The roots of The Undertones can be traced as far back as 1975 when the O'Neill brothers (John and Vinny) bored with just kicking a football about, started messing about with guitars. Thinking it would be 'good craic' to form a rock band they roped in old school pals Mickey Bradley and Billy Docherty. Learning to play on borrowed equipment, it became apparent that the O'Neills younger brother Damian had the makings of a lead guitarist so Vinny took a backseat. Billy's mate from English class, Feargal Sharkey, was persuaded to attend a rehearsal in John's bedroom. Impressed by the fact that they had guitars and some other equipment, was enough to persuade Sharkey to join. And so begins a legend in the making.

The Undertones made their live debut in February 1976 playing at St Mary’s Scout hall in Derry. A further few low key gigs followed that year in their native city. Heavily influenced by the likes of the Heartbreakers and The Ramones, their live set included covers by both these artists as well as Johnny Moped. They were also quick to pen some original songs too, Damian O’Neill “The first songs written by the band were by John: “I Told You So” (later a B-Side) /”Emergency Cases” / “Undercover Lovers” (never recorded properly thankfully) and a Buzzcocks type song called “Do The Fast” (released on the Anthology C.D). Mickey and I then helped John with “True Confessions” and “Male Model” l and I think John's “Gotta Getta” was a very early song too”.

These were followed in early '77 by gigs in the infamous Casbah (later immortalised in the song 'Casbah Rock') where it was more likely for the band to be pelted with beer glasses than to be asked for an encore. The boys then headed to Dublin for a gig at the Baggot Inn supporting the Radiators from Space and were impressed and encouraged by the alternative music scene that was happening there. Feargal's brother was a reporter with the Evening Press in Dublin at the time, so the band were able to sleep on the floor of his flat.

However, their second appearance in Dublin, at the Belfield Festival in June 1977, ended in tragedy and near disaster for the band. Young music fan Patrick Coultry was stabbed to death and unfortunately Billy Docherty was seen to be wearing identical clothing to the murder suspect and was interrogated by the police in both Dublin and Derry. Damian O’Neill shares his memory of this ill-fated gig “The stabbing happened during the Radiators from Space set. I didn't see the incident but I can remember seeing the poor guy (Patrick Coultry) being attended by St John's Ambulance and seeing lots of blood. Apparently whoever did it had a white denim jacket on and unfortunately so did our drummer Billy. The next thing we knew was that the Gobshites of the Gardai had suspected poor Billy as he fitted the description and even worse, was from the 'Black North'. The entire band (especially Billy) got grilled for hours afterwards at UCD. I remember singing Police and Thieves in the cold corridor! Eventually, we staggered home to Feargal's brother's flat in Dublin around 4am. Apparently the RUC then went to interview Billy at his Mum's house a few days later, maybe even took him to the station. Maybe that's why he never joined the police force after we broke up!” Shocked by the events surrounding Belfield, the band took time out to get their heads together. Luckily they regrouped and built up a hardcore following by gigging regularly at the Casbah until Christmas '77.

They cut their first demo tape, which featured early versions of 'Teenage Kicks', 'Get Over You', 'Gotta Getta', Girls Don't Like It' and 'Emergency Cases' and sent out copies to most of the indie labels in the UK only to have it rejected. Slightly disillusioned and on the verge of splitting up, the band received a call from Good Vibrations supremo Terri Hooley (who had also been impressed by what he'd heard) offering them the chance to record a 7" EP. So the day after their very first live appearance in Belfast at the Battle Of The Bands gig at Queens, the Undertones went into Wizard studios in Belfast and recorded the 'Teenage Kicks' EP. Damian O’Neill’s memories are hazy of the events but he recounts here what he does remember “I remember it was a normal Belfast day i.e buckets of rain outside and we were all still high on adrenaline from the Battle of the Bands show the night before at the Ulster Hall. I have vague memories of Davy Shannon telling us where to set up etc. We recorded the songs exactly as they are on the E.P, all knocked off very quickly. I remember Terri Hooley popping in later looking very hung over and he actually fell asleep during the recording. (I bet that's not in the forthcoming film). I also seem to remember him buying us sausage and chips at the chippy. Only wish I had a camera with me on that fateful day.” In 1978, 7,000 copies of the EP were pressed and were issued in the customary photocopied fold over picture sleeve for which several colours of paper were used! It's unclear just how John Peel obtained a copy of the EP from. Feargal had previously contacted Peely about the bands demo tape and it is believed that he sent Peel a copy of the EP on it's release. However, Hooley says that he spent an entire Friday wandering around London trying to sell the record to some of the major labels and having met with no success, decided late in the evening, to leave a copy at Radio 1 headquarters for the attention of John Peel. Well, whatever the truth, the rest is pop legend!

On Tuesday 12/09/78 Peel played all four tracks from the EP on his evening show and commented "Isn't that the most wonderful record you've ever heard?" He was so taken by the record that he played it on his show three nights running! Peel contacted Seymour Stein, boss of Sire Records and within three weeks the band were signed to that label who rush released a reissue of 'Teenage Kicks'. Sire had dispatched their London manager Paul McNally to Derry to watch the Undertones at the Casbah. The day after the gig thay had all met in Feargal's mothers front room. The band, a few of our friends, Terri Hooley from Good Vibrations, and Paul McNally from Sire records. Three of the band signed a contract there and then and without a manager at that time, it was left to Sharkey and Bradley to travel to London and met the boss of Sire Records, Seymour Stein and negotiate a £36,000, five year recording contract and add the final two signatures to the contract. Not long after this the Undertones appointed Andy Ferguson as their manager.

With Sire now behind them The Undertones - Feargal Sharkey (vocals), Mickey Bradley (bass), Damian O'Neill (guitar), John O'Neill (guitar) and Billy Docherty (drums), soon found themselves in the UK charts at no. 31, which earned them an appearance on Top Of The Pops! Two days after this appearance the band were back playing in Derry but it wasn’t quite an X Factor type hometown welcoming as Mickey Bradley recounts “Two days after our first Top of the Pops appearance, we played on the back of a lorry in a playground for a local youth club, it was Halloween night, and we'd agreed to do the show a few weeks before. We were only on for one song, when out of the sky came a shower of eggs, thrown from behind the small crowd in front of the stage. There's not a lot you can do to preserve your dignity when you're standing with a guitar, and eggs are bouncing off your head. Sorry, they weren't bouncing off my head, they weren't hard boiled. So when they hit you... och, you know what eggs do when they hit you. As well as the eggs incident, we also got a lot of personal abuse from some fellas in the street. Feargal as usual got the worst - for some reason he brought out a particularly vicious streak in the youth of Derry. A few months after our first Top of the Pops appearance, while we were in the first flush of stardom, we did a benefit show for Women’s Aid, playing in a community centre in Shantallow, a housing estate in Derry. While the support band was on stage, some fellas came up to me and asked about Feargal, "Where's Sharkey?" "I don't know, he's somewhere out front." Now these boys didn't seem to be looking for Feargal's autograph. His blood, yes, his autograph no. They must have seen the look of fear on my face, because one of them told me not to worry - it was just Sharkey they were after. We went on stage, and played as usual but we had to get cars to take us home, because there was a crowd outside waiting for us. If it was Boyzone, a crowd outside means autographs, and screaming and kisses and pictures. For the Undertones that night, a crowd outside meant a good kicking. Hometown heroes eh?”

The band did however play their gig on the UK mainland at Leicester University In November 1978 as support to new label mates The Rezillos on a mini tour of England. During this period, they managed a trip to Maida Vale Studios where they recorded the tracks for their second John Peel session. Sharkey recalled - "The biggest thing that struck me at the time was that John Peel had paid for us to do that first tape (for first radio session) that previous Autumn (16/10/78) out of his own pocket! I don’t know of any other DJ that we've met who would care to that extent, show that much drive and commitment to the music." In fact, this debut session cost Peely £70 and was recorded at local radio station Downtown Radio in Studio 1 by Stephen Nelson. This first session featured the songs 'Get Over You', 'Top 20', 'She Can Only Say No' and 'Male Model'.

The follow up single 'Get Over You' was released in January '79 and was quickly followed by the classic 'Jimmy Jimmy' which reached no. 16 in the UK singles chart and earned the band another appearance on Top Of The Pops. A month later saw the release of their self titled debut album to rave reviews. In July, with perfect timing, 'Here Comes The Summer' was put out as the new single, reaching a creditable no. 34 in the charts. Again this earned the band a Top Of The Pops appearance. Damian O’Neill on the Undertones at the Beeb “Being on the OGWT was a laugh, very rough and ready and the songs are so fast! Dreadful sound though. The first time on Top Of The Pops for Teenage Kicks in Oct '78 was weird and wonderful. Tony Blackburn, Legs and Co etc and we got to meet Elvis Costello. However, after a few appearances on Top Of The Pops you get a bit blasé and it's rather boring actually. We always felt uncomfortable miming and would be typically unprofessional about it”.

A reissue of the band’s debut album, with a completely revamped sleeve followed close on the heels of the “Here Comes The Summer” 7”. Keen admirer of the band Joe Strummer invited The Undertones to support his band The Clash on their 'Clash Take The Fifth' tour in the USA. Damian O’Neill again “We only did 2 weeks with the Clash on that tour. They offered us the full 4 weeks from coast to coast but Billy and John refused to be away from their girlfriends for that long (true fact). It was the first time for us in America so obviously an amazing experience. The Clash were at their peak in my opinion. They were debuting a lot of songs from London Calling (yet to be released) so we'd watch them every night and hear “Guns of Brixton”, “Armageddon Time” etc before everyone else back home. They were very tight, very professional (almost the same set every night!) and had that cool Gangster look. They treated us very well, especially Joe and Mick. We were simply too shy to hang out with them. They were too rock n roll for the likes of us I guess! Maybe if we had done the whole tour we would've got to know them better and I could've been in Big Audio Dynamite in a later life!”. 1979 ended with the release of the mighty 'You've Got My Number' as the new single and it featured for the first time a cover version on the b-side, 'Let's Talk About Girls' which was originally done by The Chocolate Watch Band.

1980 kicked off with the release of the bands most commercially successful single, the joyous 'My Perfect Cousin'. Their second album 'Hypnotised' from which 'Wednesday Week' was lifted as the next single. To promote the album the band set off on their 'Humming' tour ably supported by fellow Derry band The Moondogs. Although 'Hypnotised' sold fewer copies than the debut album, it still obtained a higher chart position. However, things hadn't been going too well with their label and relations between the band and Sire had began to rapidly deteriorate. Before the end of the year The Undertones had embarked on the 'See No More' mini tour. Sections of the music press noted that the tour name was a direct dig at label boss Seymour Stein (Seymour No More - geddit?). The bands manager Andy Ferguson was able to exploit some loopholes in their contract which enabled them to walk away from Sire unhindered, taking the rights to all their songs with them.

The next move was to form their own Ardeck label, with E.M.I. securing the worldwide licensing rights. May '81 saw the release of 'It's Going To Happen' as a 7" single and then the band went on another UK tour to promote the release of their third album 'Positive Touch'. This time support came from TV21. 'It's Going To Happen’ (about the IRA hunger strikes) was the first time the band had written a song directly concerning 'The Troubles' in N. Ireland. When the band, complete with brass section, performed the song on Top Of The Pops, Damian was seen wearing a black armband as a mark of respect for IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands!

Another Top Of The Pops appearance followed when follow up single 'Julie Ocean' charted. The 'Beautiful Friend' 7" appeared in February '82 and was their only original release of that year. E.M.I. did however re-release three singles 'Here Comes The Summer', 'You've Got My Number', and 'Wednesday Week'.

January '83 saw the release of some new material (the first in nearly a year), in the shape of the 'Love Parade' single, which was issued on 7" and 12" vinyl, (which was in fact the bands very first 12" single!). The final album 'The Sin Of Pride' soon followed. There were internal squabbles within the band about which tracks should be used on the album and as a result three tracks were dropped from the final pressing. However, an acetate containing the three dropped tracks had already been pressed and E.M.I. mistakenly pressed a small quantity of the album using the wrong masters! In the albums wake, two singles appeared - 'Got To Have You Back' and ‘Chain Of Love', neither of which charted.

The band had been disintegrating internally for some time, the biggest bone of contention seemed to concern royalty payments and they finally split in June '83, playing their last gig at Punchestown Racecourse. E.M.I. released a retrospective compilation 'All Wrapped Up', which featured both sides of all their singles. Damian O’Neill on the split “I had mixed feelings when we broke up. Relief that it had all ended but also very apprehensive about how to follow it. The recording of Sin of Pride was a horrible experience (lots of remixing and record company interference) and the consequent touring afterwards was a belittling and gloomy experience (half empty halls). I still can't listen to that record all the way through. It obviously had to end but it still felt like losing a family overnight.”

Feargal Sharkey went on to enjoy further chart success with Vince Clarke's band The Assembly and as a solo artist, scoring a No. 1 chart hit with 'A Good Heart'. When his solo career waned he joined Polydor Records as head of A&R. From there he went on to work for the Radio Authority.

Damian and John O'Neill formed the excellent band That Petrol Emotion and enjoyed a modicum of success with singles such as 'Big Decision'. When the band folded, John returned home and formed the energetic indie-dance outfit Rare.

Billy Docherty returned to Derry and played in several bands including The Carrelines and the Hickeys. He also set up his own Big River record label.
Mickey Bradley went on to gain employment as a producer with BBC Radio Foyle in Derry.

Then in September 1990 the band were asked to play at John Peel's 50th birthday bash and they duly agreed to reform for the occasion. Unfortunately, at the time of rehearsals John and Damian's father passed away and the gig had to be cancelled.
Then in September 1993 Castle Communications released the album 'Teenage Kicks: The Best Of The Undertones' on cd. The boys were offered a substantial amount of money to reform for some gigs to promote the album. Billy, Mickey, John and Damian agreed and met up in London, but unfortunately plans were scuppered when Feargal refused to take part.

A few years later The Undertones were asked to play at the Galway Arts Festival, which they did with the Saw Doctors lead singer taking on vocal duties. The Saw Doctors being big fans invited the Undertones to play a few gigs with them, so Paddy McLoone was recruited as a replacement for Sharkey who flatly refuses to be involved. The band rediscovered what fun it was playing all the old songs live again which kick-started a full blown Undertones reunion.

2001 saw the release of the eagerly awaited film documentary 'Teenage Kicks - The Undertones’ which was made by Derry based Perfect Cousin Productions Ltd and produced and directed by local men Vinny Cunningham and Tom Collins. The film was presented by Radio 1 DJ John Peel (who else!) and features previously unseen footage of The Undertones, as well as an extensive interview with Feargal Sharkey. There are also contributions from Terri Hooley, Eamonn McCann (journalist) and Seymour Stein (head of Sire Records), as well as live footage of Ash, That Petrol Emotion and The Ramones.
Two versions of the film were produced - a 39 minute version, which was screened by BBC N. Ireland in November 2001, and full 72 minute version which was shown at selected cinema's and film festivals worldwide.

An album of new material followed entitled ‘Get What You Need’ to much critical acclaim. The track “Thrill Me” was released as a limited edition 7” and things came full circle when a copy found it’s way to John Peel. John liked it so much that he played it twice, just as he had done in 1978 with their debut 7” “Teenage Kicks”.

Sadly John Peel died on the 25th October 2004 at the age of 65, while on holiday in Peru. Fittingly fans at John’s funeral on Friday 12th November 2004 applauded as his coffin was carried out of the church to the strains of his favourite record - Teenage Kicks by the Undertones.

In 2007 The Undertones released the “Dig Yourself Deep” album on Cooking Vinyl, again to much critical acclaim. The band continues to play selected gigs and festivals all around the globe up to the present day. Lead image above c/o Paddy Simms.