Here’s hoping that Travis’s SSE Hydro gig tomorrow goes smoother than their Christmas shopping.

When bassist Dougie Payne answers the phone for a chat he admits he’s been spending part of his day in a futile bid to pick up presents.

The band themselves have been given a big gift tomorrow, when they headline the Hydro to cap off a year that saw them release their eighth album Everything At Once.

“We’ll be feeling pretty festive, because this is a big deal for us,” explains Dougie.

“When we had quite a long break between Ode To J Smith and then Where You Stand (released in 2013), we were wondering if anyone would be interested in us making music again. Then it went Top 5 and the tour that followed was fantastic, which really energised us going into this record.

“We’ve always been a band that just deals with what’s in front of us, we’ve never had a grand plan. You never know what will appeal to people, so every time we release it’s a record it’s a throw of the dice. This time it’s been really lovely how people have taken to it.”

The band have long been a Glasgow institution, from their early days as Glass Onion to the release of debut album Good Feeling, and the worldwide fame that accompanied their second album The Man Who in 1999.

There have been many ups and downs since then, but for Dougie the band’s roots as a bunch of pals playing music transcends everything else.

“Those first six years, where we were just mates playing each other records and hanging out in our houses, that was the nucleus of the band,” he explains.

“That’s where the sense of it all came from, those friendships. They all stay the same, so every time we get back together you revert to being 17 again in a strange way.”

Given the success the band went on to have, it’s fair to ask if those friendships were ever tested, and making music became like work?

“Yeah, that was at the point when we were at our most successful, around 2001 and 2002,” says Dougie.

“The band had always orbited around those friendships but by the end of touring The Man Who and The Invisible Band, it was a situation where the band was at the centre of things and the friendships were spiralling around that.

“That didn’t sit well with us, it felt very strange. When Neil had his accident (drummer Neil Primrose broke his neck in 2002), everything came into sharp focus and we realised that what we had was something special.”

Since then the band have been able to work at their own pace, but still releasing new material and touring on a regular basis. Although singer Fran Healy now lives in Germany, Dougie is back living in Glasgow, and still finds the time to check out the local music scene.

“I was out in Easterhouse recently seeing Spinning Coin,” he says.

“They have brilliant power pop songs and a singer that sounds like Alex Chilton (of Big Star). I really hope they do well, and it’s incredible that Glasgow is still producing so many great bands.”

The city is also being linked with a new summer music festival next year that would replace T In The Park, after bosses announced it was taking a hiatus. As festival veterans, Dougie is sad to see T go, but optimistic it will reappear.

“I think us and Biffy Clyro have played T more times than any other band,” he says.

“I still think it’s the best festival in the world. Obviously we’re biased but there’s a number of bands that say the same thing from across the world. I understand why they’ve taken a year off because it was a couple of rough years, especially with changing sites, but I really hope it comes back stronger in the future.”

In the meantime, though, the focus is on the Hydro gig, and then on Sunday’s festivities.

“I’ve got a big family and with the kids everything takes on a new lease of life at Christmas,” he says.

“I actually have a love/hate relationship with Christmas music because I used to work in Schuh when it was in Union Street and I think they had one CD that was played all day, every day in December. I love watching Elf though, that’s a properly funny, heart-warming Christmas film, so I always watch it with my boys.”

Travis, SSE Hydro, Wednesday, £30, 7pm

JONATHAN GEDDES