Ten years since their rulebook-defying, multi-platinum eponymous debut, The Script are our Artists of the Month for August.

If Danny O’Donoghue and Mark Sheehan had followed the scrip… Er, followed what was written down in front of them, there’s every chance that The Script wouldn’t be here with us now.

Consider for a moment those boybands that have tried and failed over the years. Now consider those that have come back with a new configuration and guise to succeed where previously they failed. And the latter option really will take a moment because there really is only one.

Following the implosion of their boyband, Mytown, O’Donoghue and Sheehan could’ve taken the predictable route of soap operas and daytime TV; instead they relocated to Los Angeles where they honed their chops and skills by working as producers alongside legendary names such as New Jack Swing creator Teddy Riley, production duo The Neptunes, and rapper and producer Rodney Jerkins. Call it an apprenticeship if you must, but the time spent with such LA heavyweights reaped benefits – and how!

Take all of that on board and it’s clear The Script were anything but an overnight success. Fusing what they’d learned on the West Coast with the drumming skills of new arrival Glen Power, it was only a matter of time before The Script broke through to the wider audience they deserved.

It’s hard to believe that it’s actually 10 years since the release of their debut eponymous album.

In that time, ‘The Script’ has gone four times platinum in the UK with sales of over 1.25m, and five times platinum in their native Ireland. It’s not difficult to see why. Taking the sonic lessons learned from their Californian mentors and fusing them with an eye for the details of everyday life, The Script created an album that’s at once relatable on both a cerebral and instinctive level.

You can’t help but be moved by debut single, ‘We Cry’. We all know the people featured in the song; some of us may even be the people in the song, but it’s The Script’s almost innate melodic intervention and unashamed pop sensibility that prevents it from heading down a warren of despair.

Elsewhere, the sophistication at the heart of the smash-hit, ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’, displays and, even, matches the mature and skilled influence of John Legend. You’ll also find that fusion of pop and empathy on the impassioned delivery of ‘Talk You Down’.

Touching nerves and hearts as it did and still continues to do so, it’s little wonder, then, that The Script’s debut album rocketed up the charts the world over. In addition to topping the charts in the UK and their Irish homeland, ‘The Script’ also made a significant impact in Australia, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden.

And when you’ve got both U2 and Sir Paul McCartney offering opening slots, then it’s fair to assume that something special is happening.

Despite their name, The Script have proved emphatically that sometimes, just sometimes, it’s worth going off-book. And now is as good a time as any to re-acquaint yourself with them and find out why all over again.