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Over the past three years, The Basics' fate has often come into question. Following the release of 2010 live album /ðəˈbæzItʃ/, the band went on hiatus. During that time, co-founder Wally De Backer released his third solo studio album as Gotye and, through Somebody That I Used to Know, conquered America's (and everywhere else's) charts. Fellow co-founder Kris Schroeder, meanwhile, left Australia and the world behind almost entirely – relocating to Kenya to offer humanitarian aid with Red Cross. Until late last year, neither of The Basics' two songwriters seemed to have any particular reason or inclination to return to their under-appreciated origins in a Melbourne pop-rock outfit. “I wasn't sure what was going to happen with the band when I went overseas and Wally's Gotye thing took off,” Schroeder says. “I don't know if this is a full-fledged comeback thing – it'd be normal for most bands to be off the road for three years. but it's good to be playing together again.”

It wasn't until the band's management invited them to put together a compilation that they started to consider the possibility of continuing. The process of compiling 2012's Ingredients 'best of' was so affirming that it led to a subsequent rarities compilation (2013's Leftovers) and, finally, a reunion tour. “The compilations definitely seemed to bring us back,” Schroeder confirms. “They lit a bit of a match. You know, listening to our old stuff... I don't know, maybe it was sentimentality or maybe just a new appreciation of what we were doing before... We got to talking a lot more and it just happened out of that, I guess.”

A common myth is that The Basics resented being seen as De Backer's side-project – but it seems to have more to do with the contrast between their worldwide popularity and relative ignominy within the Australian music industry. “We started to have quite a bit of momentum in 2009 and then, of course, once that triple j support trickles off, everything else does too,” Schroeder explains. “And then you start to think maybe you're not that good as a band. You know, if you can't get played on there, then what's the point? You start buying into what other people think [of your music]. And that obviously flows on into a personal thing. You know, what part of it was me? What part of it was the other guys? You eventually just retreat back into yourself... So, yeah, a lot of personal things had to happen, but I also think it all works together somehow.”