Travis' Dougie Payne has admitted that he thought The Invisible Band would never be finished because the group believed they were "shite".

The bassist revealed that the initial album recording sessions in LA were a disaster. The band feared producer Nigel Godrich was about to walk out on them. He said, "By the fourth day Franny and I were sitting in the car park of Ocean Way (LA Studio), heads in hands having a frank discussion about how shite we were."

Dougie says it was Fran Healy who saved the day, saying, "Brave wee Franny armed only with his acoustic guitar marched into the studio. So much was done in the following two weeks that it's difficult to remember. Safe, Sing, Indefinitely, Humpty Dumpty and Afterglow were all recorded in this time. It seemed that The Cage had opened the floodgates."

The frank revelations are made in the first part of a diary on the band's official website at www.travisonline.com.