the UK Singles Chart. They promoted it with two tours in the UK and one in the US, alongside appearances at the Coachella, Isle of Wight and Glastonbury Festivals. After supporting Stereophonics at Slane Castle in Dublin, Ireland in August 2002, the Charlatans played three club shows to end the month. Universal wanted a follow-up quickly, threatening the band with dropping them from the roster if they did not work on one; frontman Tim Burgess was not happy with the situation. He wanted to continue writing, but the rest of the band members wanted a break. In October 2002, Dotmusic reported that Burgess was recording on a solo album with Linus of Hollywood. Few days later, the band denied rumours that they would be splitting up, but mentioned that the other members worked with different artists: drummer Jon Brookes with Preacher Man and keyboardist Tony Rogers with Moco. In the same announcement, they mentioned that they would start demoing material for their next album in early 2003, which they were aiming to release later that year. In December 2002, the band started writing new songs; guitarist Mark Collins subsequently visited Burgess in February 2003 at his home in Los Angeles, California, where the pair worked for three weeks, finishing four tracks in the process. The two of them would then spend sometime in a cottage in Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. As the pair left behind a CD of the material they were working on, the material made it out to the public as a bootleg. Recording In March 2003, the band relocated to their own studio, Big Mushroom in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, with them and engineer James Spencer serving as producers. Burgess said that unlike Wonderland, they had no firm idea of what musical direction they wanted to take for Up at the Lake when they got into the studio. By May 2003, they had finished seven songs, but had to pause recording as Burgess shifted focus to his solo debut, I Believe (2003). Bassist Martin Blunt said the plan was for Burgess to finish promoting his album before they would return to work on their album. While this was occurring, the band held a warm-up show in London, prior to their appearances at the Move and T in the Park festivals in July 2003. At the former festival, the band premiered new track "Feel the Pressure". Collins, meanwhile, worked with