Relive all those Undertones classics at Bexhill gig

Paul McLoone, who has been the singer with the band since 1999, remembers them as a band he grew up with: “And I am still incredibly thrilled to be up there singing these songs and I've never lost the gratitude for that.”

And how easily it might not have happened. It’s become the stuff of legend now, but it was DJ John Peel who helped them make the breakthrough back in the day at a time when they might simply have given up: “From what I understand around the time of the Teenage Kicks EP they were still thinking about calling it a day. It was hard to get anywhere back then. It still is and I suppose they just wanted to make their punk statement and go back to their day jobs, as I understand it but then it was interest from Peel that moved them forward with his enthusiasm. John Peel was absolutely essential to the whole thing. But in my own little later development I was always a big fan of The Undertones. You would see the guys on Top Of The Pops and then you would see them in the city centre in a shop. And Derry certainly wasn't like you would imagine London to have been back at that time. People who came from Derry had no business whatsoever being on Top Of The Pops or or The Old Grey Whistle Test or anything like that! And you have to remember that it wasn’t a particularly happy time in our world back then so it was so weird that you would see these guys at mass or in the town and then they were on Top Of The Pops!”

Paul joined the band just before the turn of the century: “It was daunting but I didn't really think about it very much in that way at the time. But Billy (Doherty, one of the original Undertones) was an old bandmate of mine and he said ‘We are reforming.’ I didn't realise what he was talking about the time. He didn't actually say the word Undertones. I said ‘Do you mean our band?’ but he said ‘No, I mean The Undertones.’ I said ‘Why are you telling me?’ and he said ‘I want you to sing.’ I froze for a moment and then I said yes.

“It was only after I said yes that I started getting nervous about it but I did actually know most of the band anyway. The only person I didn't really know was Damian but once we got together in our little rehearsal room and started doing the songs, it became real and I got less nervous!”

Then came the gig and a great response: “And I'm really grateful for that. I mean this as a left-handed compliment really about the people from my part of the world but it's certainly true that if they don’t like something they will let you know.

"But it went really well and it has been great.”

That gig was the first Undertones gig for 16 years. Since then of course we have had the pandemic break.

“It was a really rubbish time for everyone, but first and foremost I'm just grateful look we're here. For the first few months I was thinking would we ever be able to play live again.

"It was complete doubt and uncertainty and it was all just a mammoth unknown and then you think of where we've got to now and you realise it has been quite some trip so I'm grateful.”

Tickets from the venue.