It was actually in this very pub – possibly this very table, the pair reckon – that the idea was first properly mooted.
“I’d been greasing the wheels with it, sneakily with the other members of the band, going, ‘I think it could be good, you know?’” says Aled. “Joel was like, ‘I want a creative outlet,’ and everyone else thought, ‘Yeah, it could be fun.’”
“Aled was literally, one by one, tapping everything on the shoulder, doing an album, getting the conspiracy to get me while I was in there queuing up for a pint!” laughs Iain. “He said, ‘Oh, I spoke to the boys, they’re up for it. We’re all doing a record.’ That’s literally how it came about.”
Doing a record, rather than just a couple of reunion shows, was important to both men. Aled says he was worried about the whole thing looking “like a cash-in” or “settling on old glories”.
“That was one of the things I was reluctant about, being like, ‘Remember when we did this?’” he says. “I’d rather we brought something new to the table, because I think as a band we have a lot more that we can do and say. So I was always quite keen to do that rather than just go, ‘Hey, remember when we did Smart Casual 15 years ago?’”
“It’s a fucking privilege,” nods Iain. “Not everyone even gets to that stage. To go away and then come back to it like we have is incredible.”
“I love that fucking record,” adds Aled. “But I was excited to be like, ‘Let’s try some new shit and see what comes out.’ It’s amazing that we still have fans, and people are engaged with this record. And the fact that they care that we make music, and they’re intrigued to hear something new, that’s enough of a driving force, apart from my own desire to just make music.”