It has taken Fran Healy more than 40 years to feel this free. He's 42 now, or at least he thinks he is, and finally he feels in control of things. For years he and Travis, the band he fronts, were ignored. Then there were years when you couldn't ignore them because their songs were in the top ten and Travis were winning Brits and headlining Glastonbury where people would sing along to Why Does It Always Rain on Me. But all the time, he says, he always felt a kid surrounded by grown-ups.

"You join the record industry and you get managers and you get people around you," he says. "You've got your teachers and your headmasters. The record companies are the teachers. 'Is it playtime? Has the school bell rung?' You're just ushered around."

It's only now in his fifth decade that he's realised he doesn't have to be a pupil any more. He can be head of his own class.

Travis have a new album, Everything At Once out. It's on the band's own label. They've made a film to go along with it. In short, the band have taken control. "It's amazing actually," Fran says. "I am surprised that it hadn't occurred to me.

"We've produced the best amount of work we've ever produced and it's all been within the four of us. We are in charge of our own thing."

Travis in 2016 are a band who are happy with their lot. Ask drummer Neil Primrose what the mood in the camp is and the word he uses is "buoyancy".

They're all proud of their new album and looking forward to playing it live. "I don't think it's ever felt as good as it feels," confirms Fran, easily the beardiest member of the band, as they all sit around in a garden in Ladbroke Grove in London.

That's saying something given this is a band that at their peak at the turn of the century enjoyed two number one albums, five top ten hits, two Brit Awards and more than 8 million record sales, all told.

On this London afternoon, though, they are not above a little reminiscing about their past. Travis formed around Friday night jam sessions in Glasgow's school of art. When bassist Dougie Payne joined the band the line-up was complete and the band were ready to rock. Literally. "The first time that the four of us sat in a rehearsal room and played together we thought, 'this is good," recalls guitarist Andy Dunlop.

"Even before we played a note," agrees Fran "In the pregnant pause before the countdown of All We Want to Do is Rock we thought 'this is it, this is great.'"

Dougie, who's married to actress Kelly Macdonald, had needed some persuading. He'd always seen playing music as a hobby. But Fran can be persuasive, he says. "The first time that we met we got the train back to my place from Central to Giffnock and I had a guitar and we sat on that train and sang a song. From the very beginning playing music was part of the relationship, part of the friendship."

In 1996, not long after Dougie joined, the band left Glasgow for London because they felt they were getting nowhere in their home city. They made the move to get ahead in the music business, but, Dougie adds, it was also an adventure, sharing a house in the big city. Who was the one who left their socks on the floor? "I'm pretty messy," admits Andy. "Neil's definitely the tidiest."

"You've got the smelliest socks for sure," Dougie says to Andy.

"He had to put his trainers out on the windowsill a lot," suggests Neil.

"I'm just very active."

Everything took off for the band when they played Glastonbury in 1999 and it started raining as they sang Why Does It Always Rain on Me?

"Everyone's looking like they're having the s******* gig ever because they're soaked," recalls Fran, "and we finished the song and walked offstage saying that was the worst gig. It was a very underwhelming moment. And then we got back to the house that evening and switched on BBC2 for the Glastonbury coverage and we were mentioned every two minutes and I was like 'whooo! I love that!'"

The band were back as headliners the following year and for the next two years things went a bit mad as hit followed hit and gig followed gig. And then everything changed when Neil dived into a pool in France and broke his neck.

He could have been paralysed but was fortunate to recover. Still, it proved a changing point for the band. They took some time out, started families. "A question that's asked is what's the most extravagant thing fame has bought you," Fran says. "I would say I can maybe speak for all of us. We've managed to buy ourselves time with our kids when we had them. We had three years were we basically didn't see each other and just left the car by the side of the road and then came back three years later.

"WE would never have been able to do that if we had not been successful."

Family. That's what it's about for Travis. That's what the band is in a way. And after more than 20 years together they can still say that they are friends. In the end, perhaps, that's their greatest achievement.

Everything At Once is out now. Travis's new single Magnificent Time is released on Friday and the band play Glasgow's 02 ABC the same day.