The Sherlocks on the journey to their debut album

This process started when we started selling 200+ capacity venues out all over the UK. George Ergatoudis (Head of Radio 1 at the time) sent a tweet out about our single "Heart Of Gold" and within 10 mins our inbox was full of emails from labels/publishers/management.

Over the next year or so, we were meeting up with different characters of the music industry up and down the country for tea/coffee and playing showcases for labels. We could write a book on the encounters we had over the years, one day we might just do that. Too many stories.

We found our record label in Infectious Records, BMG after we went down to London to meet Korda Marshall. We all thought it was going to be a routine visit of just meeting a record label. However this time there was something different, we felt a real passion for the band from Korda. After meeting so many people we can tell when there is an element of people being false and Korda was the complete opposite. After a great visit meeting all the BMG team in there office, we went downstairs to a local pub for a drink with some of the team, but we had to leave in a quite abrupt fashion as our parking ticket was just about to run out. So we set off running across London to make sure we didn't get a fine. This didn't matter as we all knew we had just found our musical home. The paper was sent up over the coming weeks and it was done. The Sherlocks signed a 4-album deal with Infectious Records, BMG.

We started this band 7 years ago. 4 lads, 2 sets of brothers playing covers in the garage. Who would have thought that the time had come to record our debut album. We finally got our record deal in the bag and here we were. All the band sat down with a Yorkshire Tea knowing that we had a few decisions to make. What songs are going on the album? Who is the right producer? Where are we going to record the album? After a long hard think we came to the conclusion that the album would be recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and the producer would be Gavin Monaghan, who we felt was the right man to give these tracks the production they needed.

The day had finally come, our suitcases were packed, the van was stacked. We were on route to the studio and anxiety was already kicking in. Had we packed enough underpants for 5 weeks? We remembered that all 3 pairs were packed between us. After a long journey we arrived at Rockfield. We unloaded all the gear and set it up knowing that the next 5 weeks were the most important of our lives.

The soundtrack to what can only be described as seven relentless years of pure graft and banging doors down was about to be made. We had somehow got ourselves into a position where we couldn't be ignored any longer...they had to take notice. Four lads from a little village just outside Sheffield, were about to step foot into one of the leading studios in Britain as far as musical heritage. Oasis, Queen, The Stone Roses had all been here & made iconic albums. We were about to join that list...the legendary Rockfield Studio, Wales.

We were equipped with the right man for the job who knew exactly where we wanted to go sonically and what the band stood for. This man was an old friend who basically gave us our first proper studio experience. Gavin Monaghan, based in Wolverhampton, had bags of knowledge and experience.

We arrived at Rockfield and the energy was evident from the off, something just felt special. We began work on the album the next day arranging songs and spending hours of tracking drums to it make sure it was solid. This had to sound big. You could say this was a lot of the reason why we wanted Rockfield and it's infamous reverb chamber. This was case with just about every tune, making it as solid as it could be and getting the absolute maximum out of a song.

When it came to recording we took it very serious but not too serious at the same time. We would wake up every morning, go straight to the studio, and every morning we would just laugh at the fact that we were technically 'at work'. How could this even be a job?! It was the best feeling in the world. Rockfield had vibes, not only this but it was residential, meaning the place where we were making music was literally a 15 second walk to our beds. We were able to step in and out of the recording environment at any point and work on ideas. Because of the freedom Rockfield had, it kept everyone in high spirits and allowed us to breathe as a band. Everyone knew what they had to do and so we just got on with it. Which was our way of working, if it sounded good at that time then move on.

After the long recording process came the all important mixing. We chose Cenzo Townsend to mix the album because of his extensive back catalogue in our genre and the amazing sound he gets. We were really excited to get the first mix back, which was "Chasing Shadows". We played it full whack in the van and were blown away by the sound. By this point we were on a huge U.K. tour, but juggling the pressures of the road we set about sending mix notes everyday, track by track. As one track's changes were sent by us, another track would come back having been perfected by Cenzo. When we eventually got to a point where we were all happy with a track it would get signed off. After a week or so of long hours getting no sleep to finish notes and tweaks we got to the point where we were happy with all tracks and were delighted to sign them all off as perfect.

The album is a collection of songs about our 7 year journey to this point. It means everything to us. We've never worked as hard in our entire lives and are incredibly proud of it. We can assure you the best is yet to come and we're here to stay...

'Live For The Moment.'