It was 2015, and Twin Atlantic had just sold out Glasgow’s SSE Hydro, the biggest venue in the city they grew up in. Walking off the stage, the four men felt a sense of euphoria: in that year, they had 'broke' Glasgow; one of their tracks was named the Hottest Record in the World by DJ Zane Lowe; they headlined Glastonbury and T in the Park and won a raft of awards. What was next?

"It was a career highlight, but there was a sadness in it," said guitarist Craig Keale. "We weren't quite sure what was next. We had to look inside and think, why would we do anything again?

"I think we had got to a point where we were all bored, but we just kept on going. But at that point, we knew we couldn't do this thing that got us to that point anymore."

"It felt like a destination arrival," adds frontman Sam McTrusty. "It felt very final. Not that we were finished expressing ourselves or making music. It took the next record to format our creative selves again, or something. It's like we're starting again now."

"It couldn't just be a wee change," said Ross McNae. "It had to be something big and drastic."

And that, it was. Twin Atlantic went onto make another record, GLA, which came out the following year, but after that, there was nothing.

"We were in a purgatory phase, and that was our album, GLA," said McTrusty. "We probably shouldn't have made that album. It's arguably our favourite, but it was arty, a different approach."

"It was a real reaction to what had happened before that," reflects Kneale. "Not that we don't love it, but I think we could have taken a few months and found ourselves at this point."

And the point was the end. After ten years, the band found themselves separated from their management, their label and even one of their members, back in the room that was once where they kept their gear.

"For the first time since teenagers, we didn't have anyone to answer to apart from ourselves and our own ideas," said McTrusty. "Instead of that becoming overwhelming, and panicking, we went into the studio. We wanted to take a step up rather than treading water, but we also thought we'd get signed easy, and we didn't. It took two and a half years to sign a new deal."

They could have walked away. Didn't that cross their mind? "We've been doing the band for so long now that it's a part of our life," answers McTrusty. "It isn't as simple as just walking away. There are emotions and memories, opportunities that have taken us all over the world. There are fans that wear tattoos of your lyrics. It's become another person in our lives."

The band went back into that tiny room overlooking Glasgow Green that had come to be their haven over the last decade, and did what they knew: started making music. "When you're young, you don't know who you are yet. You just know who you want to be. It's not a coincidence we all went into our 30s, and thought that we're going to turn this place into a studio” said McNae.

“That little room had been everything over the years,” laughs McTrusty. “First it was our rehearsal room, then storage for our gear and a place to dump boxes of my life as I’ve moved from flat to flat. It’s had a few different lives. We thought once and for all to put it to positive use and started making demos in it, to send to labels to get a new deal."

The studio was not the only thing to have a makeover. The band went LA – early rising, working during the day together on new sounds and tracks. The result: new album, POWER, released with a new label, line-up, electronic influence, and raft of live dates.

"I used to hate recording, and I used to write music in the most ridiculous way," laughs McTrusty. "I'd stay up all night, only ever with an acoustic guitar. My wife would be going to work at 7 and I'd still be up, by then an emotional wreck. It wasn't feasible."

“We wanted an undiluted version of a rock album, that we actually like and listen to, in 2020,” adds McNae. “I think that’s what we’ve got, in POWER.”

Only time will tell what impact POWER will have on the future of Twin Atlantic. And while, like for all of us, their future is uncertain – no one can take away the longevity of the band; the type that comes from years of great tunes, great gigs and even better fans.

“People listen to music as part of their daily lives,” said McTrusty. “It’s up to them, what the future of our band is, the future of rock is. We need to adapt to what the world wants from us. I see ourselves as trying to be honest and truthful. Like rock music – as soon as that stops, people will say it's dead. It’s not about preserving the past. It’s about building the future.”

Twin Atlantic have come such a long way. There is life in them yet.

POWER is out now on Virgin EMI Records