Most of the time when you think of a greatest hits record, it’s for one of two scenarios – either the lifespan band is coming to an end (or has already) or their contract at their label is up and this is the final hurrah for that particular lifespan. Unless, of course, that band is Spiderbait.

“I think it’s the third option,” confirms drummer/vocalist Kram. “It’s a celebration of a really top career and we’re really happy to still be around, so that’s why we’re doing it!” he says with a cackle.

The last six to twelve months have been an incredible time for the three-piece from Finley Lake – they’ve undergone a renaissance thanks to a cover song. With the success of Tonight Alright, Kram admits that there was some initial trepidation in releasing “Black Betty” as the first single. “I was 100 percent behind that if we were going to do this song we had to release it first and do it large, do it loud, and it all worked out really well.”

It’s certainly meant a new lease on life for the band: whereas before they weren’t playing to as big a crowds and they weren’t as ‘big’ as what they used to be, that’s pretty normal – there’s lots of groups out there like that. “Our label was really supportive and everyone was really into it before it all went off,” Kram explains, in that they band believed that it could happen again for them. “Now that it has I think it can happen for any band as long as you stick to your guns. No-one expects a group that’s been around for 15 years to top the charts, let alone the band themselves.”

Of course, this greatest hits compilation brings together the old and the new – including fab new single “On My Way”, complete with its Queen tribute video – to a whole new audience. “To newer fans it’s all about this new band who did “Black Betty”. We’re really flattered by that. It’s nice to be appreciated for what you’ve done, but it’s also nice to be appreciated for what you’re doing.”

Mostly though, Kram says, “We just thought it was a catchy tune, and we wanted to have a single to go out with it that was a way of saying, in regards to what you were saying before and I do agree with you, whenever you see a compilation record you think ‘oh, what’s going on, are they breaking up or did they have to do this?’ and there’s always the intent that the band doesn’t like it, or they were forced to do it, or there was some big problem. We thought if we did a new single then it might be something that would be a nice way of saying that we still write good songs. But we have been around for 15 years, and particularly with the success of the last record we really wanted to get new fans to check out our older material, so that’s what we did.

Part of the key to Tonight Alright is the remarkable brevity of it – it makes a marked difference compared to previous Spiderbait records, which always tended to be elaborate, explorative releases with the band trying different things and experimenting constantly.

“I honestly think that’s how we’ll make our records from now on,” he affirms. “That was one of the big revelations of the whole project – let’s not try and do too much, let’s just try and do what we do and keep it rocking, and really get the energy on the record that we get live, which we’ve had trouble doing. Our records are our records and live is live and never the twain shall meet, but on this record it really worked and it seemed to be so much easier to make – it was easy to write, easy to record, and it was the fastest record that we’ve ever made apart from the really, really early days, so it was a revelation – ‘ah, this is how we’re supposed to do it!’. Tonight Alright is more how we want to be, so it will be more of a similar vein next time around.”

Of course, the next trick for the band is to maintain the momentum created by Tonight Alright, and get a new album out there.

“I think it’s going to be next year. We have to wait and see. I’d like to get into it maybe half way through next year if we can, but hopefully earlier if we can. We’ll see.”

Having worked with noted hard rock producer Sylvia Massy Shivvy on that record, would the band to tempted to recapture that same sort of magic again?

“It’s hard to say,” he muses. “I really enjoyed working with her and Rich as well, but I don’t really know if I’d want to go to Weed [Studios] again – it’s five hours from San Francisco and it does drive you a bit batty. I think if we were going to go and make a record in the States again we’d do it in L.A., because I like being around the city. We really enjoyed working with Andy Baldwin on this single, and Sing Sing Studios in Prahran was really great. The little one is great for tracking, and the song was done in two days. I only took about two days to write it as well, so it came together really quickly. For me, I’ll either get the thing finished in really quick time or I’ll labour over it for years and come up with a bridge ten years later. The former is a lot better.

Is there much pressure on the band as a result of the success of the last album?

“All the pressure is gone for us,” Kram explains. “We’ve managed to achieve everything we’ve ever dreamed of doing and more, especially achieving a number one single at a time when no-one expected us to do it, so we’ve confounded all of our critics and surprised ourselves and pleased ourselves, so whatever we do from now on is a complete bonus.”

Spiderbait’s Greatest Hits is out now, with the band to announce a tour to celebrate fifteen glorious years of rock in the soon-to-near future.