After a two-month writing hiatus, they began jamming new songs with their sound engineer Simon Efemey at a rehearsal space in Stourbridge, West Midlands.

Music critics gave 30 Goes Around the Sun generally positive reviews, and some highlighted violinist Erica Nockalls's role in the band.

Around this time, drummer Tony Arthy, who had recorded extended plays (EPs) with Hunter in 2000, left Jesus Jones, and joined the Wonder Stuff upon being asked.

[3] "Last Days of the Feast" was written ahead of the 2015 UK general election; Hunt was positive that he would witness the "back of the Tory bully boys that had been in charge for too long".

[3] With its aggressive guitar riffs and forceful drums, the song resembles "Donation", a track on the band's third studio album Never Loved Elvis (1991).

[5] The drum pattern in "Misunderstanding Burton Heel" echoes the one in "Ruby Horse", a track on The Eight Legged Groove Machine.

[1] The album was promoted with an anniversary tour of the UK, and was followed by appearing at festivals, including Isle of Wight, Buryfields and Shiiine On, between May and November 2016.

[4] A music video for "For the Broken Hearted" was posted on YouTube on 29 July 2016; it shows the band doing dance routines and performing in a garden and inside a house.

[11] A music video for "Good Deeds & Highs" was posted on YouTube on 4 December 2016; it consists of close-ups of the band members performing in front of differently coloured backgrounds.

[5] Louder Than War writer Paul Scott-Bates agreed, stating that Nockalls' violin saves the album from "bordering on becoming a little too ‘middle-aged-man safe'".

[6] He complimented Efemey's production, which he said regularly "reaches pinnacles which would be very easy to fall from",[6] while Etheridge of God Is in the TV viewed album as a "natural successor to Never Loved Elvis than anything the band have recorded since".

[5] Thornton felt if listeners are interested in "driven, unambiguously well-crafted alternative rock that isn't cluttered with fake passion or constant references to who the singer texted while drunk last night," there was no better release to find that than this album.