LOLLAPALOOZA DOUBLETAKE: For those of you back...

LOLLAPALOOZA DOUBLETAKE: For those of you back on the lawn during Lollapalooza ’95 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre this past week, yup, that was the same person playing bass for both Beck and Elastica. When the tour started six weeks ago, L.A.-based musician Abby Travis was just playing with Beck. But with the sudden, unexplained departure of Elastica’s Annie Holland--just two weeks after the English band had begun its replacement role, filling in for Sinead O’Connor--Travis was tabbed for the double duty.

Travis (who also once played with Spinal Tap--but that’s another story) got the call to lend a hand Aug. 8 as the tour hit Austin. She was quickly shuttled to a rented rehearsal space, where she spent four hours listening to a tape of songs before being joined by the band’s three other members for several hours of practice. They rehearsed again the next day--right after Beck’s Austin set--but didn’t perform on the show. By the following day in Dallas, though, the realigned group was back in the lineup.

Judging by the taut execution of the band’s arrangements and the jovial atmosphere onstage, the fit seems to be a good one--although Travis declined to speculate on what the future might hold and reports are that Holland may rejoin the band.

Travis admits that before being asked to join up, she wasn’t exactly hanging on Elastica’s every note in its sets following Beck. “I hadn’t listened to them much, really,” she said. “Had I known, I would have paid a little more attention.”