Two Door Cinema Club have told NME the story of how a near break-up of the band was a key influence on the writing and stylings of their new album Gameshow.

The album itself marks the band’s first work since 2012’s Beacon, and during their interview, frontman Alex Trimble discussed how for Two Door Cinema Club “Communication had broken down through being in each other’s company constantly for years, and that ”it’s hard to communicate when you just want to escape. […] but it also generates a fear that if you stop, then everything’s going to go away.”

Bassist Kevin Baird elaborated on this, describing that as a result of the constant company “We began to realise we were very different people: we’d started to feel like we couldn’t express ourselves individually and that we were always ‘that guy from that band’.”

The band’s issues culminated in July 2014, when Trimble ended up in hospital for a spell, as a result of stress-induced stomach ulcers. This was a clear sign to the band that they needed a break, and after a year’s hiatus they began to reconvene, or as Trimble put it, “trying to get into each other’s heads” by sending each other music that each member was listening to.

This more distant level of communication, matched with Two Door Cinema Club’s desire to make “danceable music”, that led to progress in the creation of  Gameshow, although initially it wasn’t easy, and was limited to Skype and Email  “It was difficult at first,” says Trimble, “We hadn’t resolved a lot of the differences, so there was a feeling still of a lack of communication.”

The progress was initially slow, but according to Trimble” we reached a point that everyone had sent through ideas that everyone else was loving, and we realised we were genuinely excited by what each other was contributing. Then we realised that to make it sound like us, we needed to be in the room together.”

Trimble enthused on listening to ELO and some Bee Gees at the time, but was pleased to find that his bandmates “were listening to dance music, electro, more club-based stuff. I’d delved back into the past, while they were more up to date. […] But they both fitted in perfectly with what we wanted to do going forward.”

Prior to the release of Gameshow on October 14, the band announced that they would be returning to the stage with an extensive UK tour in the new year,with the dates below. Tickets can be found here.

Birmingham Academy (January 24, 2017)
Cambridge Corn Exchange (25)
Manchester Apollo (27, 28)
Leeds Academy (30)
Newcastle Academy (31)
Liverpool Guild Of Students (February 2)
Glasgow Barrowlands (3-4)
Southampton Guildhall (6)
Bristol Academy (7)
London Alexandra Palace (9, 10)