyric…
Jennifer and Travis, Rocking Out!
Mike: How long have you been together as a band?
Travis: We just released our ten year anniversary DVD and Double Live CD. So we’ve been together for 10 years.
Pleatherface: Pleatherface was born two years ago. At our CD release, Travis headlined and it was great.
Mike: So how did you start playing music?
Pleatherface: I used to dream of trying to play the guitar. One day, I was walking home from school, I walked by the bus stop, and in the bushes, I found a lamp. I wished that I could play guitar, and then I learned how. I sacrificed a lot to do what I do.
Travis: When I was five, I first heard of Jeff Bech. I have been playing music since I was ten, playing piano. Typical story, my parents had a piano, got me to do lessons, but when I got to high school, I realized a guitar was a lot easier to carry around. I liked to stand out and be noticed, I was a shy kid.
Pleatherface on Stage
Mike: Do you have to honor any brand loyalty with your instruments? Or are you endorsed by any company?
Travis: We’ve got an endorsement deal, Jennifer and I play Ernie Ball exclusively. We’ve been playing Ernie Ball for about eight or nine years.
Pleatherface: I like Gibson for live stuff, but I love all kinds of instruments, I am not yet endorsed.
Mike: What are some of your favorite places to play?
Pleatherface: Good question, a great spot is the Lounge Underground in Monterey and Giovane’s in Salinas of course. The Lava Lounge was a great place for locals to showcase their skills too. I look forward to all venues. I plan to play every venue in California. I have a list of 110 venues so far around California that I plan to play at.
Travis: We’ve played all over the country, everything from crowds of 15 people, to 15,o00 people. It’s not the venues, it’s the people. If we have a great crowd, then we’ve had a great show.
Dale Moon on his AMAZING Drum Set
Mike: What songs do you play the most?
Pleatherface: Purple Kool-Aid. We’re not endorsed by Kool-Aid either. It was inspired by the Jim Jones tragedy, where everyone drank purple Kool-Aid…
Jennifer: [What songs do we play the most?] The good ones.
Travis: We play a little from every album. We have five albums over a decade, so we try to play all of our favorites from each album, and we promote our newest one, of course.
Jennifer: … The good ones.
Mike: Do you play any covers?
Travis: We do two covers, Georgia on my Mind, with Victor Wharton, he was the best bass player five times in a row in Bass Player Magazine. he can’t even enter the competition any more. We also play People Get Ready by Curtis Mayfield, recorded with Steve Lucither. He’s a Grammy award winning musician.
Pleatherface: What was the Grammy for?
Travis Larson, deep in his guitar solo.
Travis: He won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his album with Larry Carlton.
Mike: Who writes your songs?
Pleatherface: I write all my stuff. The last album, all the instruments were played by me except for the drums.
Travis: I write all the stuff, but the band arranges it. They are all great musicians, and add their own stamp to everything I write.
Mike: Are you part of a record label?
Travis: We are on Precision Records.
Pleatherface: I’m with Knife Records.
Mike: Are there any shows coming up?
Travis: We’re playing at Woody’s tomorrow in Monterey. (8-22-09) And we’re doing the UFO Tour as well in October.
Mike: How has your band progressed and evolved since you first started?
Pleatherface: Well, I’ve been playing more mellow music lately, as opposed to the first stuff which was really hard. There will even be some piano stuff on the next album.
Travis: I won’t say we’ve gotten better, but we’ve gotten more diverse over the years, much more polished as musicians.
Jennifer: And grumpier!
Mike: Where can fans find your music and purchase your CD’s?
Pleatherface: Well most listen to me and support me because I am strange and instrumental, you can find Pleatherface music on Pleatherface.com and listen to us on MySpace and YouTube.
Travis: They can listen in and buy our CD’s on our website, TravisLarsonBand.com, and on our MySpace. Our fans are a wide range of diverse people, from teens to…
Jennifer: … to retirees!
Travis: … to people inn their 70′s and 80′s…
Jennifer: … people who like to hear the GOOD songs. And I like to finish your sentences. Good music speaks to a large number of people.
Mike: Is there anyone you would like to thank?
Pleatherface: I’ve been listening to the Travis Larson Band since 1999, I saw them at the Monterey Rock and Arts Festival…
Travis: Which is now defunct…
Pleatherface: The Travis Larson Band inspired me to be a better musician and a better person.
Travis: Pleatherface is all too kind.
Mike: Any last words?
Pleatherface: Thank you for this interview.
Travis: Keep supporting local and live music!
Pleatherface: Definitely support live music! And get the kids to put down Guitar Hero and play real guitar!
Jennifer: I like doughnuts! 
Mike: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview for us, it was fun.
Travis Larson Band
Happening THIS FRIDAY at Giovane’s Resturaunt in Salinas, CA. The Travis Larson Band and Pleatherface will be playing live! These two bands will raise the bar for Salinas and Giovane’s. Please support the venue. Drink specials, great food, and you don’t have to drive far to see a GREAT show! Hopefully we’ll get both bands permission to get them up on the air on SalinasRadio.com for your continued rocking. 
There is a $5 cover, this show is for ages 21 and over.
Giovane’s
348 San Juan Grade Road
Salinas, California 93906
(831) 444 – 6717
Here are a few press quotes about The Travis Larson Band:
“…unquestionably a guitar lover’s dream, this dynamic power trio offers much more than the dime-a-dozen Berklee educated wankers vying to dethrone Joe Satriani...”
-Sea of Tranquility“…this band has all the chops and blazing technique to send all you wannabe shredders back to the woodshed, but what makes them stand so far apart from their peers is the SONGS…”
-Foundrymusic.com“Think of a musical stew mixing a thick brown Rush gravy with big hearty chunks of Steve Morse and a dash of Jeff Beck…I haven’t been this impressed since the pairing of nitro and glycerin…”
-Ray Sansom“…a smoking instrumental power trio…With tons of technique to burn…”
-Expose Magazine