With the rumour mill working at full power following stories of falling-outs and new singles, it wasn't long before some clarity was needed and this came in the form of an announcement on the Wonder Stuff's official website.

The quote, from Martin Gilks and Martin Bell, stated that "there is a band out there purporting to be "The Wonder Stuff"...  ...As we see it, we feel that you are owed an explanation. This band is releasing a solo album by Miles Hunt provisionally titled, "Escape From Rubbish Island" and has re-branded it under the name of "The Wonder Stuff" (to be released on IRL recordings, an independent label associated with Spirit Music & Media, Miles' management company)...  ...We perceive this as merely a marketing ploy by Hunt & IRL. It appears that Malcom Treece will be making an appearance with this group, although we have had no confirmation from Malcom at this time."

And so another split had occurred within the group, seemingly far more serious than before, and Miles' previously planned solo album was now going to be released under The Wonder Stuff banner.

After that news, Miles' solo work dropped to the back burner.  It was now anticipated that all future works involving Miles would likely be under the Wonder Stuff banner but it was clear that Miles still intended to continue to make solo appearances on an occasional basis and, to prove the point, he went on a short UK solo tour towards the end of the year, starting on December 1st in London.

2005

In 2005, Miles made only a small number of non-Wonder Stuff appearances,  Prior to The Wonder Stuff's 2005 US Spring tour, Miles played an acoustic performance at the Loop Lounge in New York City on April 1st.  Then, partway through recording sessions for the Wonder Stuff's 2005 long-player release, Miles and Malcolm played an acoustic set at Cox's Yard in Stratford Upon Avon which included his own solo and Vent 414 material, in addition to old and new material from The Wonder Stuff.

Towards the end of the year, Miles also embarked on a small solo UK tour although the aim of the tour was primarily to showcase some of the tracks from the Wonder Stuff's next long player to their audience.

2006

2006 was always planned to be a busy year in the Stuffies calendar with it being their 20th anniversary but Miles still found time to break off from group work to perform on his own. 

His first live outing was to perform in front of a specially invited audience for the BBC.  The Jammin' show, broadcast on BBC Radio 2, featured host Rowland Rivron and his in-house band performing with a different singer each week.  The hour-long show included both music, chat and comedy moment for which all of the group would join in with.  The show was recorded at the end of August and aired in September on BBC Radio 2.

Miles also performed a trio of dates in America at the end of May before returning back to the UK for a small number of dates in June to coincide with the release of The Wonder Stuff's 2nd single release and the debut broadcast of Underground Ernie on the BBC's BBC2 and CBeebies channels from mid-June.

At his London show  at the end of May, Miles chose an unorthodox setlist by opting to play a number of tracks which had either not been played live before at all, or only played very infrequently thus the crowd were treated to 'The Takin' Is Easy', 'Me, My Mom, My Dad and My Brother' and 'I Think I Must Have Had Something Really Useful To Say' plus three new tracks, one of which was a track he'd written at the time of Bob Jones' death but now felt it poignant to return to following Martin Gilks' death.  The usual tracks also made it into the setlist such as 'Room 512', 'Angelica Maybe', 'Circlesquare'.  'The Importance Of Being Ernie' also made it's appearance right at the start to herald the forthcoming airing of the Underground Ernie cartoon series which aired on the BBC at the start of June.

The recent batch of live dates were all undertaken to serve a purpose.  After numerous requests, Miles was planning on releasing a new live album towards the end of the year and by the beginning of August, he had picked the tracklisting (16 tracks) and artwork was being prepared.

The album, Interloper, came out at the beginning of October and featured selections from two concerts performed earlier in the year.  The majority of the tracks were acoustic versions of Wonder Stuff songs with three new tracks included, one being the 'For Gilks And Jonesy' tribute track.  The album also contained a large amount of the between-song banter that has become a trademark of Miles' solo shows.

Miles also embarked on a small-scale tour of the UK and Ireland with Erica Nockalls (Wonder Stuff violinist) joining him on the tour.