Following the release of their fourth consecutive UK top 10 album 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band almost immediately parted company with their long time UK management and found themselves stuck in what Gary (lead vocals, bass) described as "legal morass", unable to record or release new music.

[16] During 2020, the band was active on Twitter to participate in Tim Burgess' "Listening Parties", offering behind the scenes insight for their most commercially successful album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever on 7 April.

[18] On 8 June, the band announced on their social media pages, with 4 hours' notice, their first live performance in nearly 2 years.

[19][20] On 12 August 2020, a day over three years since their last new material 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band's social media profile pictures changed to a stylised test card.

[25] Both NME and The Line of Best Fit recognised the role of Dave Grohl in how the album came together with the latter concluding: "Night Network" is a minor masterpiece.