It’s 10 years since Shropshire band The Sunshine Underground released their debut album, Raise The Alarm.

Although both that and second album Nobody’s Coming To Save You showcased an indie rock sound, the boys took a different direction a couple of years back and focused on their first love - electronic music.

Following the release of their fourth (and last) album, Luminescent, the band is this month embarking on their farewell tour.

Lauren Foster caught up with Craig Wellington ahead of their show in Birmingham.

You’re bringing your Farewell Tour to O2 Institute in Birmingham next month. Why have The Sunshine Underground decided to call it a day?
The timing felt right, I think. We were making an album, the new one that’s out this month, and we just felt like we’d become a very different band to the one we started out as. Musically we’re totally different now, and I think we’re only going to go in a more electronic direction the more we do. Ten years since the debut felt like a good time to say, ‘that was a good progression from album one to four, and now it’s time to do something different’. We do have a loyal, live fan base and stuff, so it’s a bit of a risk, but I think rather than getting sick of playing all the old songs and just wanting to play our new ones, we decided it would be better to go out on a last celebratory note. We might do some more stuff together - we’re always writing music, so the plan is definitely to continue making music in some form.

What can your Birmingham audience expect from your farewell show?
Quite a long set, actually. We’ve got together about 23 tracks - we can’t fit them all into a set, so I don’t know. There are four albums, so there’s quite a lot to get in. A nice mix, a few surprises, a few old ones that we haven’t played in a long time that we’re having to relearn, and YouTube videos of how we actually played them 10 years ago. 

You’re all originally from the Midlands but moved to Leeds after college. Was there any particular reason you chose Leeds - as opposed to London, for example?
It could have been anywhere, really. Our drummer, Matt, got a place in Leeds College of Music, so he was up here before the rest of the band joined him. We took a year out after college - we only got together in college in Telford - and then we just kind of missed the band in that year off. So we thought, ‘We’re not really doing anything here, so let’s make a break for it and move to Leeds and live the dream’. Luckily, when we got to Leeds, there was a big, vibrant music scene kicking off. We sort of fell into this Yorkshire band theme, which was amazing really.

Your third album, The Sunshine Underground, had a more electronic sound than your first two, Raise The Alarm and Nobody’s Coming To Save You, which are strictly indie/rock. Why the change? 
Our bass player, Jamie, left after the second album, so we stopped writing in the traditional four-person band kind of way. We were doing lots more home studio stuff, and we definitely had different tastes to when we first got together and started making a racket at 17 years of age. We kind of got together because of our love of electronic music anyway, even though that was never really reflected in our music. It kind of got to a point where we realised we weren’t really making the kind of music that we listened to anymore, so we thought it was time for a change. I think there’s still old Sunshine Underground stuff that carries through all the four albums, though. There’s something in there that links them all together.

Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming and final album, Luminescent? 
Luminescent is very electronic. It kind of completes the story, I think. It’s quite a positive record and it’s quite summery, even though it’s coming out at the end of summer. It came together over the course of about a year, which is pretty quick for us. We’re really proud of it. For me, it feels like our most complete album because it was written in such a short space of time. All the others were over a period of maybe three years each. It feels like it’s got a sound that’s definitely ‘of this record’, so it’s quite nice to have an album like that. I don’t think we’ve had one of them before.

You’re well known on the festival circuit. Do you have a favourite festival?
Glastonbury was a bit of a life-changing moment when we played there for the first time, so that one’s always good. Leeds festival too. Although it’s a bit rough and ready, we’ve played there about eight times, and that’s always been big for us. As the years have gone on, I’ve come to prefer the smaller, more boutique festivals. Our last festival performance was Festival No.6, and that was amazing. Minus the unbelievable amounts of mud, it was the best fun ever. 

What’s the most memorable performance of your career?
I think maybe on our first album, when we went to Japan for the first time - that was just a bit nuts. We’ve always done quite well in Japan. That first Glastonbury performance is up there too. In Shrewsbury, we did a homecoming gig in the Square in 2007. That was great because it was a nice thing to do - sing to all your friends and family in an iconic setting.

What advice would you give to young musicians of today who’re trying to get themselves heard?
It’s difficult. Music is such a fast-moving world. Every time we’ve put out a record, it’s in a completely different climate. When we first got signed 10 to 12 years ago, people were buying records. They don’t do that anymore, so you have to shape your business around being really good live. Just practise, practise, practise, and be amazing live.

If you could go back in time to The Sunshine Underground’s inception, would you do anything differently?
No, I don’t think so. It’s all part of life, isn’t it? Going back over the 10-year set list now, I’m thinking, ‘I definitely wouldn’t do that anymore, I definitely wouldn’t write that line’ or ‘why am I shouting all over the second album?’ There are things like that, but that’s all just part of development, isn’t it? So no, I wouldn’t change anything.

Although neither feature among your Farewell Tour dates, is there any chance of a hometown Shrewsbury/Telford show at all? 
There would have been. We were supposed to be playing Shrewsbury Fields Festival. We were really looking forward to that. It was going to be our final festival, so it’s a massive shame that the event didn’t happen.

And finally, what are you going to miss most about The Sunshine Underground?
I think it’s kind of going to be hanging around with your mates and just going off and having fun all the time. Being in a band with your best mates, travelling round and playing gigs is just ace; it’s just loads of fun. We’re hopefully trying to set something else up to do in the future, but who knows?...

The Sunshine Underground play The Sugarmill, Stoke-on-Trent, Thursday 13 October and O2 Institute, Thursday 20 October.