The Lightning Seeds are working on their first album in a decade.
The Liverpool group – who are best known for their chart-topping football anthem ‘Three Lions’, which they co-wrote with comedians Dave Baddiel and Frank Skinner in 1996 – have been back in the studio working on their first full-length project since 2009’s ‘Four Winds’.
Frontman Ian Broudie – who is joined by Martyn Campbell, Riley Broudie, Abi Harding and Jim Sharrock in the rock band – told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: "I’ve got about 12 tunes that are nearly finished and I really like them. I’m just trying to get them finished."
Ian admitted there has been "phases" throughout the band’s career when his "heart hasn’t been in it", but he’s never felt happier and can’t wait to get the new tunes out.
The producer – who has worked on records for the likes of Echo & the Bunnymen, The Fall, The Coral and The Zutons in the past – added: "I’m playing live as well and it’s lovely at the moment — there’s great people in the band and we sound really good.
"I think sometimes I have been through phases where it hasn’t sounded very good and my heart hasn’t been in it but this feels like a really good moment.
"I think it’s a great moment for me to get this record out in the next couple of months.
"Then I’d like to take everything more seriously again and have a good couple of years playing and doing some new stuff."
The 61-year-old star also admitted that he suffers from "a little OCD" when he’s writing, which makes it difficult to concentrate on the lyrics he’s penning, as his mind can get "very cluttered".
He explained: "When I’m writing I tidy up a lot, I’m a little OCD in that way I think.
"I need everything to be in place to concentrate.
"My main problem is that my mind gets very cluttered.
"I haven’t done an album for a long time and at the moment I’m just about to get one done.
"People go, ‘You’ve got writer’s block’. But it’s the opposite,
"I have so many ideas that I can’t quite focus on them and they get in each other’s way and it’s a bit of a gridlock and I want to switch from one to the other.
"People sometimes say to me, ‘How many songs have you got ready?’. And I go, ‘I’ve got nearly 40 but none of them are finished’."
The ‘You Showed Me’ hitmakers reissued their seminal 1994 album ‘Jollification’ in September to mark its 25th anniversary.
And they will head out on a tour, which will see them perform the record in its entirety, in November.
On November 7, the band will be at the iconic London Palladium, before they play a hometown gig at the Liverpool Philarmonic Hall on November 27.
The run will recommence on March 12, 2020, in Gateshead and wrap in Manchester on March 28.
The Lightning Seeds working on first album in a decade
