Interview - The Undertones: Teenage dreams that still keep band on the road

IT’S astonishing to think that legendary punk band The Undertones came within a whisker of abandoning their most iconic song.

Seminal hit Teenage Kicks has become one of rock’s most enduring anthems, but as youngsters recording their first EP in Derry in 1978, the Northern Irish quintet very nearly tossed it onto the scrapheap.

“We really didn’t think Teenage Kicks was that good,” recalls guitarist Damian O’Neill. “We all thought it was a bit corny, and we were very, very hard to please.”

Fortunately the boys came to their senses, the song seduced John Peel and made them stars, and more than three decades on The Undertones are embarking on a nationwide tour to mark their 35th anniversary.

“It’s terrifying to think it started that long ago,” says O’Neill, who turned 50 in January. “Back then I was just an excitable kid who used to collect NME cuttings of The Sex Pistols and The Clash.”

It was in early 1976 that bassist Michael Bradley, drummer Billy Doherty and singer Fergal Sharkey first came round to practice at the home of O’Neill and his older brother John. It was a far cry from the wild roots of many punk bands. Their first gig, organised by local scout leader Sharkey, was in front of 20 Boy Scouts at the troop’s hut.

“We were terrified even in front of them,” laughs O’Neill. “But they didn’t throw bottles or anything, so we must have been alright. At the time we could hardly play, but we lived and breathed the band. We were all for one and one for all. We never dreamed we’d get to record an album, never mind appear on Top Of The Pops.”

However, within a few short years The Undertones got to do just that. The Teenage Kicks EP struggled to win over label executives, but found an influential champion in Radio 1 DJ John Peel.

“When we went to London with Teenage Kicks the major labels didn’t like it, and even the trendy, independent labels didn’t want to know,” says O’Neil. “If John hadn’t played it we wouldn’t have made another record.”

Thanks to Peel, Teenage Kicks became a hit, a record deal soon followed and The Undertones’ 1979 eponymous debut album, which on this tour the band will play in full, is now viewed as an all-time classic.

“I still think it’s our best album,” says O’Neill. “It brings back nostalgic memories and we had a really good time making it. It’s probably when we were at our happiest.”

Things began to take a turn for the worse upon the release of the band’s second album, Hypnotised, at the dawn of the 1980s. While the Undertones secured their first Top 10 hit and the album went in at No 6, not everybody was happy with mainstream success.

“It didn’t fit well with some of the others, especially my brother John,” explains O’Neill. “He was very uncomfortable being recognised and he didn’t like the idea of punks becoming pop stars. That’s when things started to come apart.

“Fergal was very ambitious – more than any of us – and he wanted to make money. Resentments set in, and because me, Micky, and John did the songwriting it was like we were in one corner and Fergal was in the other.” The band signed a big-money deal with EMI and put out a third album, Positive Touch, but relations failed to improve.

“The gang mentality that had tied us together was gone. Fergal and John weren’t talking very much and it wasn’t fun anymore. It was inevitable that we would break up.”

And break up they did. When their fourth record, The Sin Of Pride, only reached number 43 in the charts in 1983, Sharkey told the others he wanted to quit. A year later the O’Neill brothers formed a new rock band, That Petrol Emotion, while Sharkey embarked on a solo career.

That might have been the end of The Undertones, but in 1999 when the band were asked to reunite for a concert in Derry, they leapt at the opportunity – albeit without the services of Sharkey.

It has often been reported that Sharkey declined to join the reunion, but O’Neill insists that they never even asked him.

“It wouldn’t have been fun with Fergal, and there would have been too much tension,” he explains. “The last time we saw him was at John Peel’s funeral and it was just a quick hello. It’s a shame when I look back on how we started as kids, but now he’s doing his thing and we’re doing ours.”

The band chose Doherty’s friend Paul McLoone to become their new frontman, and McLoone remains lead vocalist with the reformed Undertones to this day.

“Paul is a great frontman. We’ve put out two new albums with him and we’re still writing new material. We’re probably enjoying touring more than ever before – it just feels special every time we take the stage.”

It’s good to hear that the old punks are back on song, but one question remains: will The Undertones still be going in another 35 years?

“Well I’ll be 85 then,” laughs O’Neill, “but you never know. The miracle of modern medicine and all that. Maybe we’ll live until we’re 150, and still be going strong...”

The Undertones play York Fibbers on April 2. 01904 651250, www.fibbers.co.uk. The band’s Best Of collection, True Confessions, is reissued on April 4.