THIS week The Charlatans set out on their first full-scale tour since 2010, playing Leeds O2 Academy on Saturday and Hull University on Monday, but the indie-rock stalwarts wondered whether they would reach this point.

Questions were mounting after the death of drummer Jon Brookes from brain cancer in August 2013 at the age of 44.

How do you come back from the loss of a best friend, a band member and a core part of your sound? How do you stay motivated in the middle of a cold, damp Cheshire February, in a building full of memories, with no record label, and only a few scraps of songs from aborted recording sessions the year before?

The Charlatans, who also lost original keyboard player Rob Collins in a car crash in 1996, once more dug deep and searched for soul, leading to their 12th studio album and their first for their new home, BMG Chrysalis. Modern Nature was released in late January, yet the album nearly did not materialise as Tim Burgess, Mark Collins, Martin Blunt and Tony Rogers struggled against feeling deflated after Jon’s death and the songs just would not come.

However, once they reconvened at their Big Mushroom studio in early 2014, the memory and spirit of Jon Brookes spurred them on to make a breakthrough and record an uplifting, summer-warm record. “Jon was adamant that there was going to be another Charlatans record, and you have to put that into your own thoughts,” says keyboard player Tony.

In nearly 25 years together, The Charlatans have overcome deaths, arrests and bankruptcy, and in the wake of Jon’s loss, the remaining members re-focused and united in Big Mushroom with Jim Spencer at the controls.

“I suppose bands that have been together for a while can drift off as individuals,” says frontman Tim. “I think it was really important for us to sit down and go through everything and get it all cleared before we went through together.”

They emerged with an unexpectedly upbeat record. “We were aching for the summer when we wrote it,” says Tim. “It was freezing and we were trying to write songs that made us happy.”

The Charlatans wanted to transcend tragedy while remembering their old friend. Jon Brookes’s drums remained where they were in the studio, tuned exactly as he left them; three temporary Charlatans drummers – The Verve’s Pete Salisbury, New Order’s Stephen Morris and Factory Floor’s Gabriel Gurnsey – had to turn up and record parts based on drum machine loops on John’s kit.

“Gabe reckons he got a slap,” says guitarist Mark. “Halfway through a take, he stopped drumming because he felt a smack on the back of his head; nobody is saying we believe in things from the other side, but …”

From a slap, to a knock: the album takes its title from the diary collection of avant-garde film maker Derek Jarman, after a copy fell on Tim’s head as he worked on solo material with psychedelic electronic folk group Grumbling Fur.

Typified by the song title Let The Good Times Never Be Ending, Modern Nature is an album full of love, life and confidence.

“I liked the way we went about it. I found it to be a really enjoyable record to make,” says Tim, reflecting on the recording sessions. “Sometimes you try hard, or even too hard, to do something new and fresh, but this time it felt so right that it was just, ‘let’s be ourselves, let’s make a great record’, and we started with the smallest idea and felt confident to be ourselves.”

Now The Charlatans look to the future in a sunny disposition.

“The best is yet to come,” reckons Tony, as their 11-date tour begins, with Pete Salisbury on the drummer’s stool as Jon Brookes’s beat goes on.