Around a year after the release of their 2005 double album, A Decade of Near Misses, the band went their separate ways for a few years. Paul Whiteley (guitar, lead vocal) moved to the UK, and Ashley Hurst (bass) moved first to Germany, then Austria, before settling in London. After a few rehearsals, sans drummer, they had a highly productive meeting with former Rolling Stones producer Chris Kimsey (arranged through MySpace, of all places) which spurred the boys to get back into writing, with the aim of making a new album, when the time was right.