DID you miss out on seeing Scouting for Girls at Nibley Festival last summer? Then now's your chance to put that right!

The boys are back in the West Country again next week, as they return to Bristol's O2 Academy as part of their current UK tour, supporting their new album 'Still Thinking About You', which was released October 16 on East West Records.

Still Thinking About You is the west London band’s first album of new material since 2012 and their first for new label East West. A return to the immaculate indie pop of their triple-platinum debut album but with a fresh, more mature sound, for Still Thinking About You Scouting For Girls took a new approach to writing and recording.

“We tried to make a collection of songs that worked together, which we’d never really done before,” says frontman Roy Stride. “And we wanted to make songs that connect truthfully and emotionally. It’s about being instinctive, and honest.”

Comprising lifelong friends Stride (vocals, guitar, piano), Greg Churchouse (bass), and Pete Ellard (drums), the trio met at school and formed Scouting For Girls in 2005. With four Top Ten albums and four Top Ten singles to their name, including a No.1 album (2007’s self-titled debut) and a No.1 single (2010’s This Ain’t A Love Song), Scouting For Girls have an impressive chart pedigree. They have been nominated for four Brit Awards, an Ivor Novello, and have sold-out Wembley Arena and Royal Albert Hall. Befitting a man who has penned several massive chart and radio hits including She’s So Lovely, Heartbeat, Elvis Ain’t Dead and the aforesaid This Ain’t A Love Song.

Stride is also hugely in demand as a songwriter and producer, whose compositions have been recorded by One Direction, McBusted, Olly Murs, and 5 Seconds Of Summer.

“As weird as it sounds, so few records these days have any real instruments on them,” he says. “We’ve got proper pianos and proper strings. We didn’t want anything tuned on the vocals. We’d just sing it till it sounded good and natural.”

Only once they had written and recorded a bunch of songs with which they were happy – including Christmas In The Air (Tonight), a seasonal smash-in-waiting – did they think about which record label might release it.

“On Still Thinking About You, we’ve embraced what people love about this band,” concludes Stride, “and we’ve made the ultimate Scouting For Girls record.”

Scouting for Girls comes to Bristol's O2 Academy on Tuesday, December 1.