Biography

The Travoltas are a Dutch punkpop band, combining the energy and power of punkrock with the melodies and harmonies of classic popbands like the Beach Boys and the Byrds. The band is often referred to as ‘the

Beach Boys of punkrock’ or ‘a cross between the Ramones and the Beach Boys’. Their trademark sound is in fact a combination of afore mentioned bands and 80’s powerpop (the Cars, Blondie) adding influences ranging

from surf music to new wave. This is their biography:

The Travoltas’ story starts out in the early 90’s when highschool buddies Perry & Vince decide to form a band. At first it’s the usual story of playing coversongs and changing lineups, but soon they start to work

on their trademark sound that still rocks the world of today. Several demos are recorded and the band establishes a firm fanbase with their wild and energetic punkrock shows.
In 1997 the band gets signed to indie giant The Konkurrent for the recording and releasing of their first album “BAJA CALIFORNIA”. Almost overnight the band gets a lot of media attention in their native Holland,

but the cd is released all over Europe. The album’s single ‘Waimea’ hits almost every radiostation in Holland and Belgium and gives the band a big following. They play several large summer festivals that year

playing crowds ranging from 2.000 to 10.000 people, including the sold out Dynamo Festival. Later that year Travoltas get asked to join MARKY RAMONE as the opening act on his European tour. Impressed by the

demo’s for the new album, Marky offers to produce the cd and askes the band to come to New York to record it.

A few months later “MODERN WORLD” sees it’s release, and the band takes off on a monster touring schedule taking them everywhere in Europe and playing with bands like LAGWAGON, THE OFFSPRING, WEEZER, NOFX, NO FUN AT ALL and more heavy hitters in the international punkrock scene. The single “I WANT TO BELIEVE” gets major airplay all across Europe and barely misses the charts in Holland. Travoltas get invited to the annual CMJ festival in New York and also attends the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, playing jampacked succesful showcases on both events. A deal gets inked with Coldfront Records who releases the Modern World album in the USA. By this time Roadrunner Records is following the movements of the band and signes the band for a two album deal.

The first of those two is “TEENBEAT”, by far the bands most acclaimed album since their existence. The album gets recorded at Belgium’s GALAXY STUDIOS and is produced by the founding members Perry and Vince. In January of 2000 the first single gets released, backed with a stunning video starring supermodel Nicole and gets massive TV coverage in Holland, Belgium, Japan and the USA. The video is one of the most requested ones on Holland’s The Box. Again the touring schedule covers all of Europe, with a special stop over in Sweden this time. Travoltas play some of Sweden’s largest festivals with the likes of OASIS, BECK, ALL SAINTS and FAITHLESS and get invited to the NRJ shows, three big events in the three major cities with over 20.000 people showing up to see the band. The year is brought to it’s conclusion with the Lowlands festival in Holland, where Travoltas play with BLINK 182, LIMP BIZKIT and other major artists.

For the second Roadrunner album “CLUB NOUVEAU” the band heads out to Los Angeles to team up with top engineer Michael Rich (MARIAH CAREY, GUNS N ROSES, ROBERT PLANT). The album takes over 4 months to complete, working in 5 different studios all over the world. Club Nouveau gets released on June 15th 2001 in Holland, Belgium, Spain, Scandinavia and Japan and gets preceeded by the “DO IT AGAIN” single, of which the

video, shot in an Amsterdam brothel, is again one of the most requested video’s of that time. The album reviews are raving again and leading dutch mag OOR calls it ‘an ambitious masterpiece’. Travoltas also do a

special tour in that year paying homage to their musical heroes The Beach Boys, all shows are sold out… One more record gets broken that year when the band plays a special live show in front of 50.000 people

and watched on television by a whopping 1,5 MILLION viewers. The second single “SUGARRIDE” gets airplay throughout the year and the band hits the roads again for a 60-show tour in the fall.

The start of the next year sees a lot of international releases for the Travoltas, “TEENBEAT” gets released in the USA by Coldfront Records, “STEP ON THE GAS…”, a b-sides and rarities compilation of Travoltas material, gets released by Nice Guy Records, “THE SINGLES COLLECTION”, containing all the singles and b-sides, gets released by Wynona Records. The band switches labels both in Europe and the USA and the band is working on new material and preparing for the upcoming new full lenght: “ENDLESS SUMMER” . In support of that new album Travoltas embark on their largest tour ever, spanning 2 continents and over 160 shows. The US part of the tour sees a large stint on the famous VANS WARPED TOUR where Travoltas play side by side with BAD RELIGION, NOFX, LAGWAGON, GOOD CHARLOTTE, THE ATARIS and more! Dutch television even made a special rockumentary about the US part of the tour, which aired in 15 minute episodes to over 200.000 viewers each week. The album’s single “LET’S GO AWAY” gets a lot of airplay on the Dutch national radio stations and indie/college radiostations in the US. The Travoltas even find time to record an acoustic live album, called ‘ A Travoltas Party!’, modelled after the ’65 Beach Boys’ Party album.
In 2003 the band goes to Italy for another tour before they enjoy a long summer vacation.

Early 2004, before heading for the studio to record their 6th full-length studio-album ‘The Highschool Reunion’, the band finds the time to do a 3-week tour through Germany, Switzerland and Italy. The recording of ‘The Highschool Reunion’ takes over a month, spending recording-time in two seperate studios to mark another ambitious project. The album is released in the USA in September before European releases. In Holland the titletrack shoots up to the top 3 of the country’s premier alternative hitlist Outlaw 41, while the album’s first single ‘(all we really want is) Rock ‘ Roll’ gets a lot of spinning on college radiostations in both America and Canada.

Latest news:

By the end of 2004 The Travoltas sign to In n Out Records for the release of ‘The Highschool Reunion’ in Japan which is released in March 2005. After another Italian tour in the summer, Travoltas prepare for their first Japanese tour in November 2005, as In N Out Records releases a 2-in-1 version of the albums ‘Endless Summer’ and ‘Party!’ in the Japanese territory.

[THE TRAVOLTAS]
Perry – vocals
Mickey – guitars
Eric – bass & backing vocals
Skokie Venom – keys & backing vocals
Woody – drums