Travis Meeks

Travis ‘Meastro’ Meeks is the frontman and lyricist of the band Days Of The New. His grandparents were a conductor/composer and a lounge singer, and his father “played rock n roll and was better known as Monkey Meeks”.

Travis began recording “silly little tunes” until the age of 11 when he “got serious” and formed the band Bad Dreams. During this time, he had a tumultuous childhood in Indiana, in and out of drug treatment facilities from age 11 to 15 and suffering psychotic episodes. Eventually he quit school and formed Bad Reckoning with guitarist Todd Whitener, bassist Jesse Vest and drummer Matt Taul in Louisville, Kentucky.

Later he decided to stop “hiding behind the image of how tough I am” and move away from writing metal songs, leading to the formation of the acoustic rock band Days Of The New with his Bad Reckoning bandmates. Producer Scott Lit (REM, Nirvana) took interest after they won a battle of the bands and signed them to his label Outpost Recordings.

Their 1997 self-titled debut album (aka ‘Yellow’) went platinum. Frontman Travis Meeks reportedly then fired the rest of the band (he would later dispute it, then not argue it). In August 1998, he called the other musicians ‘former members’. In November 1998, it was reported he unexpectedly and abruptly left the band while touring. He recorded another self-titled album (aka ‘Green’) with new members in 1999. The album also charted well on release but ultimately underperformed in sales when compared to their debut. That same year, having a kidney stone led Meeks into a painkiller addiction.

The first sessions of their third self-titled album (aka ‘Red’) were discarded and Geffen forced the band to start over. The album was released in 2001 and found only minor success. That same year, Meeks' original band members released an album with a different vocalist as Tantric which was certified platinum. In 2002, Meeks called into The Howard Stern Show and was asked why he didn’t stick with the original members. He replied, “They had no spirituality. They had no brains.” When Stern pointed out, “They had hits!” he gave the vague response, “That’s not what I’m into. I’m into the truth.”

In 2005, after unsuccessfully auditioning for Velvet Revolver, he entered rehab for a meth addiction – weighing barely 100 pounds at the time. He then spent six years “cooped up in a studio as an active transvestite” while broke and owing back taxes to the IRS. A 2014 reunion of all four original members of Days Of The New was ended early due to Meeks' drunken behavior.