Under the influence

The first time I heard ‘You Thrill Me’ (this summer’s comeback single from The Undertones) was when a friend played a surreptitiously acquired copy down the phone a few months before the official release. The second time I heard it was a split second after the first time finished, when – as Undertones’ fans are apt to do – he returned to the start and began playing it again.

Thus two facts were established:
1. That almost two decades after splitting up, The Undertones still inspire a very particular (imagine big brother protectiveness mixed with lairy best mate tub-thumping) kind of devotion.
2. That when an on-form John O’Neill starts blending head-bobbing dynamics with heartbreaking melodic body-swerves (in an on-form John O’Neill kinda way), he deserves to have a statue built in his honour.
It’s been an excellent twelve months for Humdingers (as Undertones’ fans including Tim Wheeler and Roddy Doyle take much pride in calling themselves). Not only have their heroes kept up the healthy rate of live performances they’ve been maintaining for the last four years, they also released Get What You Need – an album that took its place effortlessly amongst their canon of fine LPs. For the band, though, 2003 has also proved a challenging time. Day jobs, families, and lack of major label support (they’re currently signed to Sanctuary) meant that the record had a considerably lower-key release than their earlier ones.
“It’s a different ball game now,” says John O’Neill, a few hours before taking the stage at a one-off show in Brighton. “Unfortunately we’re not in the position to go on the road for three months. That’s what you need to do. You can’t just rely on the band’s name to sell records. You’ve got to get out there and gig it and we’re not really in the position to do that. You just hope the record can stand on it’s own merits.”
Isn’t it lucky, then, that Get What You Need is like bumping into the regulars of a smashing pub that you can’t believe you’ve left neglected for years? Take the time to form an acquaintance and you could be looking at a friend for life.
“When it came to writing the songs it was all pretty organic,” claims John. “The main thing was that Mickey had written ‘I’ve Got Everything But You’ which was so terrific that it made me go: I’d better fucking sort myself out here to top that. Things like that are great. I’m a lazy bastard anyway. I need someone to kick me every now and again. And that really forced me to write something good. ‘You Thrill Me’ – that wrote itself. Took me two minutes. Having a great band and knowing you’ve a great singer waiting - that forces you to write the best things you can come up with.”
Which – in the best O’Neill/Bradley fashion – means the kind of screw-top rock that would loosen hubcaps. Hardly surprising considering that for pre-recording homework, both went on a refreshers course of Nuggets.
“Totally. I’d forgotten about it until the box set came out a few years ago. Listening to it, with all these class new songs that I’d never heard before, was really inspiring. That’s how we’d learned our instruments – playing all those songs. So it was a really natural thing to be inspired by them again.”
You were always more of an old school garage band than a new wave punk one, weren’t you?
“Aye. We always say that we were more influenced by American bands than by British punk bands – The Stooges, The New York Dolls, The Ramones.”
Just the kind of names that are being dropped at the minute.
“Aye, seem to be the thing to be listening to, aren’t they. But so they should be because they’re all great records. The best record I’ve heard recently is Keep On Your Mean Side by The Kills. If we ever make another record, ‘Fried My Little Brains’, that’s what I’m using as a benchmark.”
So, you still feel the need to compete with other records?
“Fuck yes. Of course. I don’t even know if we’ll make another record, but that’ll be the record I’m looking to top. I’ve always done that. I can remember hearing the first Garbage record and thinking: fuck, I’d love to write a song as good as ‘Milk’.”
John, you’ve written far better songs than that.
“The first Garbage record, I wish.”
I could name ten.
“They’ve sold millions. I’ve never had a number one. I know people go on about ‘Teenage Kicks’, but my argument is if you don’t sell enough records then it isn’t good enough. That’s how you prove yourself. We haven’t achieved what we wanted to do, which is sell millions of records. I don’t want to justify it by saying we’re underground. We’ve failed, as far as I ‘m concerned. The new record is really good, but it hasn’t sold.”
Which is a shame because, much as The Undertones cast magnificent spells from the funny, spiteful, spunk-fuelled, love-lorn material of late adolescence, Get What You Need offers a reminder that their true gift lay in the poignant and truthful light they shone on quiet, unassuming lives. A gift they have by no means lost.
“I spent a lot of time on the lyrics,” says John. “ I think the words in our records get underestimated. I think we’ve matured. At the same time, it doesn’t matter. The main thing is the energy and the performance. But if you want to go looking for it, it’s there. Saying that, it’s been a good year and there’ve been plenty of highlights. Getting my hands on the ‘You Thrill Me’ single and John Peel genuinely loving it, that was great. And then getting the album and hearing it and feeling proud of it, that was amazing. I just think that if anyone had seen us live before we recorded it, they’d have seen that we were really enjoying it. That’s what we were trying to capture. We didn’t have loads or money or loads of time, we were just trying to make it feel as natural and live as we possibly could and I think we’ve done that.”