April 1997 marks a decade of chart success for Glaswegian foursome WetWetWet. This career milestone neatly coincides with the release of their latest, tenth album, hence ‘10’.

All tracks, as ever, have been written, arranged, and performed by band members Graeme Clark, Tony Cunningham, Neil Mitchell and Marti Pellow, and superbly produced by Graeme Clark and permanent guitarist, Graham Duffin. However, ‘10’ has also seen the band working for the first time with the renowned song-writing team of Graham Lyle and Terry Britten (producers and writers for Tina Turner, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, etc.). Indeed, this collaboration has produced the first single, due for release on 10^th March, the powerful, emotive, ‘If I Never See You again’, of which keyboard player Neil Mitchell says, "It’s obviously about separation, mainly between lovers. But some people may love their dog, may love their car …whatever, it’s about a loved one being taken away and the process of trying to get back together."

"It’s very clear single material for us," says producer/bassist Graeme Clark. "There’s the familiar, distinctive WetWetWet sound from the first few chords through to the chorus."

Twelve tracks have been selected for the inclusion of ‘10’, but ‘The Wets’ actually delivered 23 new tracks for consideration for the album. As drummer Tony Cunningham explains, "The band are still about the same things as when we left school - and that is melody. We’ve never been fashion-oriented. It’s always been a case of if it’s a good song, it goes on the album. Only this time we had an even better selection than ever to choose from." "We feel we’ve broken new ground in the recording of ‘10’, adds Marti. "It took us six months, but it was an intense, focused period of song-writing and producing."

"we are renowned more for melodic, rich ballads but there’s a song called ‘Strange’ which is quite literally ‘funky’," says Tommy. "In the course of the last ten years we’ve learnt how to get around our instruments so well that we can do it with our eyes closed. So far this album we tried to forget all that and go back to basics, recorded it live, really rough and ready, which hopefully adds an edge."

Equally ground-breaking for ‘The Wets’ on the new album is the exploration of a ‘big-band’ for a couple of tracks, including the album’s only cover version, the classic ‘Beyond The Sea’ - an English translation of the legendary French chanson ‘La Mer’. Never have Marti Pellow’s extraordinary vocal talents been more severely tested, but it is the perfect vehicle for his voice and he loved every second of it. Marti recalls "I’ve always been a massive fan of that song because it’s a very rich melody and a lot of the notes are sung on the breath, which is a pleasure because it really shows the richness, warmth and intimacy of the voice."

‘Strange’, ‘Beyond The Sea’ are likely future singles, and potential classic, ‘The Only Sounds’ will certainly alter the way WetWetWet are viewed by friends and contemporaries. "WetWetWet have always been suckers for a slow song," admits Graeme Clark, "but the majority of our slow songs have an undertone which can be approached on more than one level and this is certainly true with ‘Sounds’.