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Looking like the last guests who don’t know when to leave, Smash Mouth are a long way from the multi-platinum band who dominated commercial radio in the late 90s.

With two huge albums and a slew of hits including the almost irresistible All-Star and Walkin’ On The Sun, these absurdly upbeat Californians – who looked like the guys in the Swingers movie who couldn’t get a date – eked out a corner for themselves in the perpetual party world populated by bands like Sugar Ray and Lit.

Sadly, the sun’s come up on that whole scene and songs like the jingling Perfect Planet and the risible Justin Bieber now sound misplaced and horribly out of step.

Come in, Smash Mouth, your 15 minutes really are up.

Philip Wilding is a novelist, journalist, scriptwriter, biographer and radio producer. As a young journalist he criss-crossed most of the United States with bands like Motley Crue, Kiss and Poison (think the Almost Famous movie but with more hairspray). More latterly, he’s sat down to chat with bands like the slightly more erudite Manic Street Preachers, Afghan Whigs, Rush and Marillion.