After wowing fans in Europe and the U.K. with its second LP, "The Man Who," the Glaswegian band known as Travis will try and win over some American converts while opening for the Britpop bad boys of Oasis on their upcoming U.S. tour.

Even though "The Man Who" just arrived in U.S. record stores this week, the album was actually released in Europe last spring, where it went on to sell more than two million copies and spawn four British singles.

Travis has just issued "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" as the first U.S. single, a track that frontman Fran Healy told MTV News he wrote while taking a brief sabbatical from the studio -- a trip which turned out to be less than sunny.

[article id="1451332"]"Well, the song was written in Israel," Healy said. "I was sitting in my hotel room [in France] being told by [engineer] Steve Lillywhite that I had to go on holiday because I was as white as a sheet and I looked terrible."[/article]

[article id="1451332"]"He had that 'studio tan,'"[/article] explained bassist Dougie Payne.

[article id="1451332"]"And I was like, 'All right, fine,'" Healy continued, "so I went to Israel because I was told it would be really hot there. It was January and it's supposed to be really hot. I checked the newspapers, and it was 40 degrees [there]. 'Whew, fantastic!' And it rained for the first five days, I think, just constantly, really heavy rain.[/article]

[article id="1451332"]"I remember sitting [up], and I had the guitar with me, and I just kind of wrote the tune just to cheer myself up. That is why I did 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me?' because it seems like there is this cloud that follows [me]. It must be just Scottish people or Glaswegian [people], certainly. You this grey cloud and [it rains] wherever you go. It seems to be true, it's like..." [/article]

[article id="1451332"]"It's become a self-fulfilling prophecy," [RealVideo][/article]

Payne added.

Travis will kick off its opening spot on the Oasis tour on Wednesday night at the Paramount Theater in Seattle and continue through a May 5 date in Atlanta (see [article id="1432795"]"Travis Talks About Landing Oasis Tour"[/article]).