On this episode of I Know This Guy we have Broadway star – Travis Cloer. Travis is known for his work in his role as Frankie Valley in the Broadway smash hit Jersey Boys. Travis lets us know what it takes and the sacrifices he had to make to make it in that role and how that has acted as a launchpad for the rest of his career.
Episode: 47
Title: Norman Farrar introduces Travis Cloer, a Broadway star, a composer, an actor, a remarkable talent with a voice that is strong and powerful
Subtitle: “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy”
Final Show Link:
https://iknowthisguy.com/episodes/ep-47-behindthe-jersey-boys-w-travis-cloer/
In this episode of I Know this Guy…, Norman Farrar introduces Travis Cloer, a Broadway star, a composer, an actor, a remarkable talent with a voice that is strong and powerful.
He joined the original Broadway cast of the Tony and Grammy winning Jersey Boys and set a record as the longest running actor to play Frankie Valli. His portrayal earned him several best actor nominations. In this episode, he shares to us the sacrifices he had to make to be part of the show.
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Travis 0:00
It opened my mind to so many different ways of life and so many different cultures that I never would have been exposed to. So I loved it. I had a great time doing it.
Norman 0:21
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of I Know This Guy, the podcast where we dive deep into the lives of some of the most interesting people I know. Before we get started, please like and subscribe to I Know This Guy, wherever you get your podcasts. By the way, like kids want me to say something about ringing a bell. What the hell’s a bell?
Hayden 0:53
Alright, who do we have on the podcast?
Norman 0:56
Okay, so it’s a small world. So Michael Peterson, referred us to Travis Cloer and actually we’re just doing some research. We found out that Frankie Moreno produced his last album, and Frankie was just on the podcast. So what a coincidence.
Hayden 1:16
Yeah, that’s right.
Norman 1:17
We had no idea. So anyways, all three of these guys are incredible composers, musicians and with Travis like he said, he’s a world class Broadway star from he was the lead for 10 years with Jersey Boys.
Hayden 1:32
Yeah, it’s incredible. Thousands of shows.
Norman 1:37
How many 1000s of shows so he’s got some really cool things to talk about.
Hayden 1:41
All right. Well, let’s dive in.
Norman 1:43
All right. All right, Travis. Welcome to the podcast.
Travis 1:47
Hey, thanks for having me.
Norman 1:48
Michael gave us your name. He referred you and he said, Yeah, you got to talk to Travis. He’s an interesting guy.
Travis 1:55
Oh, that’s great. Yeah. Michael’s a good guy, man. Fantastic songwriter.
Norman 2:00
Yeah and I found out last night, that this is a complete coincidence. But Frankie Moreno produced her last album, and he just was on the podcast.
Travis 2:12
Yeah, it’s true. He’s actually produced a couple things for me. We did a full record with 10 tracks, probably, I guess it was about I guess, about a year and a couple months ago, in late 2019, before the world fell apart and just this last holiday season, he produced a holiday single for me, that did pretty well on the iTunes holiday charts in a couple different countries. So his expertise is one that I seek out when I know I want some quality work.
Norman 2:40
Both those guys are really great guys and I met a lot of interesting people, but to be able to sit down and chat with either or Michael, or with Frankie, it was just great. It made my job easier. I am not a podcast host. I didn’t go for training. I am an eCommerce guy. So, yeah. Are you whatever a guest can come in and do my job, I’m happy
Travis 3:08
Just let someone else do the work, right?
Norman 3:09
Yeah, exactly. So that way, every time we talk to somebody, they’re here for one reason. They’re interesting. They have an interesting backstory, they’ve got a story that actually, usually there’s a lot of hurdles and we’re gonna get into that a little bit later on. But I just want to know what makes Travis Travis can we dig into your backstory a little bit?
Travis 3:30
Yeah, let’s do it, man.
Norman 3:31
All right.
Travis 3:32
What do you want to know? I’m an open book.
Norman 3:34
Alright, open book. How about we start where you grow up? What are some things that like, were you always musical?
Travis 3:42
Yeah, I’m originally from Kansas City, Kansas and so I grew up in the heartland of the country and music, I guess, has pretty much always been a part of my life in one way or another. My mother was a singer and my dad is a music minister, which is he’s the guy at church that leads the choir and leads the congregational singing and all that stuff. So there was always music when I was growing up, whether it was at home, or at church and I guess, I always found myself interested in music, but never really pursued it. When I was really young, my dad would get us singing with him in church quite a bit and I knew that I liked it. I knew that it filled me with this different kind of joy that nothing else really did. So when I got into high school, I started this brand new high school in the middle of Kansas. That was the new guy and it was horrible. It was horrible. didn’t know anyone and I was like, I saw that I could join the Concert Choir as a class. So I was like, Yeah, I like singing. So I’ll try that and that kind of is what set me on the path and I’m on today because I ran into the teacher there, Mr. Haynes in Kansas and he just kind of took this lump of play this raw talent and started molding it and shaping it and introducing me to different styles of music, different ways of singing and he really really sparked my interest in musical theater and the Broadway world. He was the also the director of all the high school musicals that we did and he tapped me for all of those every year and really became just such an unbelievable influence on a young student, especially one that was looking for some friends, one that was looking for something to do and just really grabbed me in and set me on the path that I’m on today.
Norman 5:40
Did it bother you? Did you get stage fright when you, I know for me, I could never be even in high school, I could never go in front of a crowd and do anything. I would be sick to my stomach. Literally, I would be sick. Well, did that bother you at all?
Travis 5:58
I don’t want to say no, but it wasn’t I guess really to that extreme. There’s always an element of stage fright, I guess. But I’ve learned to turn that into excitement and use that energy and try to harness it in a positive way instead of letting it get the best of me. But when I was young, I think I was just so eager to be a part of something and something that really touched me the way that music did. So to be a part of that and to step on stage and to be able to share that with people just really gave me the spark that nothing else did.
Norman 6:37
I’m always envious talking to Michael or Fred, or yourself. I love music. I absolutely love all genres of music. I really like I mean, if you go across the board, I love that music. I probably got something in my collection.
Travis 6:52
Yeah, that’s how I am too, man. I have a really eclectic taste of music, anything from classical to rap to 80s techno you name it, I can find something in every genre that I like.
Norman 7:05
That’s me too and every time I do that, like when all of a sudden somebody sends me over some music that is different and it just feels like a door just opened up and you got to dive in. Like I said that I think it was Michael I said I started listening to this Shanti music because I was watching a show on Netflix called Fisherman’s Friend. Never even heard of Shanti music, now I’ve got like 20 albums, I listen to Shanti music.
Travis 7:35
Shanti? I’ve heard of Shanti. What is Shanti?
Norman 7:36
Oh, it’s like sea songs like when you’re out working the boats. Oh, the other thing you’re gonna find this funny, I think. I knew my music days were done. When my kindergarten teacher kicked me out of kindergarten choir. I wasn’t cut out for choir.
Travis 7:57
You learned your lesson young, man. At least you learn it young and get it out of the way.
Norman 8:01
Get it out of the way, move on to other things. Well, that’s a true story. We had these like, I think it was kindergarten to grade three or something and I got kicked out because I couldn’t carry a note and I think that’s even today. Right, Hayd?
Hayden 8:17
I can confirm.
Norman 8:22
So all right, so you’ve been taken under the wing of a teacher and he’s helping you out, get involved with some of the high school drama classes and what goes on after that?
Travis 8:34
After that, I went to college at Kansas State University and majored in music and theater and again, he had a large part of helping me figure out what I wanted to study and where I wanted to study it and the theater department and the music department at Kansas State were top notch and really, really helped. Even honed me even more to get you ready for the real world of show business and to introduce me to more dramatics than what I was doing in high school and I also studied music there with a couple of great voice teachers. That just really, again, helped me find my voice and helped me figure out the kind of singer and the kind of performer that I needed to be instead of trying to shape me to what their curriculum asked them to do, you know what I mean? They really listened to what I was interested in, what I wanted to do with my career, what kind of music I was more geared towards, and just really helped me get on that path to we studied some of the classical stuff, some Italian art songs and all those things that are a good basis for any musician and but yeah, those those years at Kansas State really have helped really defined me as I think the performer, an actor or an entertainer that I’ve turned out to be.
Norman 9:57
Was there any part of that throughout those years that you just absolutely hated training or just something that’s happened?
Travis 10:05
I think everybody hates training to a degree you just want to get out there and do it. But that’s the ego in the artists talking there because not everybody knows everything we might think we do, but there’s no way that we do. So you get that ego talking to you, and they’re like I can do this, I can get out there, I can make it. But there’s times when you need to take a step back and say, okay, maybe I don’t know at all, maybe I do need to listen to what these guys are telling me.
Norman 10:35
With different walks, with different professions, I see this happen quite a bit, you’ll have somebody, especially in their younger years, there’ll be coming up and they might be successful, they might have sold the company for X number of million dollars, and they think they know what they’re doing and then all of a sudden, somebody will come around and just hit them between the eyes with a concept and they have the opportunity to change on a dime. So that’s more of your entrepreneur, right? You’ll change on the dime. Does that happen to music too where you’re setting your ways and then all of a sudden, this person comes up and says you know what, have you ever thought about doing it this way and it’s like, bang, a light comes on?
Travis 11:19
I think if you ask any artists, if that happens to them, they would be lying if they said no. It’s that kind of thing where you, like I was saying before you think you know what you want, and you think you know what you’re good at and then the universe kind of set someone in your path that says, Well, what if you tried it this way? Or what if you tried writing this kind of music or singing this kind of stuff and it’s great, because when those things happen, man, there’s just this lightbulb and this lightning strike that can open up so many things in your mind and your soul creativity. Frankie did that with me, when we recorded my record. I wanted to do the vocals of it here at my home studio just to give him a break from being the engineer and all that kind of stuff. But he wouldn’t let me because he wanted to be there to try to pull different things out of me vocally and so we recorded all the vocals at his studio and I go back and I listened to the record now and I’m like, there’s no way that I probably would have come up with that, the final product. So I think it’s important to be able to, to keep yourself open to other influences, because you never know when something is gonna hit you that you had no clue what was inside of you.
Norman 12:40
Right. Yeah, if you keep that open mind, you’ll always have something coming in, right? Yeah. All right. So you’re in university, what happens after university?
Travis 12:52
I knew that I wanted to be in the entertainment field somehow performing, whether it was doing my own thing, or being part of produce shows. I took off for a little while, we were talking about this a little while ago, I took off and worked on some cruise ships for a while doing production shows out there.
Norman 13:10
By the way, what’s that like?
Travis 13:10
It was great, man I was traveling the world and I look back on it. Now since we’re all stuck at home, and those were the days when you just go anywhere and do anything. But it was great man, it opened my mind to so many different ways of life and so many different cultures that I never would have been exposed to. So I loved it, I had a great time doing it. So I did that for a little while and then I moved to New York City because I knew that that’s where if I wanted to fulfill these dreams that I had, that’s where I needed to be. I lived there for a little while for a couple of years and had some success, but just wasn’t feeling it at that time in my life for some reason, and ended up moving. Where did I go after that? I moved back to Atlanta, where my dad was living at the time for just a little bit and I headed back out to sea to try to get my bearings and figure out what I wanted to do with my life and that’s where I met my wife, my awesome Rockstar wife is what I call her and who’s from Toronto, by the way. We met doing the shows out on the ship and we’ve been together ever since.
Norman 14:22
Oh my gosh. Whenever I travel, there’s at least, especially in the States, somebody comes up to me and says, Oh, do you know so and so in Winnipeg? And it’s like, Huh, but it did happen once. It didn’t happen once when I knew the person.
Travis 14:41
Yeah, that never happens, man.
Norman 14:43
Oh, man. That never happens. So you met your wife in New York. She’s from Toronto. She is also a musician?
Travis 14:49
She’s a dancer. Yeah. A dancer and choreographer and we got married just about 13 years ago last week.
Norman 14:58
Fantastic. Now tell me the difference why when you first went to New York, did you say this wasn’t for me, and then you’ll go back and it’s a complete change.
Travis 15:08
It had a lot to do with my mindset. I was in a different relationship at the time, too. So that kind of had some play in it. I don’t know, I think that I just wasn’t ready for it at that time. There’s just some times in your life where you think that something is what you want, and life says, I don’t think you’re quite ready for this yet. Maybe that happened? I don’t know. Maybe it’s New York’s a tough place, man. It’s great when it’s good, but when it’s not going your way. It can be a tough place and I just needed to get out for a little bit so I moved out and the thing that brought me back was in cast in the Broadway show Jersey Boys.
Norman 15:53
Right. Oh, How awesome would that be?
Travis 15:57
It was great, man. I was living with my dad in Atlanta at the time. I guess this was 2005 ish and I saw that the show had opened on Broadway about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and I had always been a huge Four Seasons fan. So I was like, of course, this show opens when I’m not in New York. So I was like, man, how am I going to get in this show? So I recorded a demo of me singing some Four Seasons tunes, sent it to the casting director in New York, and actually listened to it by the grace of God. Yeah, a spot had opened up, and they gave me a call, and wanted me to come to New York to audition. So I did, and sang some tunes from the show and audition went great but the thing about auditioning is you do the audition, and you gotta leave it in the room, no matter how bad you want it, and then get on with your life. So that’s what I did and I was heading back to the airport a couple of days later and I got a phone call on my phone and it was the casting director wanted to know if I could come to another audition. This time with the director in La Jolla, California, where he was at at that time. So I said, Absolutely. I’m there, man. Let’s do it. So I ended up flying to La Jolla, California about a week later and it was down between me and one other guy and the director and the room was it. So I got in there, man and I sang my heart out and I read the sides that they gave me and did my best and again, did my best to leave it in the room. I know I sure wanted it. I didn’t want it to consume me. But which it did anyway and then, I don’t know maybe a week later, I got that phone call from the casting director in New York, offering me a role in the Broadway show Jersey Boys and about two months later, I made my Broadway debut.
Norman 17:51
Now, was there a stage fright? Did you have any?
Travis 17:55
Oh my god. Yes. It took it to a whole other level at that point. I mean, I went from thinking I was ready to conquer the world. Yeah, you walking into I remember my first day walking into the theater, I was the cast at that time was all the original cast, they had just had one person leave, and they needed to fill that spot. So I had been listening to these guys on the cast album, and seeing them perform on award shows and talk shows and so walking in and meeting them and being able to perform with them was kind of like meeting rock stars and celebrities and I was just kind of awestruck, and I didn’t want to do anything that was going to screw them up at all. Yeah, so I rehearsed my butt off and did all the preparation that I needed to do. But that first time walking on stage and making my Broadway debut, I really don’t remember it. But I remembered that I did the show. I don’t remember anything about the show. I did or anything like that. But yeah, you talk about stage fright and butterflies just going just to the extreme. That was what it was like
Norman 19:06
The first audience I ever had that to talk about anything. Again, going back to eCommerce, so it was 1500 people, never talked to anybody other than in a conference room or so just prior to doing this, I broke my tooth. So I had to go to the dentist to get a fill. Then I had an asthma attack, trying to get up on stage, I did this thing. But at the end of it, I just did it but I was shaking like a leaf like I’d really like to see the video and sweating and I just felt sick. But when I got off the stage and everybody was applauding and I heard it went fairly well. But I went back up to my room and I think I slept for about a day and a half because I was just exhausted from just that. Now, I can just imagine your position.
Travis 19:55
It’s the same thing. I do remember after that night, I came home and ate like a horse, because I hadn’t been eating because I knew I was just getting so worked up and the nerves were taking over and kind of just riding on adrenaline. But once it was done, man, I just could not stop eating all night long and then I slept like a baby for sure.
Norman 20:17
How many performances did you do?
Travis 20:19
Well, I was in the show for just about 10 years. Yeah. I did the show for about a year and a half on Broadway and then when the show opened in Las Vegas in 2008, we moved out here and we ran it from 2008 until the end of 2016 when we closed. In Las Vegas, Jersey Boys was the longest running Broadway show to play the strip in Las Vegas history and we also set a record for performances here. We ran in Las Vegas for 3279 performances.
Norman 20:55
Wow. What a hotel was that at?
Travis 20:58
We started out at the Palazzo for about three years or so and then we transitioned over to the Paris Hotel and Casino.
Norman 21:04
Okay. Yeah. Oh that was later on, though, wasn’t it? Because, like, I love Las Vegas. I am there quite a bit. But The Palazzo, so you were still there in around 2014-15. Right?
Travis 21:18
No, let’s see, we opened up in 2008 at The Palazzo, and I think 2012 is when we moved down the street to Paris.
Norman 21:27
Okay. Yeah. All right. Wow and also just what a great spot to live. Going from Kansas City, New York over to Vegas. Are you ever gonna go back to Kansas City?
Travis 21:41
I don’t think Kansas City, I don’t have any family there anymore. Everybody has since moved out and it’s just, I don’t know, it’s a great place to live. If I could find a way to do what I want to do there, without a doubt, it just holds such a great place in my heart but no plans or even talked to move back there.
Norman 22:00
Yeah. Did you get a chance to meet Frankie Valli or any of the Four Seasons?
Travis 22:05
Yeah, many times, man. They were in all of my auditions. Not all of my auditions, but all of the big auditions, the final say auditions, they were there and again, you talk about nerves, walking into a room and seeing Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio sitting behind a table and you’re about to walk in there and sing the songs for them that they have had multi Platinum hits with, that was another one of those moments where you’re like, Okay, let’s keep it together and do what we got to do and we can freak out later. But now’s the time to work. So but yeah, Frankie and Bob are both just fantastic guys, man, fantastic, very open with information about their lives and their music and the conversations we had about their music man, just how they wrote the songs and different performances of them, stories about their life back in New Jersey and just I look back on it now and it’s almost surreal that I get to sit and talk with these guys. One time I was sitting at lunch with Frankie. It was me, Frankie, I think his manager and a couple of the other guys from the show and at the time, he was talking about this project that he was working on. He was doing an album of Sinatra tunes, kind of like a tip in his hat to Sinatra, another New Jersey guy and so we’re sitting around a table and then Frankie Valli just starts singing some of the songs that he’s gonna do on on this record and I was like, what is going on right now? It was so cool, man. It was so cool.
Norman 23:33
Did you join in?
Travis 23:35
No, man. I just sat there and listened, it’s one of those things. You’re like, I’m not gonna step on his toes. You sing. You’re the man. You got it. You let me know how it is.
Norman 23:46
I kind of want it. Where does the staying power come? Like there’s lots of and this goes for right across the board. It could be musical groups. It could be a great company, franchise, whatever it is. What gave you the staying power to make Jersey Boys the big one? Make it be the longest lasting show.
Travis 24:08
Well, first of all, the show itself was pretty great. Yeah, I think it starts there. Yeah, with these great songs that these guys wrote and recorded and this music that touched so many people long before the show was around, then you pair that with this interesting story. Everybody loves an origin story. They love a comeback story. They love all that stuff. Jersey Boys encapsulated all of that and then on top of it, it was directed so brilliantly by our director enough and it just was the perfect storm of all these things coming together and it just had staying power. Like I don’t think anybody thought that it would.
Norman 24:53
I guess you can look at a cast like a family.
Travis 24:56
Absolutely.
Norman 24:57
There’s all sorts of personalities and I dealt with lots of different employees, contractors. There’s always problems that come up and I’ve also seen other companies that have dealt with this and it’s actually imploded, the company’s imploded because of just cancer within. How did you deal with that within the cast?
Travis 25:21
You talk about that and that’s kind of one of the main points of the show, the actual Four Seasons had that cancer, and it caused them to split up and one of the members out because he was just taking them in a direction that they didn’t want to go down and that was kind of the dark point of their career and they found that way to turn lemons into lemonade, and keep going and make some more music. Tons and tons of hits after that happened. But yeah, it is like a family and any family is gonna have animosity, it’s gonna have strife, it’s gonna have good times, and it’s gonna have bad times. That’s life. I think the key to keep going in situations like that is to realize that the audience doesn’t need to know that, that’s none of their business. They paid good money to see this show. So whatever you’re feeling towards people, whether it be good, whether it be bad, all that stuff gets left off stage. Once you step on stage, you got to do your job. Because at the end of the day, that’s the job. Definitely, it’s a family, and you’re going to have ups and downs and peaks and valleys and fights and come to Jesus moments and hug it out sometimes. Sometimes it doesn’t work out at all. But that’s life and that’s show business.
Norman 26:39
What’s your opinion on making your show performed consistently every day?
Travis 26:45
That’s a good one. Again, the first answer is that’s your job.
Norman 26:49
Yeah.
Travis 26:50
The key to keeping it fresh, I have no idea what that is. Because there were plenty of times when man I would, I would walk offstage and while I was out there, my mind was doing something else and I was just going through the motions and muscle memory took over and I got offstage and I was like, did we just do that scene? Did I say everything? All right, that I was supposed to say, Did it go all right? But I mean, that goes through anybody in any job that’s going to happen. But we would have quite a few rehearsals to try to keep things fresh. Our directors were always on top of that, finding new ways to help us think about scenes differently. We would always have vocal brush up rehearsals, so that any bad habits that we started picking up or kind of squashed and we stayed true to the music and stayed true to how the directors and the producers wanted it done. So that helped a lot in keeping it fresh.
Norman 27:46
Nice. All right. Is there anything that the general public might not know? Is there something very interesting, could be anything. Funny, sad. Anything that’s happened that has not come out behind the scenes?
Travis 28:03
Well, I get asked quite a bit how to stay vocally healthy and how did you keep the stamina to do this show for so long singing this iconic music that is not necessarily natural, and my voice or a lot of other people’s voices. You got that falsetto stuff, mixed in with Frankie Valli’s full voice. It was a workout man, it was something like I have never been through and I did that for 10 years and we had a great vocal coach Katie, out of New York City that we would do voice lessons with once or twice a week just to keep us where we needed to be, just to keep us healthy, to keep us thinking properly to again, squash any bad habits that were starting to creep out. But there were a few times where not only myself but a lot of the different guys playing Frankie had some vocal scares. I went through, I think two vocal hemorrhages that I know of while I was doing this show and so there were times when I was out on vocal rest for I think the longest I was on vocal rest. I mean, vocal rest, not talking, nothing was for almost six weeks. So that the injury could heal on the vote.
Norman 29:20
Is that something normal for singers?
Travis 29:22
I think when you’re like I said, when you’re singing things that aren’t necessarily naturally your voice there was that, singing it so often and then singing it here in Las Vegas, where the climate is definitely not conducive, of a lot of vocal cords hammering each other. So there were a couple factors that played into it. But again, our vocal coaches helped us out to help me get through those scares, and not just physically help but psychologically helped me out because you think about your moneymaker and your dream and all you have to do now is keep your mouth shut and you can’t do anything that will really mess somebody up.
Norman 30:06
It’s like shaving my beard.
Travis 30:10
It messed me up pretty good. But I had a couple different doctors and some really good friends and people helped me keep my head on straight and focused on what I needed to do to get over it.
Norman 30:21
But when you say all right, I mean, it sounds pretty simple. You can’t say anything right for six weeks. Did you have to take anything? Or was it just not just not talking?
Travis 30:32
It was just not talking. It was letting your body heal what it needed to heal. There aren’t really any drugs or remedies other than , just trying to keep things hydrated and moist and just a nice environment for your body to do what it needs to do.
Norman 30:50
I’ve never heard of this before. I’m curious, when you found out that this happened. Is it something like you’ve got a sore throat or?
Travis 31:00
No, it’s weird, because the first time it happened to me, I was in the middle of a show and it was scary as hell, man. There’s not really any nerve endings on your vocal cords. So it doesn’t feel like anything. But all of a sudden, you just are very airy, my vocal range has completely disappeared. I would try to sing and it was just like I was just whispering. I had no idea what was going on until I went to the doctor the next day and they’re like, yeah, this is what’s up.
Norman 31:36
So were you able to complete the show?
Travis 31:38
I did. I was stubborn, and I was stupid and I muscled through it and looking back now, I know that I shouldn’t have. I should have bowed out and took care of myself because I probably did more damage trying to get through the show trying to be the hero with the show must go on and looking back, I think about doing that and it just kind of gives me the willies.
Hayden 32:07
Thanks for listening. That’s the end of part one of the interview. Make sure to tune in later in the week to hear the rest. As always make sure to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. That’s it for me and I’ll see you next time.
Norman 0:00
Welcome to part two of our interview with Travis Cloer. Have you ever heard part one yet? Make sure to go back and check it out. Now for rest of the interview
Norman 0:13
So you would have done it differently?
Travis 0:15
Oh, yeah. I would have. Had I known what actually happened, because this was the first time it had ever happened to me. So I wasn’t really sure what was going on. I thought maybe I was just tired, or just maybe had a sore throat or something like that just wasn’t feeling well. But looking back now, yeah, I would have finished whatever scene I was in, and ran over to the stage manager and said I’m sorry, but this isn’t gonna happen. You’re gonna have to take a break and get the understudy ready to finish the show.
Norman 0:45
So do you know of any cases where this could have finished the singer’s career?
Travis 0:52
Yeah. I mean, if you let it go on long enough, and if you don’t let yourself heal, there’s a lot of different ways that it can impact you negatively and even take life off of your career, if not ended.
Norman 1:10
Wow. I have no idea about these kinds of things.
Travis 1:14
They don’t think about these things, they just think people come out, and they got a great voice, or they get a nice range and they sing songs and it’s pretty and it moves you. But, it’s like any other athlete. You got to take care of yourself. You can’t go out and scream at the clubs and drink all night long and it’s really taking care of yourself and living like an athlete and getting proper rest and drinking fluids and exercising and just doing what you need to do so that you can stay healthy.
Norman 1:49
Wow, incredible. Again, I never knew about that. But let’s talk about transition. What was it like, you spent 10 years of your life doing this and then you transitioned out of the Jersey Boys.
Travis 2:02
Yeah, the show closed, I think in September of 2016 and since then, before then, I had been doing some solo work as well, solo performances, writing, recording and after the show ended, I was still auditioning for and have been auditioning for other things whether it’s in on the stage or TV or film, but what’s really been keeping me going has been performing as a solo artist now, whether it’s again on ships, or casinos or performing arts centers. That’s what’s really been keeping me going the last four years, I guess it is until everything fell apart last year.
Norman 2:44
So, and I’ve asked this to a bunch of actors and musicians, I’m curious about this. When something like that ends, 10 years into it, when you leave when you walk out the door, the next day, what’s your emotional state?
Travis 2:59
Oh man, it’s funny you asked that. The next day was technically our day off. So the next day felt just like any other day. What would have been the next performance day was brutal. It felt like a train hit me. I wasn’t warming up. I wasn’t getting ready to go do the show. I didn’t go in and see my friends and we were I think sitting there on the balcony. My wife and I, when it was supposed to be time to do the show and my phone just started blowing up with texts from everybody that was in the show. We’d be doing this right now and yeah, it was emotional, man. It was very emotional. It felt like a big chunk of my life had come to a close.
Norman 3:47
How was your mental health at that time?
Travis 3:50
Oh, it was good. I felt so proud of what we had done and what we accomplished and in the love and the joy that we spread by telling the story and singing this music. So I think that part of it outweighed the fear of Okay, my job’s gone.
Norman 4:12
Yeah. Let’s talk about a couple of people that we know. So Michael Peterson, how’d you guys meet?
Travis 4:18
We met here in Las Vegas. I think the first time I saw him was at a show that we do here in town called the Composer’s Showcase, which is basically a writers night. Basically, any of the Songwriters in Las Vegas we get together once a month and we just share our songs. It’s great because we do it at one of the performing arts centers here in town called The Smith Center. So I mean it’s fully produced, we’ve got great sound and all the musicians around town are so cool about this one particular show because if you reach out to any of them say Hey, I need a trumpet player on this song that I’m going to present the showcase. Everybody’s always in. It’s a really, really great writing and creative community here. So the first time I saw Michael was at that show, and he presented one of his songs, and I don’t think there’s been any songs of his that I haven’t really liked or that have not blown me away in one way or another. He’s a great writer, man.
Norman 5:19
Yeah. I’ve got a bunch of his albums now. What about Frankie?
Travis 5:27
I met Frankie, while I was still in Jersey Boys. He was playing, he and his band were playing at a lounge here at one of the hotels, and I would go see him and again, we just met around town, while we were doing special appearances. Jersey Boys was there and Frankie and his band were there and we just started hitting off and talking and he came to see our show. I’d go to see his show and we just developed this friendship over the years that has turned into this great creative relationship.
Norman 5:55
We really got into labels and streaming and all of that when we were talking to what are some of your thoughts on all this stuff that’s going on right now?
Travis 6:03
Man, it’s such a weird world to navigate right now with the music business and there’s, I don’t know. I find myself feeling two different ways about it, I guess. I think that it’s great, because it’s giving so many people a chance to be heard, but at the same time, it’s giving so many people a chance to be heard. You know what I mean? Not all of it’s great and it’s kind of kind of muddying the pool a little bit I guess is a way to say it and there’s just a lot of competition now and the whole streaming thing is just, it’s like a full time job navigating that alone. You know what I mean? A lot of times it can become, I find it a little overwhelming and it kind of clouds the creative juices a little bit and kind of just gets a little discouraging sometimes. So yeah, I think it’s great in that way. But at the same time, it’s I don’t know, but Hey, it’s the way things are now. So we either have to deal with it or find some other way.
Norman 7:11
Do you do much on social?
Travis 7:13
I try to yeah, I know how important social media is and so I’m, I am really upping my game and trying to be the presence that I need to be to continue to stay in the game, and to develop relationships and pick up new fans. But again, that’s another full time job, man.
Norman 7:31
It is. Yeah and the other part too, you gotta have thick skin, you got a bunch of jerks that can be out there, and I’m not sure who it was, maybe it was little Rossi or Oh, it might have been Anthony Melchiorri. He said, he posts and ghosts. But then you gotta have that engagement. It’s tough to do,
Travis 7:53
I kind of go back and forth between those two schools of post and ghost and come back on is to see if there’s anybody that I need to engage with so that I keep that engagement going. But recently I found the posting ghost method is at least working for my sanity.
Norman 8:13
Alright, just another question about Broadway. What sets the great Broadway performances apart from the others?
Travis 8:21
That’s a good question. I think, a lot of dedication, a lot of just, I’m thinking of how I prepare for roles and it’s a lot of internal work. It’s a lot of trying to break down a character and trying to find out what makes them tick and the people that can do that the best can really, really shine from the stage. You add that to a voice that’s very well trained, and can act through the song and you’ve got a home run, man.
Norman 8:57
Yeah. Well, I got a tough question for you this time. This COVID, this whole COVID year, so with Broadway being shut down until 2021, how have you been dealing with COVID?
Travis 9:14
It’s a day by day thing. I think not only for me, but I think a lot of people mess with your head when your entire life has really been taken away from you. But I’ve been using this time to write and to practice and to continue to create, either releasing singles or reading videos online. But yeah, it’s been tough man and I think that just about every single person in show business will tell you the same. But, who said show business was easy, but I don’t think any of us knew this pandemic was going to hit.
Norman 9:50
I don’t think a lot of people realize. Yeah, but people don’t realize. Getting food, ordering food, all right, small businesses are being affected, we see that restaurants closing. I don’t think a lot of us think about how it’s affected the entertainment industry, live performances, bars, gigs.
Travis 10:14
I don’t think anybody really, I don’t want to say anybody, but a lot of people.
Norman 10:18
A lot of people.
Travis 10:19
Don’t get how impacted this business has been. I mean, we went from doing what we love to the very next day saying, you are not going to be able to do that, and we don’t know when you’re going to be able to do it again. That was devastating, to see my calendar of events just completely wiped clean for the near future. I’ve been doing some small shows around Las Vegas, we’ve been adhering to the local guidelines as far as the safety protocols go. But still, it’s nothing like it was; those are few and far between and even trying to get people to come to those. People are understandably reluctant to go out and, and sit at a venue. Regardless, if you’re sitting six feet away, or if you’re a man wearing a mask, it’s still that mentality of something still isn’t quite right. So I don’t know if I should go out tonight, kind of thing. So.
Norman 11:22
So what does the typical small gig look like in Vegas right now?
Travis 11:28
Before the pandemic hit, I was using my band which consisted anywhere from four to eight pieces. When I was playing some of the larger cruise ships, it would go up to nine to 10 pieces. If I do anything, it’s me and the piano player, maybe we’ll throw in a sax, but just because the sheer amount of money that’s not there, you don’t have money to pay guys and then as far as the venues go, where the places I’ve played, we can only do 25% capacity. Or if I can’t remember that there’s a cap on people that can come in once it gets over 25% capacity. So they’re tiny venues, people are very welcoming, and so excited to have live music and to be entertained. But it’s not there yet we’re still fighting hard here in Las Vegas and in the States and it’s going to be that way for quite a bit longer, I’m afraid.
Norman 12:26
Yeah, unfortunately. Oh, man. So how have you been able to during this whole COVID crisis? How have you been able to maintain your creativity?
Travis 12:36
That’s another good question and again, it’s one of those things that comes day by day when it first hit, it was a little bit more, it was easier to do because we all kind of thought that it was gonna go away a little quicker. So everybody’s like, well, I’ll just hop online and sing a song for people and I was doing that and was creating videos and posting them on my YouTube channel but I think the thing that has kept me going creatively is just the fact that there’s nothing that satisfies me, the way that that does, whether it’s just sitting down with a guitar or producing some type of fully produced video to share online or releasing a single, there’s nothing that really gives me that kind of joy and since I can’t find that joy from being on stage right now, I need to fill that part up inside of me and so I come up here in my little studio, and I try to get the creative juices flowing. It’s been really great, though. This time I’ve been able to spend at home with my wife and my kids, time that I never would have had so I’m trying to appreciate that as well.
Norman 13:48
How old are your kids?
Travis 13:50
I got a six year old and an eight year old.
Norman 13:53
Oh, great age, great age. Super. What are they doing? Are they going to school or is it still homeschooling?
Travis 14:02
They had been doing homeschool this full year until a couple of weeks ago, my son went back he’s in first grade. He went back for I think three hours in the morning he goes and then for the second half of the day, he is online. My daughter in the third grade is still completely online, but she’s going to be going back in the morning, hopefully in a couple of weeks.
Norman 14:23
They went back to school or your son did. It’s not school like we remember it. How did he deal with that?
Travis 14:33
He was so excited and he’s loved every second of it.
Norman 14:37
Really? That’s great.
Travis 14:39
His class is limited again, they’re in max all day, their desks are spread apart. But he’s just excited to be back there with his friends and learning in a different way with an actual teacher instead of looking at her computer.
Norman 14:55
Did that drive you crazy?
Travis 14:57
Yeah, man. I said to a lot of people, I said kids are a lot more resilient than we give them credit for and they’re a lot more than we give them credit for. We can see how hard it would be, but they don’t really see that. They’re like, Oh, I’ve got to go to school. This is how I’m doing school. Okay, I’ll go to school.
Norman 15:17
This is something I was just going to ask you, you’re a world class Broadway performer, you’re a composer, musician and you’re also a parent. So how is that during this whole time period,
Travis 15:32
It just grabs all of them and shakes them every day. It’s like, Okay, well, what are we gonna get today? It’s like a game of Yahtzee, you know what I mean? Like, okay, we roll it, like, Oh, I gotta be with my kids at school all day to day, I can’t head up to the studio. Some days, there’s some empty time where I can sit down and do some things. Other days, there’s not and that’s how it is because we’re all at home right now and we all have, they have things that they need me for at school, other things that they need me for, that they wouldn’t necessarily have needed before, before all this happened. But it’s oddly satisfying to be able to be there for them like this to grow and to experience this part of their life, like I said before, that I wouldn’t have had before.
Norman 16:18
Yeah,whenever I will think of COVID, oddly enough, the positive part is family all got back together. That was not ever supposed to happen in my lifetime.
Travis 16:33
It’s crazy and it’s been such a blessing throughout this horrible ordeal to be able to spend this time with my wife and my kids and my dogs that are getting older and I think about that and I think about well, what if something would have happened this year, and I would have been on the road somewhere and so I just try to look at that silver lining and to just appreciate every day for what it is, try not to think too far down the road. That’s a little hard to do sometimes especially in show business, you’re trying to figure out okay, what can I do next? Where’s the next gig coming from? What’s next show, but I try to keep it, the blinders on a little bit. So I don’t look too far down the road.
Norman 17:20
Right. So throughout your life, it could be your career, it could be something else, you must have had some struggles, you want to get into some? Basically what I want to hear is I want to know the struggle, how it happened and then what you did to get out of it?
Travis 17:34
Yeah, well, I feel let’s start now and work backwards, I guess. I think one of the struggles, like we were just talking about is trying to not look too far down the road. Because right now we have no idea when things are going to go back to normal and we’re going to be able to do what we were doing and when we are able to do that, what’s that even going to look like? So that messes with my mind quite a bit. There’s times when I’m sitting there and or lying there in bed, and I wake up in the middle of the night, for some reason, my mind just starts running a million miles a minute with all these things that I have absolutely no control over and I think a lot of the times the problem is trying to get control when you don’t have control and there’s only so much that we can do because there’s just so much stuff right now that there are no answers to and I don’t know if I’ve come up with a surefire way of dealing with that yet other than I’ll say a little prayer and give it up to God and ask for strength to not let it affect me in a negative way so that I can stay focused on what I need to do for what I can do for my career right now, what I need to do for my family right now, and to stay focused and just keep moving forward on it. Like we said on a daily basis right now.
Norman 19:04
Very good. Interesting, interesting point. Going a little bit further back, do you have any other struggles or a struggle that comes to mind that you had to overcome to get where you are?
Travis 19:15
Yeah. I think about the first time that I left New York, we were talking about that earlier. I was there and I was working and I was going to auditions in the day and waiting tables at night and repeat and repeat and repeat and I had some success. I got cast in some shows, touring thing, and a local thing that got me into the actor’s union. So there was some success but at the time, I was just feeling so beat up by show business, the rat race that is New York City, and I just couldn’t take it man. It really just weighed me down and beat me up. So a lot of that is the reason that I left. I felt in a way, almost like I was giving up. But I just needed to get out and recoup, I think. I was still performing. When I left New York I wasn’t, I didn’t jump out of show business altogether. But I had just had enough of New York City at that time and there was a time after I left that I just felt like I had given up and the way that I got out of that was to just keep performing, and find ways to stay creative, and keep singing and getting on stage again and then this whole Jersey Boys thing rolled around, and it brought me back to New York City without me even being in New York City and got me on Broadway, and I wasn’t even living in New York at the time. So those kinds of struggles, I think every actor is going to tell you they have or every musician or show business, there’s times that this business can just, it’s horrible. I don’t know why I chose it other than I know what kind of joy it brings me and that’s what I’m always chasing.
Norman 21:09
Right. I don’t know your business. But what are the odds of me sending in a recording to a casting director and getting them to listen to it?
Travis 21:22
Man, I don’t know, I really don’t know. Because this was like I said back in 2005. Nowadays, the world of self taping and sending in an audition has really taken off because it just, it’s more convenient. It saves time. You don’t have to rent out a rehearsal studio, people can just do their stuff at home and send it in. So this was before all that happened and so for them to listen to it, I don’t know, man, I guess it was just meant to be. I’m very happy that they did.
Norman 21:51
You are. Okay, well, let’s switch gears a bit and let’s talk about your greatest success. What is it?
Travis 21:59
Well, I think professionally would have to be Jersey Boys has been a dream of mine since I was in high school to be in a Broadway show and at the time, I joined the hottest Broadway show that was playing at the moment and I ended up playing this lead role for nearly 10 years. So I look back at that accomplishment and I feel very proud not only for getting there, but to be able to continue doing it for that long and to touch so many people with this music and with this story. I feel very proud about that.
Norman 22:38
Very good. Oh, we’re winding down. I have to say, this flew by. This has been great. I’ve loved talking to you about everything, especially from Jersey Boys, what you’re doing now, how you’re handling COVID. Very interesting comments. I love you being so candid with us.
Travis 23:01
Sure, man.
Norman 23:02
So I do have a question for you though. It actually is not the question that you think I’m going to ask. But how do people either get your music? Where can they find more about you? I know that you have a website. Where can people grab your music outside Apple?
Travis 23:18
There’s a couple different places. I’m all over social media. Travis Cloer music either on Instagram or Facebook, my music’s on Spotify on Apple Music. Or you can go to my website, traviscloerr.com and all the links to everything are right there.
Norman 23:36
And soon to be on Clubhouse.
Travis 23:39
That’s right.
Norman 23:39
Yeah. All right. Now the question. At the end of every podcast, we ask our guests one question and it’s if they know a guy.
Travis 23:51
I do. I’ve think about this. I know a couple of guys. One of them is well, they both have been my music directors in different forms. One is a guy that I’ve been playing with recently. His name is Chris. He is a fantastic piano player. He is a great composer himself and he was one of our assistant directors and keyboard players in Jersey Boys. He and I have this relationship. We’re developing some projects right now, we’re writing together and getting some things ready to go once COVID gets the hell out of here. He was also in the Broadway show Million Dollar Quartet playing Jerry Lee Lewis. So he’s a great guy. Another great guy that I think would be a good fit for you guys is my buddy Keith Thompson. He was our number one music director in Jersey Boys here in Las Vegas. He also is the guy that put together the composer showcase that we were talking about where I first saw Michael Peterson perform and he’s a fantastic composer, such a huge heart. He has set up a couple of different funds for musicians and actors that are in need right now in Las Vegas because of COVID and he’s a wine connoiseur, he’s just a great and interesting guy. So either one of those guys, I’ll put you in touch with them. I’ll send you their information. But I think either one of those guys would be a great fit for you.
Norman 25:16
That’s fantastic. All right. Well, it has been a pleasure speaking with you. I hope we can keep in touch and maybe we can get you back on another podcast. We’ll get you Michael and Frankie on a podcast.
Travis 25:29
Let’s do it and we’ll do a number a couple numbers for you guys.
Norman 25:32
That, I’d love. Alright. Okay, we’ll be talking to you soon.
Travis 25:38
Norm, thanks a lot, man.
Norman 25:39
Hey, no problem.
Travis 25:41
I’ll talk to you soon.
Hayden 25:42
So I guess it’s a good thing your kindergarten teacher stopped you from your pursuance of Broadway right?
Norman 25:50
I guess so. I mean, I’ve heard of Off Broadway, but this would have been more like off tune out a pitch Broadway. So lucky there’s guys like Travis out there that are show stoppers. Listen to what he has to say, I had no idea. I didn’t, I really didn’t. I’m so naive to the business. But when he was talking about his throat, his vocal chords.
Hayden 26:16
Not speaking for, what was it six weeks?
Norman 26:18
Six weeks and like he says, that’s his moneymaker.
Hayden 26:22
Not an easy gig
Norman 26:23
No, no, especially that when you’re talking about Jersey Boys. That was a tough go.
Hayden 26:33
Wow. What an inspiration and I mean, it’s also great to see him transition during this time too into focusing more on music and like making the best of the times we’re in.
Norman 26:45
Well, I think it’s like every single person that we’ve had here. They act like an entrepreneur, they can turn on a dime, they’re resilient, and they’re positive. I think that’s what makes the difference and again, every single person we’ve had on this podcast seems to have the same traits, a common denominator.
Hayden 27:07
For sure. Yeah, no doubt. Well, I guess that wraps up this episode.
Norman 27:12
It does and so now we’ve got to reach out to his referrals and I can’t wait to talk to them.
Hayden 27:17
Yeah, we’ll see what comes our way. All right. Thanks, everyone, for listening. We’ll see you next time.
Norman 27:23
See you next time.
Hayden 27:28
Thanks for listening, guys and gals. Up next week, we have Alexandros. Alexandros was the architect and designer of the recently completed Penn Station. You won’t want to miss it, we really go down some paths that I had never considered before, to do with modern architecture in a city like New York. It ended up being super fascinating. Anyway, that’s enough for me, and I’ll see you next time.
