prominence or consistent work he had enjoyed with The House of Love and Levitation. In the early 2000s, he re-established contact with Guy Chadwick. Various re-releases and compilations kept the band in the public eye, including 1998's Best of The House of Love and 2000's The John Peel Sessions 88–89. In 2001, PLR reissued the entire set of recordings which the band had made during their most critically acclaimed period (on Creation Records) with the release of 1986–88: The Creation Recordings. In 2004, The Fontana Years was released, covering the turbulent period of the second album. Reformation and Days Run Away (2003–2011) In 2003, the reconciled Chadwick and Bickers reformed the House of Love at the urging of former agent Mick Griffiths. The duo also re-recruited Pete Evans as drummer. Although Chris Groothuizen was invited to re-join and thus reform the "classic" band line-up, he amicably declined, opting instead to remain in his architectural career. His place as bass guitarist was taken by Matt Jury. In 2005, the band went on to tour throughout the UK, Ireland and Sweden, and released a comeback album , 'Days Run Away, on the Art & Industry label; it received some praise from critics. Bickers and Chadwick seemed confident that age, perspective and situation meant that they could avoid the problems which had divided the band in 1990. Interviewed at the time of the release of Days Run Away, Chadwick admitted acceptance of the fact that "we're really different people. It's a very complex kind of friendship, and I think it'll always be slightly fractious. We don't have this huge buddy thing going on though at the same time it's very intimate... We've always had a very instinctive way of communicating with each other, which I guess is why we make good music together." Bickers in turn reflected "I think we're both old enough and ugly enough to address any issues head-on and keep our tempers in check. We're also doing things at our own pace rather than letting a record company dictate what we do, which helps... It's still early days but communication is good and so is the music. This is about letting bygones be bygones and just getting on with it. Personally, I've never been happier."The House of Love (the band's 1988 debut album) was reissued on CD in 2007. This led to the band being invited to play the album