5SOS Hope to 'Reach Higher Highs' with New Music as They Call Upcoming Album a 'Total Ascension'

Justin Lloyd/Newspix via Getty Ashton Irwin, Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford and Calum Hood

The boys of 5 Seconds of Summer are gearing up for an epic summer!

Speaking to PEOPLE about their upcoming album 5SOS5 and summer tour, Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Ashton Irwin and Calum Hood share that after a 10-year journey as a band, this project shows their relationship is "stronger than ever."

"It says that there's a lot of awareness into helping each other rise to the occasion of this being a very inclusive album. It says that this band is trying to achieve something that we as a band 10 years ago would only be dreaming of achieving," Hemmings, 25, tells PEOPLE.

He continued, "It shows a lot of hope for this band sticking around for as long as we can. Hopefully it shows that we're trying to just connect with people even after we've just finished touring the UK and Europe — and the kind of power that an art form can hold is something that we take very seriously. We put a lot of heart and soul into these in hopes that we connect with as many people as we can in a positive way."

RELATED: 5 Seconds of Summer Celebrates Their 10th Anniversary: See the Band's Evolution in Pictures

For Irwin, 27, this album is a way of connecting with their fans through songwriting.

"This album is a total ownership, a total realization, a total ascension of what the group wants for themselves," he says. "We've taken a lot of these things into our own hands and it's been an incredible testing journey. The tests and the challenges have only provided positive outcomes internally. What we're really doing is attempting to allow our audience to know us better as songwriters. We're attempting to reach higher highs with our live shows, through creating the music that truly we think represents the best parts of us."

He adds, "So it's a total new beginning in many ways."

Mark Metcalfe/Getty Michael Clifford, Luke Hemmings, Ashton Irwin and Calum Hood

5SOS5, which is set for release on Sept. 23 follows the band's 2020 album Calm and includes previously released singles "My, Myself & I," "Take My Hand" and "Complete Mess." Just before the album's release, the band will kick off their Take My Hand North American tour on June 11 in Vancouver and will cross major cities before concluding on June 24 in Maryland Heights, Missouri.

When asked how the band navigates their time on the road, Clifford, 26, says that after taking a few years off from touring, jumping back into it is indescribable — and there's "no real answer on how to do it right or wrong."

"It's interesting, because we've gotten so used to being at home for so long. Having that consistency and then all of a sudden that's ripped away from you. You're waking up on a bus underground every day for two months. It's so weird," he says.

Since their last tour, Hemmings is rumored to have wed Sierra Deaton while Clifford married Crystal Leigh, and though the band admits that bringing the wives along means their "posse gets bigger," they all enjoy it.

"I'll be honest about this. All right. I really love when I see the guys' partners on the road, it's really refreshing and because basically it just makes the band bigger and more interesting," Irwin says.

RELATED: 5 Seconds of Summer Is Here to Stay as They Celebrate 10 Years: 'It's Kind of Like a Marriage, Isn't It?'

Clifford adds of their United Kingdom and European tour dates earlier this year, "Crystal and Sierra were out in Europe and it was interesting. Before Crystal had come out on tour, I was literally lying in bed from the second I'd get to a hotel until we'd leave again. Then when Crystal came out, I was like, 'Oh actually...'"

He continues, "It is way more interesting to travel with someone — not that we were ever traveling alone, because we're always together the four of us — but when it's just the four of us, I very much go back to: 'OK, we're here. We're touring and I need to rest.' But then when Crystal was out with us, I was like, 'OK, we can explore, we can go do stuff.' All of us went on this nice little boat in Amsterdam. We had a little band boat!"

Irwin jokingly adds, "We kind of do a retirees vacation."