They may be middle aged now but punk band The Undertones are still on a musical mission. Andy Coleman reports.

Thirty five years after their first gig at St Mary’s Scout Hall in Derry, The Undertones are still getting their (teenage) kicks performing their punk classics on stage.

To mark the anniversary the band are releasing a greatest hits double CD, True Confessions: A’s + B’s, and are embarking on a 10-date UK tour that calls in at the Birmingham O2 Academy on April 1. The tour will see them performing debut album, The Undertones, in its entirety.

‘‘I like the fact that we started playing in 1976, the first summer of punk when our ability to play guitars badly was a central premise of what punk bands were about,’’ admits 52-year-old bassist Michael Bradley.

‘‘It was the year we discovered records by The Stooges and the New York Dolls, just as other bands like the Sex Pistols and the Damned were putting out new singles that were difficult to find in our local record shops.

‘‘Of course, in 1976 the notion that we would still be performing 35 years later would have been unthinkable. It would have been like Louis Jordan still playing in 1976.

"Actually, that would have been kind of cool! But then you actually go on stage, plug in the guitars and do those songs and it all makes some kind of sense.’’

The band disbanded in 1983 after a run of hit singles that included Teenage Kicks and My Perfect Cousin but reformed in 1999 with original singer Feargal Sharkey replaced by Paul McLoone.

Michael says that Feargal, who is now a music industry executive, will not be involved in the anniversary celebrations.

‘‘The Undertones aren’t really part of what he does anymore. We didn’t ask him to sing when we reformed in 1999, and he didn’t ask us why. So relations at the moment are as they were then. I haven’t seen him for about six years, apart from in the papers talking about the music industry, where he is, incidentally, doing a fine job.’’

Michael adds that he has no problem revisiting their debut album.

‘‘I am really looking forward to playing the first LP – I know other bands have done it and to be honest I’ve always wished I’d thought of it first.

‘‘It’s my favourite of all the Undertones records, I have fantastic memories of hearing the songs, songs that we’d played live for so long, actually on a record.

‘‘I think it has the strongest line up of songs, although, like every band, we always thought our latest was the best. With the perspective of 30-odd years, I can see now how good it is.