THE last time that Starsailor released a studio album it was the beginning of the end.

All The Plans came out in March 2009 and by the end of the year the band had gone their separate ways.

Chorley-born frontman James Walsh pursued a solo career, James Stelfox toured with space rockers Spiritualized and Ben Byrne started giving drumming lessons.

For all they knew that was going to Starsailor’s last record and that is why their reunion in 2014 and now their new album, due out tomorrow, feels so special.

All This Life is the quartet’s first studio release in eight years and they said it felt right to start working on it after reconnecting with fans.

Stel, who has been best mates with Ben since the pair met at primary school, said: “We did a load of gigs to promote our greatest hits and we had a great reaction and the tour sold out. You don’t know after you’ve been away so long if it’s going to work but at that point we knew there were still people who liked our music.”

Things seemed to come together after that. James had written about six new songs when the renowned record label, Cooking Vinyl, started to take an interest in them.

Stel added: “We looked at their roster and thought ‘that’s a fit’.

“We knew they had done Embrace’s comeback record and had put a lot of work into that. They also did Richard Ashcroft’s latest album and that did really well.”

It was through Cooking Vinyl that Starsailor found the final missing ingredient for their album – a producer. Things clicked when they met Rick McNamara from Embrace.

The two bands toured together in the United States in 2015 and that is how Starsailor ended up at Rick’s studio in Hipperholme, near Halifax.

Stel said: “The first time we met them was on the bus and as soon as we stepped on it was like they were old friends. That’s how that relationship with Rick grew.

“We played him a few demos drunk and he said we should come to his studio. It’s a beautiful place in the middle of nowhere. He’s got an amazing studio and accommodation and we spent about seven or eight months with him.”

Ben added: “We did about three or four sessions to try and get all the tracks down. We had done some bits before that while jamming ideas out so it was a matter of putting it all together.”

Stel added: “The next single is probably Take A Little Time and we actually did that about three years ago. It was one of the first things we wrote when we got back together.

“The chorus was great but the verse was rubbish so it took a while to get it how we wanted it.

“Most bands are given six weeks to do a record but we had the chance to address things over a period of time. We changed a lot. We really worked hard on this.”

It is a far cry from their early days when an NME review of one of their gigs led to a bidding war by record labels in 2000.

The band have enjoyed flying under the radar a bit more for this release but are now hoping for All This Life to get into the top 10.

Ben, who met singer James Walsh and keyboardist Barry Westhead at Wigan and Leigh Music School, said: “It’s funny because this time we could make exactly the record we wanted. They sort of just leave you to it.

“We’ve always been on a major label since 2000 so you get a lot of people coming in like A&R to see how things are going. But this was pretty much the four of us and Rick.”

Stel added: “You do get nervous with it being this close to the album coming out because you’ve got the tour on the back of it and you just hope people still care.”

“We’re used to it a lot more now but I remember going to Abbey Road Studios for the first time and after four weeks we were still in awe of it.”

Ben and Stel have also been watching another comeback with a lot of interest – Liam Gallagher’s.

They are both fans even though Starsailor famously fell out with Oasis in their early days.

Ben, who has a son called Connor, four, said: “We were the new band that were doing really well. I think Noel said something about us and then he was doing an interview at T in the Park and Jim, mid interview, walked up and confronted him about it.

“NME started a feature about bands squabbling and it all started from that.”

Liam was not one to hold a grudge when he saw Stel at Glastonbury in 2005 though.

Stel, dad-of-three to Ethan, 12, Ella, nine, and Josh, six, added: “It was great because it was Paul McCartney, Black Eyed Peas and us on the Pyramid stage.

“I’d not seen Liam since that spat in Scotland and I saw him come bounding over.

“We ended up having a few beers in the dressing room and we were getting on great when Liam decided we should watch Paul McCartney.

“Macca wouldn’t let anyone on the side of the stage but the security let us through when he saw it was Liam.

“So I watched the full performance from there with Liam in my face shouting: ‘It’s mental isn’t it?’ It was a big thing for me as I’ve been a massive McCartney fan since the beginning.”

All This Life is released tomorrow. Starsailor play the Ritz, Manchester, on Tuesday, October 24. Details from www.ticketmaster.co.uk