Travis - Side

2001

Travis - Side (2001) Director: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris Era: Post-Britpop Consolidation (2001) - Scottish alt-rock at peak mainstream visibility, riding the commercial momentum of The Invisible Band and a broader shift toward cinematic, sci-fi-inflected music video storytelling. High. Represents the commercial and creative peak of Travis's visual output, directed by one of the most decorated music video directing teams of the era at a pivotal pre-feature-film career moment. The video's confirmed Dayton/Faris attribution, documented narrative structure, and cultural placement within the post-Britpop consolidation moment make it a well-evidenced primary source for research into early-2000s British alternative rock visual culture and the industrialisation of narrative music video production. Context: Released in August–September 2001, 'Side' arrived at the apex of Travis's commercial power following the UK number-one album The Invisible Band and the crossover success of 'Sing.' The UFO-narrative video reflects a broader early-2000s trend of British alt-rock acts investing in cinematic, concept-driven videos that transcended simple performance clips. Produced by Nigel Godrich, the song's philosophical theme, that no one occupies a better 'side' of life than anyone else, is visually literalised by the democratising spectacle of children and band inhabiting the same mythic space. The video appeared at a cultural moment when post-Britpop acts were repositioning themselves as earnest, globally aspirational rather than ironic or parochially British, and Dayton/Faris's Hollywood-adjacent production sensibility served that ambition directly. Director notes: Confirmed as directors of Travis 'Side' (2001) via IMDb (tt6792040). The video features a UFO-themed narrative in which three boys tracking a spacecraft follow it to a desert cavern where they discover Travis performing. This video was produced during Dayton and Faris's most prolific music video period, concurrent with their work on Travis's 'Sing' (also 2001), and sits within their well-documented body of narrative-concept hybrid videos for British and American rock acts. The desert/cavern location and warm practical lighting palette are consistent with their established visual language of grounding fantastical conceits in tactile, naturalistic environments.