From 2011 until their split, the band consisted of vocalist-guitarist Sam Forrest, guitarist David Jones, drummer James Galley and bassist Karl Astbury.

[1] From their inception in late 2003, the band's energetic live performances earned them a hardcore fanbase after playing for only a few months on the Manchester music scene.

Also in 2005 Nine Black Alps performed in Japan at the winter SonicMania Festival in February,[2] and later that year returned to play the Club Quattro Venues in Tokyo and Osaka.

The band also spent time touring Northern Europe, including France, the Netherlands and Germany and also supported the Kaiser Chiefs in Scandinavia.

On the back of this, Nine Black Alps brought the 'Love/Hate' era and their partnership with Island Records to a close with a successful UK headline tour in January and February 2008.

Having spent much of 2008 writing new material, Nine Black Alps finished recording their third full-length album in February 2009[5] with producer Dave Eringa in North Wales' Bryn Derwen Studio.

In 2010, it was revealed that the band had started demoing new material for their fourth album as a 3 piece in early May in the West Yorkshire village of Linthwaite.

Bass player Martin Cohen left the band in early 2011 to pursue his solo project Milk Maid,[6] with whom he is signed to Brighton based label Fat Cat Records; he has since been replaced by Karl Astbury, formerly of The Witches.