The Undertones bring their Middle Aged Kicks to Leamington

Their calling card Teenage Kicks made DJ John Peel cry - and then play the song twice running on his show.

Now people in Leamington can hear hits such as Jimmy Jimmy, My Perfect Cousin and Wednesday Week when the play at the Assembly on Saturday.

Guitarist Damian O’Neill, the last to join the group formed by his brothers John and Vincent said the five friends never expected to be famous.

He said: “We practised in my mum’s front room for about a year and we timed it really well because by then it was 1976 and we heard the Ramones.

“The punk thing exploded. We identified with that. We loved the fact that it was high energy. It brought the fun back into rock’n’roll. You didn’t need to be a great musician to form a band.”

Getting a residency in a pub called the Kasbah, they gained a following as the first punk band in Derry and made a record, the Teenage Kicks EP, thinking that would be the only testament of their existence.

After hearing Teenage Kicks, Radio 1 DJ John Peel championed the band. Today the song is associated almost as much with the late DJ as the band.

Damian added: “I wouldn’t be speaking to you now if it wasn’t for John Peel. At that time we didn’t realise what all the fuss was about. We thought it was an OK song.

“I can see now why people play it. There’s no fussiness about it. We were very influenced by early rock’n’roll, the Shirelles, the Ronettes, that innocent teen pop music; we loved that and that comes across.”

The band’s first album only around half an hour long - today the band start their set by playing it in full. Their second Hypnotised continued in the same vein with More Songs About Chocolate and Girls, the classic My Perfect Cousin and the gentle Wednesday Week, while the third LP Positive Touch was more political. Their fourth album The Sin of Pride was an attempt to capture the spirit of the soul music the band was listening to but O’Neill did not feel it was a success, although he still likes Love Parade’s ‘garagey’ feel.

In 1983 singer Feargal Sharkey left to start a solo career, eventually working in the record industry. John and Damian went on to form the more experimental That Petrol Emotion.

They fended off offers to reform throughout the 1990s but finally did so when a new live venue and arts centre with recording studio opened in Derry in 1999, proud to be giving something back to the city they came from.

Knowing that Feargal Sharkey would not want to be involved, they recruited Paul McLoone, a friend of the band, as singer.

O’Neill said: “It was money, financial offers. A couple of times, big money. One time we nearly did reform and then in 1999 they opened a big multimedia building in Derry. It was important because Derry never really had a good music venue. It was an honour to be asked.

“We always lived there during the heyday of the Undertones. We never left - it wouldn’t have worked. We stuck up for Derry because it was the forgotten city of Northern Ireland. We wanted to put it on the map.”

Although critical of the band’s new records - fans on the internet like them more - he says he feels no qualms about revisiting his youth. O’N eill believes they are still what they started out as, a good live band, and describes playing as “a hobby” with no pressure and more fun.

He added: “It brought the fun back. We’re not so hung up about things. It’s unbelievable we’re still doing it.”

The Undertones will play at Leamington Assembly on Saturday. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets cost £16 and are available by calling 311311.