In 2013, the original line-up released Sounds from the Other Side, their first album since reforming four years earlier.

Since then, there hasn't been anything new from one of Wollongong's favourite bands - though for the last two years frontman Richie Lewis had been talking about plans for a singles club, where a new song was released every month.

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This week, that becomes reality with the release of the song Shadowland.

The release will initially be digital-only, before it is followed by a second song, Rebellion, around a month later.

At that time, the two songs will be slapped onto either side of a limited-edition seven-inch vinyl single.

Lewis says he's very, very happy with the results.

"The next single that's coming out is the best thing we've ever done - it's a good song. And the one after that is a straightforward rebellious punk rock song," he says.

Shadowlands was a bit of a dark horse; the first new Tumbleweed song was supposed to Rebellion - they'd beat it into shape by playing it live a few times. But this other tune, which didn't even have a name when they recorded it, really surprised them.

So they gave it a name and pushed it to the top of the list.

The plan is to keep up the regular releases over the next 12 months - tying in with 2021 being the band's 30^th anniversary - and issuing a collectible box to hold the singles.

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At the end of the release run, the singles will be collected together on a compilation album.

Part of the reason why it took so long for the singles idea to come together was the band was unsure about its future following the death of bassplayer Jay Curley in 2014.

After that tragedy, the members stepped back to reassess things. Just when it was looking like they would call it quits, Kram from Spiderbait asked them to do a few shows.

So, in desperate need of a bassplayer, they roped in friend Jamie Cleaves - and found he was actually the perfect fit.

"This is our first recording with Jamie on bass," Lewis says.

"It feels like a natural time to be going in. We've always just followed our instincts and our feelings, without overthinking it. We were just ready now."

The singles project sees the band working with Radio Birdman singer and northern Illawarra resident Rob Younger.

They decided to approach him after Lewis and drummer Steve O'Brien were listening to 1980s indie singles - bands like The Stems, The Eastern Dark and Hard-Ons. They'd realised that Younger had produced them all.

"We'd lived in each other's periphery for such a long time,": Lewis says.

"His daughter went to Thirroul Public School just like my daughter did. For a long time he was living just up the road but when we'd cross paths, we'd say g'day and that was about it.

"We thought it was about time we did something together, so we gave him a call to see he was up for doing a string of singles that was a homage to the music that turned us onto cool music, the bands we aspired to be like.

"He was keen to be involved."

Taking the route of singles rather than an album allows the band to keep fresh and topical - for instance, Rebellion is inspired by the Extinction Rebellion movement.

"It suits where we're at right now, keeping things fresh, keeping things moving," Lewis says.

"When the song is good enough and worthy of being out there, go and record it, put it out as a single.

"Something I find about album writing, it's such a heavy investment in energy and time and it's also drawing from the same common well of influence and inspiration."

The band's approach also means they can avoid the "two bad things" that can happen when making an album.

"You get songs that are really great but get lost in the album," he says.

"Or you have songs that are filling up that 12 that shouldn't be there.

"And in this day and age, besides classic albums, a lot of the music I'm listening to is just a song here and a song there."

The limited release vinyl singles are unlikely to trouble the charts, but it's about the fans, not the fame.

"We're older and wiser," Lewis says.

"We know we're not going to have hit singles but we know the people who have stuck by us like what we do and wait for our next release."

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