Rock My World Canada, chapter 67: Pat Travers
[Mike Carr is determined to create a catalogue/reference work featuring all kinds of Canadian rock and alternative releases from the past few decades. Check out his a massive volume on Canadian music history entitled Canadian Alternative & Indie Reference and Collector’s Guide. It’s an incredible discography of hundreds of bands. – AC]
Patrick Henry “Pat” Travers (born April 12, 1954, in Toronto) is a rock guitarist, keyboardist, and singer who began his recording career with Polydor Records in the mid-1970s.
During 1977 Travers added a second guitarist to his band, changed drummers twice including using Clive Edwards, and by the time Heat in the Street was released in 1978 had put together the Pat Travers Band. The band’s next release was a live album entitled Live! Go for What You Know, which charted in the Top 40 in the United States and included the tune “Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights)” (originally recorded by Little Walter, credited to Stan Lewis), which climbed even higher on the charts, entering the Top 20.
“Snortin’ Whiskey” was a major American radio hit from 1980’s Crash and Burn and Travers began the 1980s as a hot item in the hard rock music scene.
Travers has not been able to regain the level of commercial success he once had, despite a very large and loyal fan base who call themselves “Hammer Heads”. Travers has recently become a part of and performed with the All-Star band Scrap Metal.
Find out more about this artist and hundreds of other Canadian artists in the softcover edition of Canadian Alternative & Indie Reference and Collector’s Guide. Get your copy here. Follow Mike on Facebook and Twitter.
