Abby Travis

Abby Travis
Abby Travis appearing with The Bangles on September 1, 2007 in Woodstock, CT
Background information
Born	(1969-11-10) November 10, 1969 (age 47)
Origin	Los Angeles, California, USA
Instruments	Vocals, bass guitar
Years active	1986 - present
Associated acts	The Go-Go's, The Bangles, Eagles of Death Metal, KMFDM, Elastica, The Lovedolls, The Rails
Website	www.abbytravis.com

Abby Travis is an American musician, songwriter, and performer. In the 1990s Travis began working as a touring bass player. She has worked with The Go Go's, The Eagles of Death Metal, Masters of Reality, The Bangles, KMFDM, Beck, and Elastica. She is currently playing bass for The Go-Gos.

Abby's first solo record was released under the moniker The Abby Travis Foundation; the rest have been under her own. To date she has released at total of four solo albums: The Abby Travis Foundation (1998), Cutthroat Standards & Black Pop (2000), GlitterMouth (2006), and IV (2012).

Travis was born in Los Angeles, and grew up with her older brother David. She is the daughter of Alice Travis Germond, the former Secretary of the Democratic National Committee, and Emmy Award-winning cameraman Larry Travis. She was educated at University High School and studied music at the Dick Grove School of Music.

Abby Travis began her performance career in 1986 as the bassist in Los Angeles band The Lovedolls, who were inspired by the cult films Desperate Teenage Lovedolls and Lovedolls Superstar directed by Dave Markey. They released the album Love One Another in 1989. In 1989 Travis joined power pop trio The Rails.

Travis has been a touring and studio bass player since the early 1990s, often providing backup vocals as well. One of her first gigs was appearing with Spinal Tap on the Break Like the Wind Tour in 1992, as Promethia Pendragon dancing with elves during Stonehenge at the Universal Amphitheater and playing lead bass on Big Bottom in Phoenix, AZ. In 1993, she toured France with Vanessa Paradis on her Natural High tour. The year 1995 was particularly noteworthy as she performed with both Beck and Elastica playing back-to-back sets on the Lollapalooza tour both acts were on. She continued playing with Elastica through 1996. In 1997, Abby played and sang on Industrial group KMFDM's album Symbols. She is listed as backup singer on "Megalomaniac", "Stray Bullet", "Mercy", and "Anarchy". She played bass on "Spit Sperm" and "Unfit", and is co-credited with lyrics and co-lead vocals on "Waste" and "Down and Out". The album peaked at #189 on the Billboard 200. Her next major tours as a bass player were with Butthole Surfers singer's band Gibby Haynes and His Problem and Exene Cervenka (X) project Original Sinners in 2004. During this time she released albums in her solo career, as well as working in the studio, playing bass on Go-Gos bassist Kathy Valentine's solo album, Light Years. She toured as bass player for Tito & Tarantula in 2005 and Eagles of Death Metal in 2010. She toured with Masters of Reality in both 2010 and 2011.