Travis, the longstanding softspoken Scottish pop-rockers who emerged in the late ’90s wave of bands that held Radiohead’s “High And Dry” as a foundational text, have a new album on the way. L.A. Times, which they’re billing as their most personal since 1999 career highlight The Man Who, is coming in July, and its latest single comes with some major star power.

“Raze The Bar” is dedicated to the Black & White Bar in NYC, where the band (and Stereogum’s Scott Lapatine) used to hang out. It was a popular haunt for performers in Greenwich Village, but during the pandemic, it was shut down, and all evidence of its existence was basically wiped from the Earth. Joining Travis in this tribute are Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who maybe learned a thing or two from Travis back in the day, and the Killers’ Brandon Flowers.

Travis’ Fran Healy shared this statement on the song:

There was a great bar in New York City. It didn’t have a name but everyone called it Black and White on account of the black and white striped awning that hung over the entrance. They had poetry nights, great DJs, open mic nights. If you played a show at Irving Plaza or Webster Hall, chances are you ended up at Black and White till the wee small hours. One of the owners, Johnny T, looked after so many artists and bands over the years. If that bar could talk, what a story it would tell.

During the pandemic, their landlord refused to negotiate a reduced rent and they had to close. So, in the middle of the night, they turned up with a truck and removed every single trace and fixture of the bar. Then they white washed the whole space so it could never be repeated. “Raze the Bar” is a song about a fictional last night in the bar. Johnny is in there, Jack, Richard and Johnny’s brother and bar co-owner Chris. The cameos were almost an afterthought! I just called Chris Martin in a bit of a panic because I couldn’t figure out what the track sequence should be. When Chris heard it, he was like, ‘That song is the best thing you’ve ever written!’ And because he and Brandon Flowers both live quite near…”

Listen below, where you can also hear prior L.A. Times singles “Gaslight” and “The River.”

L.A. Times is out 7/12 via BMG.