Dougie Payne - Career

Career

Payne was born in the south side of Glasgow, and was educated at Woodfarm High School. He was also a member of the local 28th Glasgow (Giffnock) Scout Group in his youth. He went on to become a student at the Glasgow School of Art where he met the band's singer, Fran Healy. They teamed up to form 'Glass Onion' (named after a Beatles' song), later renaming themselves Travis. Originally Payne was not part of Glass Onion, which featured two other members, but when they left he was asked to play for the band. When asked, Payne had never touched a bass guitar in his life; for weeks he refused to do it, until finally, he agreed.

Although he is better known for his bass guitar playing, vocals and chirpy grins in his many photo shoots, Payne has written songs of his own. Tracks such as "The Score", "Know Nothing" and "Good For Nothing" were all penned by Payne and have featured as b-sides on the band's more recent singles. Payne also sings lead vocals on some b-sides, for example "A Little Bit of Soul", the reverse flip of "Flowers in the Window", and also "The Distance" from Singles. He has also written the song "Colder" which features on The Boy With No Name and three of the songs from the sixth album 'Ode to J. Smith, including single 'Something Anything', which is the first Travis single not to be written by Fran Healy. Payne also played bass on much of the Divine Comedy album, Victory for the Comic Muse; and appeared as a backing vocalist on the song "Tumble and Fall" from Feeder's album, Pushing The Senses.