It's been a couple of months since we last had Craig, Dean, Matt and Stephen on the show, and what a few months they've had! Being voted 'Irish Song of the Year' by the Breakfast Show listeners was more than likely the highlight. 

The band have been working their rear-ends off, and today, the fruits of their labour is revealed as their latest masterpiece 'Tales From The Backseat' is released.

Copies of the album have already been sent around to numerous media outlets and the reaction has been incredible. Everyone is loving the sound of their new work.

July 20th is an important date for the Mullingar men, as they play their biggest gig ever in The Iveagh Gradens. 

Here's a little fun fact for ya - they haven't always been known as 'The Academic', no, they've had quite a few name changes in fact, as they told Iano.

We also had a lovely little message in on Twitter from a mum with two young sons who were bickering over one of the band's songs. She also sent in some audio of them singing it, and everyone in the studio loved the cuteness.

They finished the morning off with a special version of their track 'Why Can't We Be Friends'. Pure gold from the quartet, and we cannot wait to see more of them in 2018!

You can listen to the full interview by clicking 'play' in the headline image above.

Fore more pieces of magic like this, tune into The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show weekday mornings from 7am.