EVERY aspect of Walk The Moon’s career was affected after the release of their annoyingly addictive hit song ‘Shut Up and Dance’.

The 2014 record catapulted the band onto the main stage after they had been slogging it out on the road since 2008.

Prior to this breakthrough, Walk The Moon comprising of singer/keyboardist Nicholas Petricca, guitarist Eli Maiman, bassist Kevin Ray, and drummer Sean Waugaman, had scored two Top 20 Alternative hits, 2010’s ‘Anna Sun’ and ‘Tightrope’ off their 2012 self-titled album.

Read more: Arctic Monkeys' new album name and release date after five-year wait

Then ‘Shut Up and Dance’ charted around the world, leading to an international tour that found the band visiting 25 countries across five continents over three months.

Waugaman says it finally dawned on him how omnipresent the song was when they were in Japan.

“We were out walking around in Kyoto and I wandered away from the others into a chopsticks shop,” he recalls.

“They had 500 different types of chopsticks in there. I couldn’t find the band, but, in a place where nobody spoke English, ‘Shut Up and Dance’ was playing on the shop’s radio.”

“Every aspect of Walk The Moon was affected by ‘Shut Up and Dance.” Ray says.

Read more: Arctic Monkeys' new album name and release date after five-year wait

“It didn’t just change the way we were perceived by radio, the touring also exploded and the crowds got bigger and bigger.

"It was very clear that for the first time, people very far removed from where Walk The Moon started had completely hopped on board with the song. It became part of culture and we were invited to do things we had only dreamed of.”

At the peak of all of this, they announced the cancellation their ‘Work This Body’ summer tour so that Petricca could go home and be with his father, who was in the final stages of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease after a 14-year illness.

“It was getting a lot worse and my family needed me,” he says.

“We cancelled the tour, which I thought we’d never do. That’s not who we are.”

Read more: Arctic Monkeys' new album name and release date after five-year wait

“We had spent six years doing something nearly every day, then it all changes, so adapting was hard,” says Ray, who was also sidelined by a serious shoulder injury, with doctors telling him he may not be able to play bass again.

“So I was confined to my bed for two months, trying not to get addicted to painkillers and isolation. It’s very easy to get depressed while trying to recover from an injury.”

During the difficult time, they began writing their upcoming third album, What If Nothing, during which they faced down the question of breaking up, which seems inconceivable.

“It’s not what we all signed up for,” Petricca says of the hiatus.

“We wanted to take it to the finish line and I kind of forced the race to a close a little early.”

Facing a blank calendar, with no plan for their return, the band members took time apart, communication between them dwindling to a minimum.

“It was the first time any of us had a moment to consider life outside of the band,” Petricca remembers.

In the silence, tensions began to surface. “Some people questioned whether the band would break up,” Ray says.

“I never had that question. It was more like, ‘Will it ever feel the same after all this?’”

“All these what-ifs came into focus, like, ‘Where is all this heading if we can’t move forward together?’” Petricca says.

“This phrase, ‘What if nothing,’ started coming up. ‘What if all of this vanishes?’ So it was an opportunity for us to step forward into the unknown.

Read more: Arctic Monkeys' new album name and release date after five-year wait

“We could have remained in that shadow place and stayed estranged from one another, or we could come together with honesty and try to work it out.” Hence the title of their new album, What If Nothing.

“We love it because it forces the listener to determine what the hell it means,” Petricca says.

“’What if’ is like the beginning of all fears and also of all possibilities. ‘What if this is all for nothing?’ or ‘What if there’s nothing stopping me?’

After re-uniting at Ray’s wedding, the knew the spark and drive was still there.

Read more: Arctic Monkeys' new album name and release date after five-year wait

The result of their effort is What If Nothing — an inspired, futuristic, and fearless showcase for all the ways Walk The Moon has grown and reclaimed who they are. Working with producers Mike Crossey (The 1975, Arctic Monkeys) and Mike Elizondo (Eminem/Dr. Dre).

Walk The Moon will play Glasgow O2 ABC on April 14.