As the old saying goes, ‘trouble comes in threes', but for much-loved Kiwi band Fat Freddy's Drop ‘success comes in fours'.

The Wellington band's fourth studio album Bays claimed the #1 album spot in the New Zealand charts last week – making it Fat Freddy's fourth album to enter the charts at the top.

Fat Freddy's Drop latest studio album ‘Bays' is the Wellington band's fourth to enter the New Zealand charts at #1. Photo: File

This summer you can catch Fat Freddy's when they play the Coroglen Tavern on December 30, while the planned Whangamata show on December 31 has since been cancelled.

Fat Freddy's sax player Scott ‘Chopper Reedz' Towers says for this album, the seven-piece band chose to skip their 2015 European summer tour in order to knuckle down and finish the album.

'What I learned [during the recording of Bays]isthat I really love being out on the road touring,” he says, 'and not doing that for six months actually makes me unhappy.

'In the past we'd be off playing shows around the world in the midst of the recording process, but for Bays we just got down to making the record, which is why it took a couple of years instead of three or four to get it out the door.”

The nine-track album was predominantly recorded at Fat Freddy's BAYS Studio in Wellington, which was formerly a HMV vinyl pressing plant during the 1950s.

Because of this, their fourth album was somewhat 'written in a vacuum” and encouraged the band to trust and rely on their own musical instincts.

'For past albums we'd be out touring, playing half-written songs to audiences,” he explains.

'We kind of used audiences as a bit of a ‘feedback loop', but what we found sometimes is that it kind of railroaded us. The audience can colour what's good and what's not so good.

'This time we followed our instincts and weren't influenced by that immediate visceral crowd response. Sonically, it's probably the richest record we've done and there's a little bit more electronic influence than there has been in the past.

'The process of recording Bays was defined a little bit further than [third studio album] Blackbird and I think it's the best, most considered music that we've written so far.”

November sees Fat Freddy's boarding a plane bound for Europe, where they'll perform in 22 cities across 11 countries before heading home in early December ahead of their national summer tour.

Scott says after a self-imposed winter exile from the stage, Fat Freddy's are chomping at the bit and can't wait to get back out there performing.

'We're all definitely looking forward to the tour. As much fun as being in studio is, being on stage is twice as much fun

'It's our chance to get out and play these songs live which is what it's all about. The end result of recording an album is to provide awesome new songs that people want to see us play live.”

Fat Freddy's Drop plays the Coroglen Tavern on December 30. For more information and tickets visit: ">www.fatfreddysdrop.com

Check out Fat Freddy's Drop first single release ‘Razor' from the new album below: