Memorable Quote: "I don't like my bitches to be sober"
Travis formed his first band in 1986 at the age of 14. The name of the band was The Legends and they played their first show at a school dance. They only could play 4 songs at the time.
Travis started writting songs during this time and had penned a few songs before he left the band in 1987 to join The Undertakers. The Undertakers were made up of Travis and his two nephews Nate and Mat Orton. The group's first show was at a local Junior High School talent show in which they took first place. The group played various shows around the area highlighted by a show at the local high school where they performed a number of orginal songs in front of over 900 students.
In 1991 Travis left the band to join a local working band that would later become Black Forest. At the time, the band known as The Impressions, were soon fan favorites in the Inland Northwest. In early 1992 the lead guitarist left the band and Dave Cooney joined the group. A grueling schedule of traveling and performing every weekend was the way that year finished out. In 1993 the band was looking to add a solid drummer that could further their dominance over the local music scene. Cyrus Azar joined the group and the Black Forest was born. The band thrived in the local music creating an impressive following. The band traveled the Northwest gathering more and more fans as they went. The band changed their name and soon started to shift from playing cover band shows to orginal shows. In 1994 Black Forest released their first record entitled 'Tales' and during the summer of 1994 played on the main stage at Spokane's Riverfront Park 4th of July celebration. The next few years brought about a few lineup changes and Cyrus switched from drums to bass. During this period Harry Case joined the group and the band gave up playing cover shows and now just plays orginal shows. Through the years the Forest has created a massive collection of material and has recorded many albums. Today they play a limited number of shows a year and are constantly working on new material.
