Scottish group Travis is back with 12 Memories, a new album the quartet eagerly dove into after a near tragedy almost broke them up.

A diving accident in July 2002 left drummer Neil Primrose with three broken bones in his neck. Doctors had assumed walking was out of the question much less drumming again. But slowly Primrose began rehabilitating himself, sitting at the drum kit three weeks after the accident and playing a few times a day for five to ten minutes.

"I've been very lucky," Primrose says yesterday prior to an in-store appearance in Toronto and tonight's show at the Hummingbird Centre.

"I had the guys to help me out when it happened, I had great surgeons and doctors helping me.

"So when I got behind the kit, it was one of those scary things because maybe I won't be able to play again. It was painful but you keep doing it every day twice a day along with the other exercises. And then the magic just happened."

Primrose says that he doesn't play exactly the same way as he used to, but the group's playing has changed to work to each other's strengths.

Late last year, the band -- consisting of Primrose, singer Fran Healy, bassist Dougie Payne and guitarist Andy Dunlop -- began working on the new album.

The group's first take was Re-Offender, the lead single from the new album.

Guitarist Andy Dunlop says it was a return to earlier days.

"It was the same feeling we had when we first sat in a room together," Dunlop says. "I hate to use the word magic but it was a feeling you could never get on your own, to play the drums on your own or play the bass or guitar on your own. It just worked!"

'Tired of everything'

That working relationship was in doubt though prior to the accident, although nobody actually spoke of it. The four years of touring behind two albums (1999's The Man Who and 2001's The Invisible Band) took its toll.

"We all just got to the point where we were tired of everything," Payne says. "It had gone from four friends just hanging out, making music and enjoying each other's company to work. And when that's the case, you think, 'Would I be happy if I wasn't in a band? Would it be better? I don't know.'

"But then with Neil's accident it brought everything back into sharper focus. We realized that we did want to do this. It's scary the thought of having it being taken away. It's one thing to give it away but it's another thing when someone is going to take it away."

Payne also says that Primrose's recovery resulted in a sense of relief and inspiration.

"You can't imagine it ... that one, Neil survived," Payne says. "But he was well enough to come up and play. If it had happened to anyone of us, I doubt we would have had the same sense of determination and will."

The album itself has rubbed some fans and critics the wrong way, as happy-go-lucky pop tunes such as Turn and Sing aren't as apparent on the new album. Lead singer Fran Healy also addresses some heavier issues in tracks like The Beautiful Occupation and Peace The F--k Out.

Payne says that it's important to speak out, but says the songs aren't political.

"They're personal songs," he says. "Everybody is entitled to an opinion and artists especially so. If artists stopped the ancient and honourable tradition of expressing opinions about things that they believe to be wrong or misguided, you've got to remember it's still a personal opinion. But it's a personal viewpoint of a political situation."

The group says it will continue touring behind the album with a European tour later this year before coming back to North America in January.

"We got a great record and so we're going to play it as much as we can," Primrose says. "But at the same time not bottoming out as much as we did last time."