The Undertones, Holmfirth

The Undertones emerged from Derry in 1977, the result of five friends learning how to play guitar and drums in time with someone singing.

Even by the standard of that decade Derry was not the rock and roll capital of anywhere. 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 wonderful show on BBC Radio One.

Practicing in their bedrooms eventually led to the band recording ‘Teenage Kicks’ in 1978 on the Good Vibrations indie label in Belfast. The legendary DJ John Peel received a copy and liked it so much he played it twice in a row on his radio show.

The Undertones signed with Sire Records and ‘Teenage Kicks’ was released followed by further punkpop gems such as `Here Comes The Summer`, Jimmy Jimmy`, `My Perfect Cousin`,

`You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It)’ and four LPs.