The Undertones

From Derry, Irish band The Undertones are the result of five friends learning how to play guitar and drums in time with someone singing. With no live bands worth watching, they learned by listening to mail-order records, reading one of the few copies of NME that made it to Derry but most of all from listening to John Peel’s legendary show on BBC Radio One. They released ‘Teenage Kicks’ in 1978 on the Good Vibrations indie label in Belfast. The track received the ultimate accolade from Peel- he played it twice in a row on his radio show.

The Undertones signed with Sire Records and for the following five years, John O Neill, his younger brother Damian, Feargal Sharkey, Billy Doherty and Michael Bradley crafted further numerous punkpop gems such as `Here Comes The Summer`, Jimmy Jimmy’ and `My Perfect Cousin`.