Travis bassist Dougie Payne is delighted that Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs is part Oasis reunion tour because is “the heart and soul of the whole thing”.
Bonehead is the rhythm guitarist for the Oasis Live ’25 concerts, joining reunited brothers Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher as the only original members in the band – which also includes bassist Andy Bell, third guitarist Gem Archer and drummer Joey Waronker.
Dougie believes the return of Bonehead – who quit Oasis in 1999 during the recording sessions for fourth studio album Standing On The Shoulder of Giants to spend more time with his family – is just as important to the success of the reunion as having Liam and Noel back together because he created the band before Noel even joined.
In an interview with website Contact Music, he said: “They’ve been dominating not only the summer but everybody’s Instagram feeds, from what I’ve seen it sounds great.
“I’m delighted that Bonehead is back, I think that’s great and gives it all a lovely feel to it. Bonehead is kind of the heart and soul of the whole thing.
“Liam is singing great, his voice sounds back to its best. It seems to be a very happy thing. It’s good to have them back.”
Travis supported Oasis on the Be Here Now tour back in 1997 and then toured across America with the Wonderwall hitmakers in 2000 after Bonehead and original bass player Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan quit and were replaced by Andy and Gem in the band.
Dougie, 52, admits Travis would have loved to be have been one of the support acts on the Oasis Live ’25 tour but there were never any conversations before Cast and Richard Ashcroft were confirmed.
He said: “I think every other band was trying to get on that tour! But it was all set in place. The whole thing is such a massive behemoth that it’s all set in place. Before they announced anything it was this is what’s going to be happening.
“Fran [Healy] was texting with Noel a little while ago and it was all very friendly and they were having a bit of a laugh in the texts.”
“We did the Be Here Now tour and then we did the American tour. We toured with those guys across the States in 2000, which was when Gem and Andy had just joined the band. That was a great tour. That was a lot of fun. On the first tour we were slightly overawed, they were the biggest pop stars on the planet then and we were kind of like, ‘Wow.’ We were absolutely brand new, we had just released one record. It was all impressive. On the American tour we hung out properly and it was just a good laugh.”
Dougie has nothing but love for Liam, 52, and Noel, 58, and remembers them being so kind to him and his bandmates – singer-and-guitarist Fran Healy, guitarist Andy Dunlop and drummer Neil Primrose – when they supported Oasis.
He said: “They’re the funniest people, super sweet, so funny. They were so generous and so kind to us. I love those guys.”
Travis will be reuniting with another old friend this weekend, Blur’s Alex James.
The Why Does It Always Rain On Me? hitmakers with be performing at Alex’s Big Feastival music festival held at his farm in the Cotswolds and as well as playing their own set they will be doing something special with the Blur bassist on stage, too.
Dougie teased: “There’s Alex’s Britpop Classical and me and Fran are going to jump in for something. So I think we’ve got to go out and hang out in his big barn, that should be quite fun.
“We’ve got a little run of festivals and Big Feastival is in the middle of that run.
“Hopefully they’ll be lots of music, lots of fun and hopefully some cheese and wine as well.”
The Big Feastival takes place between 22 August and 24 August.
The line-up also includes Nelly Furtado, Mabel, The Wombats, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Caity Baser and Artful Dodger among others.
Go to Bigfeastival.com for more information and tickets.