As a member of the Undertones, Damian O’Neill was responsible for some of the best records to emerge from the so-called ‘second-wave’ of UK punk rock. Although the roots of the band go back as far as 1975, Damian was the last to join the original line-up in 1976, alongside his brother John and replacing his other brother Vincent. During 1977, the band established themselves as a popular live band in their hometown of Derry, often playing at the legendary Casbah Club. They recorded their first demos in early ’78 and tape prompted their first contact with John Peel who was destined to become their champion. Later that year, they recorded the classic ‘Teenage Kicks’ EP, released on the Good Vibrations label. Peel played it regularly on his show and it came to the attention of Seymour Stein at Sire records, who quickly arranged to sign the band. As a result, ‘Teenage Kicks’ was reissued and gave the band their first appearance on Top of the Pops. Early in 1979, they began work on their first, self-titled album, which would open with a song penned by Damian, ‘Family Entertainment’ as well as others that he co-wrote. The second album, ‘Hypnotised’, came out in 1980, continuing the bands success and again featuring notable contributions from Damian, in particular the single ‘My Perfect Cousin’, co-written with Mickey Bradley. Their 1981 album, ‘Positive Touch’, saw the band developing their songwriting and musical styles while still retaining their exuberance, while their final LP, 1983’s ‘The Sin of Pride’, found them delving further into less-likely influences such as Soul and Motown. Although containing the fine single ‘The Love Parade’ and receiving critical acclaim, the album failed to achieve the commercial success expected and, alongside tensions within the band, led to their break-up.
Damian chose to remain in London while his bandmates returned to Derry, but when his brother John announced plans to form That Petrol Emotion, Damian promptly offered his services as bass-player. Alongside singer Steve Mack, guitarist Raymond Gorman and drummer Ciaran McLaughlin and based back in London, the band quickly found a following on the live circuit and after two singles, released their first album, ‘Manic Pop Thrill’ in 1986 on Demon Records. Its’ success lead to a deal with Polydor, who released the second album ‘Babble’ before a switch to Virgin, who issued the ‘End of the Millenium Psychosis Blues’ LP. However, this record would be their last with John O’Neill. A new line-up recorded the album ‘Chemicrazy’ before leaving Virgin and recording their final LP, ‘Fireproof’ on their own Koogat label in 1993. Despite Virgins’ lack of faith, the album still attained the Number One position on the UK Independent Charts.
The Undertones reformed in 1999, initially as a one-off event, with new singer Paul McLoone replacing Feargal Sharkey. They enjoyed themselves and found such a demand for further concerts that they’ve continued to play ever since, albeit on an occasional rather than full-time basis, but also releasing several singles and two albums, ‘Get What You Need’ in 2003 and ‘Dig Yourself Deep’ in 2007.
In the meantime, Damian was also involved with two further musical projects, ‘X-Valdez’ in 2000 and ‘A Quiet Revolution’, who released an album on Poptones records in 2001. He was also involved in a short-lived reunion by That Petrol Emotion in 2008 and, when they went on hiatus again in 2010, continued working with Raymond, Ciaran and Brendan Kelly in the Krautrock-influenced band, The Everlasting Yeah. More recently, he released his first solo single, ‘Trapped in a Cage’ on Overground records in 2014 and in 2018 released his first solo album, ‘Refit, Revise Reprise’.
Damian chose to remain in London while his bandmates returned to Derry, but when his brother John announced plans to form That Petrol Emotion, Damian promptly offered his services as bass-player. Alongside singer Steve Mack, guitarist Raymond Gorman and drummer Ciaran McLaughlin and based back in London, the band quickly found a following on the live circuit and after two singles, released their first album, ‘Manic Pop Thrill’ in 1986 on Demon Records. Its’ success lead to a deal with Polydor, who released the second album ‘Babble’ before a switch to Virgin, who issued the ‘End of the Millenium Psychosis Blues’ LP. However, this record would be their last with John O’Neill. A new line-up recorded the album ‘Chemicrazy’ before leaving Virgin and recording their final LP, ‘Fireproof’ on their own Koogat label in 1993. Despite Virgins’ lack of faith, the album still attained the Number One position on the UK Independent Charts.
The Undertones reformed in 1999, initially as a one-off event, with new singer Paul McLoone replacing Feargal Sharkey. They enjoyed themselves and found such a demand for further concerts that they’ve continued to play ever since, albeit on an occasional rather than full-time basis, but also releasing several singles and two albums, ‘Get What You Need’ in 2003 and ‘Dig Yourself Deep’ in 2007.
In the meantime, Damian was also involved with two further musical projects, ‘X-Valdez’ in 2000 and ‘A Quiet Revolution’, who released an album on Poptones records in 2001. He was also involved in a short-lived reunion by That Petrol Emotion in 2008 and, when they went on hiatus again in 2010, continued working with Raymond, Ciaran and Brendan Kelly in the Krautrock-influenced band, The Everlasting Yeah. More recently, he released his first solo single, ‘Trapped in a Cage’ on Overground records in 2014 and in 2018 released his first solo album, ‘Refit, Revise Reprise’.
So, has he got a lot to talk about ? Oh yes… and as he only lives a few miles down the road from me, it would be rude not to ! So, one nice sunny evening after work, I catch a train and a bus down to Peckham, locate his humble abode and, over a lovely cup of coffee, attempt to put it all into perspective…
When you first joined The Undertones, you were the last to join and also the youngest member… did you find that daunting at all ?
‘Oh yeah, certainly when I first joined. The thing was, I replaced my brother, Vincent, and he was also Mickey’s best friend, so I don’t think he was particularly happy, to say the least, that the wee-kid brother was replacing his best friend. I mean, it wasn’t that Vincent was kicked-out or anything, he’d just decided he wanted to leave the band as he was studying for his GCSE’s. He didn’t care about me replacing him in the band, but Mickey did ! And I didn’t really know Mickey very well at that point because, you know, when you’re kids, the one year age difference can be a big thing. So it was a bit hard being in the band during the first few months, but that was mainly down to Mickey and he gradually came around and accepted me being there. Once that happened, I felt totally comfortable. Back then, we were still playing cover songs and John was really the de facto leader of the band as he was the one who kind of guided us and said what songs we should be doing. We were big fans of the Stones, Them, Creedence Clearwater, even some of the better Cream songs… John would be saying, ‘We ought to do this’, and then we’d go away and learn it… So, with my big brother in the band, I never feel too isolated...’
Was the band supportive when you started writing your own songs ?
‘Well, songwriting came a bit later for me and at first I just used to co-write with Mickey. I seemed to be pretty good at writing the music while Mickey was really good with the words. That’s how we worked together, mostly, and it wasn’t until a bit later that I actually tried writing anything all on my own. But I gradually became confident enough to write a couple of songs and ‘Family Entertainment’ made it on to the first LP. That was actually the very first song I ever wrote by myself, when I was 17… It’s funny because there was always that thing about John writing songs about chocolate and girls, so I thought that I needed to do something really weird or oddball and decided that I’d write a song about incest ! That’ll show them ! I have no idea why I picked that subject, maybe I’d seen something on TV or in the newspapers, but that’s what I did and then, unbelievably, no-one ever seemed to notice ! I don’t think anyone was paying attention to the words because no-one ever mentioned it and no journalists have ever asked about it… But I think the words are pretty obvious, especially the chorus…’
When you first joined The Undertones, you were the last to join and also the youngest member… did you find that daunting at all ?
‘Oh yeah, certainly when I first joined. The thing was, I replaced my brother, Vincent, and he was also Mickey’s best friend, so I don’t think he was particularly happy, to say the least, that the wee-kid brother was replacing his best friend. I mean, it wasn’t that Vincent was kicked-out or anything, he’d just decided he wanted to leave the band as he was studying for his GCSE’s. He didn’t care about me replacing him in the band, but Mickey did ! And I didn’t really know Mickey very well at that point because, you know, when you’re kids, the one year age difference can be a big thing. So it was a bit hard being in the band during the first few months, but that was mainly down to Mickey and he gradually came around and accepted me being there. Once that happened, I felt totally comfortable. Back then, we were still playing cover songs and John was really the de facto leader of the band as he was the one who kind of guided us and said what songs we should be doing. We were big fans of the Stones, Them, Creedence Clearwater, even some of the better Cream songs… John would be saying, ‘We ought to do this’, and then we’d go away and learn it… So, with my big brother in the band, I never feel too isolated...’
Was the band supportive when you started writing your own songs ?
‘Well, songwriting came a bit later for me and at first I just used to co-write with Mickey. I seemed to be pretty good at writing the music while Mickey was really good with the words. That’s how we worked together, mostly, and it wasn’t until a bit later that I actually tried writing anything all on my own. But I gradually became confident enough to write a couple of songs and ‘Family Entertainment’ made it on to the first LP. That was actually the very first song I ever wrote by myself, when I was 17… It’s funny because there was always that thing about John writing songs about chocolate and girls, so I thought that I needed to do something really weird or oddball and decided that I’d write a song about incest ! That’ll show them ! I have no idea why I picked that subject, maybe I’d seen something on TV or in the newspapers, but that’s what I did and then, unbelievably, no-one ever seemed to notice ! I don’t think anyone was paying attention to the words because no-one ever mentioned it and no journalists have ever asked about it… But I think the words are pretty obvious, especially the chorus…’
The odd thing about The Undertones was that, although everyone else in the band was writing songs, the only person who didn’t was the singer, Feargal…
‘Yeah, I don’t think there are many bands where the lead singer isn’t the main songwriter… I can only really think of The Who, although I’m sure Roger Daltrey did some co-writing… I mean, it was never the case that we only had one person writing everything and the rest of us just played it. We were all writing things, so I really don’t know why Feargal never got involved... he did co-write things for his solo albums. The only thing I can think is that the four of us were always more of a gang together, while Feargal was a bit more aloof. It’s just the way he was and I’m sure he’d admit it himself, although at other times he was just as much a part of the gang… I really think it’s a shame that he didn’t get more involved with the songwriting, but maybe he felt a bit intimidated by us and didn’t feel comfortable enough to put anything forward, in case it got knocked-down… If you write a song and it gets rejected, that can be a bit upsetting and we did have a tendency to slag him off now and again. We could be a bit cruel like that, but that happened to all of us at different times and I think it’s inevitable when you have a bunch of young kids together in a band. The other thing that set him apart in some ways was that we were all big Football fans while he wasn’t, and that’s another thing that seems very important when you’re 17 or 18… We lived and breathed football back then, but Feargal just wasn’t interested, so again, it was something where we didn’t bond. Music wise, we were a lot more similar but, again, he did have different things that he was into. I remember he was a big fan of Queen and he liked a lot of traditional Irish music… He’d been singing in a choir when he was younger, so he knew a lot more about that kind of stuff. That’s the best answer I can think of, but Feargal would be the only one who really knows.’
You said that John was the ‘leader’ in terms of the bands original direction, but when everyone started writing their own songs, did you all encourage each other ?
‘John was the most naturally-gifted person when it came to writing things, so he continued to sort of rule the roost, but me and Mickey would also do our own thing and bring-in something occasionally. Billy came in with a few songs, the famous one being ‘Billy’s Third’, of course. But, yeah, there was never any problem with any of us bringing our ideas in, so again, I don’t understand why Feargal never got involved with that side of things…’
One of the interesting things about your new album, is that, even though it sounds different to an Undertones album, a lot of the influences I could hear on there are pretty similar to what I imagine were influences for The Undertones in their early days… early rock’n’roll, Glam, ‘Nuggets’ era bands…
‘Oh yeah… ‘Nuggets’ was one of the most influential records that we ever heard. We had a friend called Donal McDermott, whose father was a doctor, so he always had a bit more money and also had a good taste in music. He was the one who leant us things like the New York Dolls albums, The MC5, the Stooges and The Doors… and he also leant us the ‘Nuggets’ album. We were hearing all of those records and just drinking it in, but when we heard ‘Nuggets’, it was like we were joining all the dots. I mean, those bands were ten years older than us but we were listening to them and thinking, this could be us ! Here was some band from 1967 that came from Tuscon, Arizona or whatever, and they’d just got in their garage to write and play their own songs… although we didn’t have a garage so we had to use a shed… but we identified with them right away. So we always loved that Sixties thing and, as you said, we’d loved a lot of the Glam stuff during the early Seventies. John was a massive fan of T-Rex and Marc Bolan and we all loved Sweet, Slade and the Glitter Band, all of that stuff. We even used to play ‘Rock’n’Roll’ by Gary Glitter … we recorded it for a Peel session and used to start our sets with it when we were on tour in 1981. It’s a real shame that we can’t really play it anymore, for obvious reasons… But there’s a lot of great songs from that era.’
‘Yeah, I don’t think there are many bands where the lead singer isn’t the main songwriter… I can only really think of The Who, although I’m sure Roger Daltrey did some co-writing… I mean, it was never the case that we only had one person writing everything and the rest of us just played it. We were all writing things, so I really don’t know why Feargal never got involved... he did co-write things for his solo albums. The only thing I can think is that the four of us were always more of a gang together, while Feargal was a bit more aloof. It’s just the way he was and I’m sure he’d admit it himself, although at other times he was just as much a part of the gang… I really think it’s a shame that he didn’t get more involved with the songwriting, but maybe he felt a bit intimidated by us and didn’t feel comfortable enough to put anything forward, in case it got knocked-down… If you write a song and it gets rejected, that can be a bit upsetting and we did have a tendency to slag him off now and again. We could be a bit cruel like that, but that happened to all of us at different times and I think it’s inevitable when you have a bunch of young kids together in a band. The other thing that set him apart in some ways was that we were all big Football fans while he wasn’t, and that’s another thing that seems very important when you’re 17 or 18… We lived and breathed football back then, but Feargal just wasn’t interested, so again, it was something where we didn’t bond. Music wise, we were a lot more similar but, again, he did have different things that he was into. I remember he was a big fan of Queen and he liked a lot of traditional Irish music… He’d been singing in a choir when he was younger, so he knew a lot more about that kind of stuff. That’s the best answer I can think of, but Feargal would be the only one who really knows.’
You said that John was the ‘leader’ in terms of the bands original direction, but when everyone started writing their own songs, did you all encourage each other ?
‘John was the most naturally-gifted person when it came to writing things, so he continued to sort of rule the roost, but me and Mickey would also do our own thing and bring-in something occasionally. Billy came in with a few songs, the famous one being ‘Billy’s Third’, of course. But, yeah, there was never any problem with any of us bringing our ideas in, so again, I don’t understand why Feargal never got involved with that side of things…’
One of the interesting things about your new album, is that, even though it sounds different to an Undertones album, a lot of the influences I could hear on there are pretty similar to what I imagine were influences for The Undertones in their early days… early rock’n’roll, Glam, ‘Nuggets’ era bands…
‘Oh yeah… ‘Nuggets’ was one of the most influential records that we ever heard. We had a friend called Donal McDermott, whose father was a doctor, so he always had a bit more money and also had a good taste in music. He was the one who leant us things like the New York Dolls albums, The MC5, the Stooges and The Doors… and he also leant us the ‘Nuggets’ album. We were hearing all of those records and just drinking it in, but when we heard ‘Nuggets’, it was like we were joining all the dots. I mean, those bands were ten years older than us but we were listening to them and thinking, this could be us ! Here was some band from 1967 that came from Tuscon, Arizona or whatever, and they’d just got in their garage to write and play their own songs… although we didn’t have a garage so we had to use a shed… but we identified with them right away. So we always loved that Sixties thing and, as you said, we’d loved a lot of the Glam stuff during the early Seventies. John was a massive fan of T-Rex and Marc Bolan and we all loved Sweet, Slade and the Glitter Band, all of that stuff. We even used to play ‘Rock’n’Roll’ by Gary Glitter … we recorded it for a Peel session and used to start our sets with it when we were on tour in 1981. It’s a real shame that we can’t really play it anymore, for obvious reasons… But there’s a lot of great songs from that era.’
Jumping forward, after The Undertones split-up, you and John ended-up in That Petrol Emotion. Did that come together pretty quickly ?
‘Well, The Undertones broke-up in 1983 and the Petrols came together in 1984-85. Initially, John had gone home to Derry, while I’d stayed-on in London and tried to form a group with Mickey, but that was a bit disastrous so we won’t go there… Anyway, John had been doing a DJ thing in a club with Raymond Gorman and he started playing things to John like Pere Ubu and Captain Beefheart, things that we would’ve probably thought too strange while we were still in the Undertones. But by then, it started to get John enthusiastic about music again and he started writing some new songs. Ciaran McLaughlin became involved and they recorded a four-track demo but decided they weren’t going to get anywhere in Derry and moved over to London to try to find a singer. Once here, they asked if they could use the four-track recorder that I had, and that was the first time I heard any of their songs. At the time, I was really floundering and becoming disillusioned with music, but I thought their new songs were brilliant and, right away, wanted to join them. They already had two guitar players, so I offered to play bass and they said, ‘Great, you’re in !’ That really saved me, because God knows what I was going to do next if that hadn’t come up. Soon after that, we found Steve Mack and that’s how it all came together. Once the band were all in place, things happened really quickly… I guess it helped that me and John already knew how to work together.’
One of the things that was cool about That Petrol Emotion was that you didn’t make a big deal about being ‘ex-Undertones’ and really built the bands’ popularity on its’ own merits…
‘Yeah, we tried to play that down, especially because it really annoyed Raymond… and rightly so, because he’d formed the band with John. I mean, we did get a bit of a leg-up because we’d been in The Undertones, but I do think the main thing was that we were lucky to get a good agent who got us a lot of good support slots as well as playing places like The Cricketers and The George Robey. A lot of people got to see us and seemed to like what we were doing, so we were able to get a single, ‘Keen’, out on Pink Records after only six months and then the ‘V2’ single soon after that, which we put out ourselves. John Peel really liked that one and played it a lot, which led to us being signed by Demon records. It was really quick and, just as it had been in The Undertones, my favourite memories of the band all come from those early days.’
I would have expected you to continue being involved with songwriting in That Petrol Emotion, but you didn’t write much for the first few records…
‘No, I was actually less-involved, particularly at the beginning. I don’t think I had any songs on ‘Manic Pop Thrill’, maybe just a few b-sides, perhaps… I think I’d sort of lost my confidence and it wasn’t until the second album, ‘Babble’, that I started coming up with a few things again. When we made ‘Chemicrazy’, after John left the band, I finally started writing quite a lot again, although that might have been more out of necessity, as our main songwriter had just left. But I think I lacked the confidence that I’d had in the Undertones and I was always worried that if I put a song forward it would be rejected. I just felt quite insecure at that time, which was stupid, really.’
‘Well, The Undertones broke-up in 1983 and the Petrols came together in 1984-85. Initially, John had gone home to Derry, while I’d stayed-on in London and tried to form a group with Mickey, but that was a bit disastrous so we won’t go there… Anyway, John had been doing a DJ thing in a club with Raymond Gorman and he started playing things to John like Pere Ubu and Captain Beefheart, things that we would’ve probably thought too strange while we were still in the Undertones. But by then, it started to get John enthusiastic about music again and he started writing some new songs. Ciaran McLaughlin became involved and they recorded a four-track demo but decided they weren’t going to get anywhere in Derry and moved over to London to try to find a singer. Once here, they asked if they could use the four-track recorder that I had, and that was the first time I heard any of their songs. At the time, I was really floundering and becoming disillusioned with music, but I thought their new songs were brilliant and, right away, wanted to join them. They already had two guitar players, so I offered to play bass and they said, ‘Great, you’re in !’ That really saved me, because God knows what I was going to do next if that hadn’t come up. Soon after that, we found Steve Mack and that’s how it all came together. Once the band were all in place, things happened really quickly… I guess it helped that me and John already knew how to work together.’
One of the things that was cool about That Petrol Emotion was that you didn’t make a big deal about being ‘ex-Undertones’ and really built the bands’ popularity on its’ own merits…
‘Yeah, we tried to play that down, especially because it really annoyed Raymond… and rightly so, because he’d formed the band with John. I mean, we did get a bit of a leg-up because we’d been in The Undertones, but I do think the main thing was that we were lucky to get a good agent who got us a lot of good support slots as well as playing places like The Cricketers and The George Robey. A lot of people got to see us and seemed to like what we were doing, so we were able to get a single, ‘Keen’, out on Pink Records after only six months and then the ‘V2’ single soon after that, which we put out ourselves. John Peel really liked that one and played it a lot, which led to us being signed by Demon records. It was really quick and, just as it had been in The Undertones, my favourite memories of the band all come from those early days.’
I would have expected you to continue being involved with songwriting in That Petrol Emotion, but you didn’t write much for the first few records…
‘No, I was actually less-involved, particularly at the beginning. I don’t think I had any songs on ‘Manic Pop Thrill’, maybe just a few b-sides, perhaps… I think I’d sort of lost my confidence and it wasn’t until the second album, ‘Babble’, that I started coming up with a few things again. When we made ‘Chemicrazy’, after John left the band, I finally started writing quite a lot again, although that might have been more out of necessity, as our main songwriter had just left. But I think I lacked the confidence that I’d had in the Undertones and I was always worried that if I put a song forward it would be rejected. I just felt quite insecure at that time, which was stupid, really.’
That Petrol Emotion eventually split in 1994, and you didn’t seem to get involved with any other musical for some time…
‘It took a while but, around 1998, I started messing around with samplers. I was really just trying to learn how to make soundscapes, but I ended-up making an EP which was released under the name ‘O’Neill’ by a label in France called Artifact. And around the same time, I was in another project called ‘X-Valdez’, which never really took-off, but for some reason an EP was released in Japan. That was really just me and a girl-singer, but we fell-out before anything really happened for the band. And then in 2001, Alan McGhee offered to release an album by me on his new label, Pop Tones, which resulted in A Quiet Revolution. I really enjoyed doing that, even though it didn’t sell very well, but it really got me interested in music once again.’
Strangely enough, the Undertones had played their first reunion shows around the same time (1999) with new singer Paul McLoone, but at that point I don’t think there were any intentions of the band writing or recording any new songs of their own…
‘No, not at all. Originally, it was only going to be for two shows in Derry, but because they went so well and we had so much fun, we decided to do some more. It took a few years before we realised that, if we were going to continue, we ought to make a new record. We did a one-off single, ‘Thrill Me’, through Rough Trade, which I still think is one of John’s best songs ever… And then we recorded the ‘Get What You Need’ LP in Derry, but it was done kind of piecemeal and we kept going back and changing things. We were doing the production ourselves and it didn’t work out that great so it ended-up with highpoints and lowpoints. It just wasn’t consistent enough… And I think we made the same mistakes with the next album, ‘Dig Yourself Deep’, as well. Ideally, if I could persuade the others to do it, I’d like to go back, pick the best tracks from both of those albums, remix them and put them out as a new record… We could call it ‘Dig What You Get’ or something… It’s a shame that it would cost quite a bit of money to do that kind of thing, as it probably wouldn’t sell all that many and we’d be lucky to even make our money back, but I think that would be something really good.’
The only other new material you’ve released since then was the ‘Much Too Late’ 7”, which came out for Record Store day in 2013…
‘Yeah, and we recorded that at Toe Rag studios in London this time. I think it was good, but I think the problem was that we hadn’t really played it together as a band enough before we went in to record it. I think our songs are always better when we’ve been playing them live for a while, to give us a real feel for them. When we recorded those songs, it was a wee bit like dipping our toes into them and it sounds a bit tentative. The other problem was that Liam, who runs Toe Rag, wasn’t able to be there when we were recording, although he did mix the tracks with me later on. I think it would have worked better had he been there all the way through, but that just hadn’t been possible. But it is what it is and I was happy to get something new out there… although that was six years ago and we’re only now starting to talk about maybe making a new EP or something… I think we need to do new things just so the live set doesn’t get stale. In fact, we’ve recently started doing a few more of the songs from the last two albums live again, because they are good songs and people do seem to enjoy hearing them.’
‘It took a while but, around 1998, I started messing around with samplers. I was really just trying to learn how to make soundscapes, but I ended-up making an EP which was released under the name ‘O’Neill’ by a label in France called Artifact. And around the same time, I was in another project called ‘X-Valdez’, which never really took-off, but for some reason an EP was released in Japan. That was really just me and a girl-singer, but we fell-out before anything really happened for the band. And then in 2001, Alan McGhee offered to release an album by me on his new label, Pop Tones, which resulted in A Quiet Revolution. I really enjoyed doing that, even though it didn’t sell very well, but it really got me interested in music once again.’
Strangely enough, the Undertones had played their first reunion shows around the same time (1999) with new singer Paul McLoone, but at that point I don’t think there were any intentions of the band writing or recording any new songs of their own…
‘No, not at all. Originally, it was only going to be for two shows in Derry, but because they went so well and we had so much fun, we decided to do some more. It took a few years before we realised that, if we were going to continue, we ought to make a new record. We did a one-off single, ‘Thrill Me’, through Rough Trade, which I still think is one of John’s best songs ever… And then we recorded the ‘Get What You Need’ LP in Derry, but it was done kind of piecemeal and we kept going back and changing things. We were doing the production ourselves and it didn’t work out that great so it ended-up with highpoints and lowpoints. It just wasn’t consistent enough… And I think we made the same mistakes with the next album, ‘Dig Yourself Deep’, as well. Ideally, if I could persuade the others to do it, I’d like to go back, pick the best tracks from both of those albums, remix them and put them out as a new record… We could call it ‘Dig What You Get’ or something… It’s a shame that it would cost quite a bit of money to do that kind of thing, as it probably wouldn’t sell all that many and we’d be lucky to even make our money back, but I think that would be something really good.’
The only other new material you’ve released since then was the ‘Much Too Late’ 7”, which came out for Record Store day in 2013…
‘Yeah, and we recorded that at Toe Rag studios in London this time. I think it was good, but I think the problem was that we hadn’t really played it together as a band enough before we went in to record it. I think our songs are always better when we’ve been playing them live for a while, to give us a real feel for them. When we recorded those songs, it was a wee bit like dipping our toes into them and it sounds a bit tentative. The other problem was that Liam, who runs Toe Rag, wasn’t able to be there when we were recording, although he did mix the tracks with me later on. I think it would have worked better had he been there all the way through, but that just hadn’t been possible. But it is what it is and I was happy to get something new out there… although that was six years ago and we’re only now starting to talk about maybe making a new EP or something… I think we need to do new things just so the live set doesn’t get stale. In fact, we’ve recently started doing a few more of the songs from the last two albums live again, because they are good songs and people do seem to enjoy hearing them.’
The Undertones have certainly continued to be a very popular live band and, in 2009, That Petrol Emotion also reformed, although only for a short time…
‘The big difficulty was that Steve was living back in America, but we got things together and went out on a kind of short tour. The thing was, it didn’t go as well as we’d hoped for and the gigs didn’t pull that many people, so it was a bit disheartening. I mean, playing live again, we were really on fire and sounding really good, but people just didn’t show up to see us. The promotion wasn’t that good, but even when we played in our hometown, Derry, the place was only half-full. Anyway, we finished those dates in the UK and then went over to play in New York, but that was really terrible for various reasons. We didn’t have our usual sound-engineer so the sound was bad and the equipment kept breaking-down, so the show didn’t go well, which really pissed us off. That proved to be the last time we played, so we kind of ended things in a really bad mood. It took a while to get over that, but since then I’ve started feeling that we should maybe do occasional things together again. We were offered some gigs to tie-in with the 30th Anniversary of ‘Manic Pop Thrill’, but John just didn’t want to know. I don’t think Raymond or Ciaran were particularly keen, either, although me, Steve and Brendan were really into it… But since then, I have been playing with Raymond, Ciaran and Brendan in The Everlasting Yeah, which is probably the closest we’ll get to doing That Petrol Emotion again…
Although the music you’re playing with The Everlasting Yeah is veering off in quite a different direction…
‘Oh, yeah, it’s a very different band even if it is some of the same people. There were a lot more influences coming through from Kraut rock, I suppose. We’d always liked bands like Can while we were in That Petrol Emotion, but it seemed to be a lot more so by the time The Everlasting Yeah came together. We released the ‘Anima Rising’ album and we’d intended to do a lot more, but unfortunately both Brendan and Ciaran weren’t too well for a while, so we had a kind of forced- sabbatical and it’s been about four years since we released the record. But we’ve been getting back together again recently and working on some new songs as well as re-working some of the stuff that was left-over from ‘Anima Rising’. I think the plan is to get everything ready and then go into a studio in August to record a new EP. The new songs are sounding really good, better than the first album even though I still really like that as well, and I think our plan is to try and do everything in just a few days, instead of tinkering with it for weeks on end. I always prefer to get everything down and then leave it alone. Up until now, it’s really been Ciaran and Raymonds’ group, although we’d all contribute to the songs. They’d come up with most of the songs and we’d just help with the arrangements, but these new songs are more of a whole group thing, which is why I think they’ve come out better. We’ve all put 100% into it and it just sounds so much more focused.’
‘The big difficulty was that Steve was living back in America, but we got things together and went out on a kind of short tour. The thing was, it didn’t go as well as we’d hoped for and the gigs didn’t pull that many people, so it was a bit disheartening. I mean, playing live again, we were really on fire and sounding really good, but people just didn’t show up to see us. The promotion wasn’t that good, but even when we played in our hometown, Derry, the place was only half-full. Anyway, we finished those dates in the UK and then went over to play in New York, but that was really terrible for various reasons. We didn’t have our usual sound-engineer so the sound was bad and the equipment kept breaking-down, so the show didn’t go well, which really pissed us off. That proved to be the last time we played, so we kind of ended things in a really bad mood. It took a while to get over that, but since then I’ve started feeling that we should maybe do occasional things together again. We were offered some gigs to tie-in with the 30th Anniversary of ‘Manic Pop Thrill’, but John just didn’t want to know. I don’t think Raymond or Ciaran were particularly keen, either, although me, Steve and Brendan were really into it… But since then, I have been playing with Raymond, Ciaran and Brendan in The Everlasting Yeah, which is probably the closest we’ll get to doing That Petrol Emotion again…
Although the music you’re playing with The Everlasting Yeah is veering off in quite a different direction…
‘Oh, yeah, it’s a very different band even if it is some of the same people. There were a lot more influences coming through from Kraut rock, I suppose. We’d always liked bands like Can while we were in That Petrol Emotion, but it seemed to be a lot more so by the time The Everlasting Yeah came together. We released the ‘Anima Rising’ album and we’d intended to do a lot more, but unfortunately both Brendan and Ciaran weren’t too well for a while, so we had a kind of forced- sabbatical and it’s been about four years since we released the record. But we’ve been getting back together again recently and working on some new songs as well as re-working some of the stuff that was left-over from ‘Anima Rising’. I think the plan is to get everything ready and then go into a studio in August to record a new EP. The new songs are sounding really good, better than the first album even though I still really like that as well, and I think our plan is to try and do everything in just a few days, instead of tinkering with it for weeks on end. I always prefer to get everything down and then leave it alone. Up until now, it’s really been Ciaran and Raymonds’ group, although we’d all contribute to the songs. They’d come up with most of the songs and we’d just help with the arrangements, but these new songs are more of a whole group thing, which is why I think they’ve come out better. We’ve all put 100% into it and it just sounds so much more focused.’
Having the break away from The Everlasting Yeah, and with The Undertones not working on any new material at that point, you released your first solo single ‘Trapped in a Cage’ in 2014…
‘Yeah, and I think that was partly because I wanted to do something that was more straightforward. I’ve always loved pop songs, as well as all the other stuff I’m into. The two songs were actually written for a play by a Belfast playwright called Gary Mitchell. He’d written this thing called ‘Re-energise’, about these middle-aged former Punks who were trying to reform their band… not that this sounded familiar or anything… Anyway, he wanted me and John to write some songs for the play and it was a bit of a challenge, but we knocked-out about seven or eight songs. In the end, the play only ran for a week in Derry and a week in Belfast and didn’t make it over here at all, which was a shame. But it was a really good experience… we went over to watch them rehearse and show them how to play… the actors were actually playing the songs within the play and they weren’t exactly great musicians, but they were supposed to be a punk band so they got away with it. Anyway, after we finished working on the play, I was listening to the songs and I thought, why don’t I record a couple of them and release them as a single ? So I went in to a studio in Bermondsey and recorded four songs, the two that came out on the single plus another two that I still have. A friend put me in touch with John Esplen at Overground records and he released it, which was brilliant. I was really pleased with the way it came out and that gave me the confidence to start seriously thinking about making a whole album.’
Although it’s still a pretty big jump going from a one-off single to a whole album…
‘Of course, but I’d always lacked the confidence to even seriously consider making an album before. But the single went well, I was really happy with it and it just made me feel, well, I could do this again and this time it could be a whole record. I’d also started to want to revisit some older songs, particularly ‘The Love Parade’. I’ve always loved that song but I also felt that the recording that The Undertones made of it never really did it justice. The production just wasn’t right for it and I also felt the same about ‘Much Too Late’. I wanted to try it again as I thought that could have been much better, and I thought I could perhaps do something with ‘Gnaw Mark’ by That Petrol Emotion… On top of that, I also had a bunch of demos that I’d recorded over the years, instrumentals and things like that…’
But although the songs came from different periods, they do all work well together as a cohesive album…
‘Well, there were two or three tracks that I left-off because they didn’t seem to work so well with the rest of the songs, so I guess I must have been thinking of it more as a whole thing. The tracks aren’t really in a similar style all the way through, but I did take quite a lot of time sequencing them so that it felt natural. I did record some of it at home, but the rest was recorded at Press Play studios and it was all mixed there, so I think that helped to give it a better sense of continuity.’
‘Yeah, and I think that was partly because I wanted to do something that was more straightforward. I’ve always loved pop songs, as well as all the other stuff I’m into. The two songs were actually written for a play by a Belfast playwright called Gary Mitchell. He’d written this thing called ‘Re-energise’, about these middle-aged former Punks who were trying to reform their band… not that this sounded familiar or anything… Anyway, he wanted me and John to write some songs for the play and it was a bit of a challenge, but we knocked-out about seven or eight songs. In the end, the play only ran for a week in Derry and a week in Belfast and didn’t make it over here at all, which was a shame. But it was a really good experience… we went over to watch them rehearse and show them how to play… the actors were actually playing the songs within the play and they weren’t exactly great musicians, but they were supposed to be a punk band so they got away with it. Anyway, after we finished working on the play, I was listening to the songs and I thought, why don’t I record a couple of them and release them as a single ? So I went in to a studio in Bermondsey and recorded four songs, the two that came out on the single plus another two that I still have. A friend put me in touch with John Esplen at Overground records and he released it, which was brilliant. I was really pleased with the way it came out and that gave me the confidence to start seriously thinking about making a whole album.’
Although it’s still a pretty big jump going from a one-off single to a whole album…
‘Of course, but I’d always lacked the confidence to even seriously consider making an album before. But the single went well, I was really happy with it and it just made me feel, well, I could do this again and this time it could be a whole record. I’d also started to want to revisit some older songs, particularly ‘The Love Parade’. I’ve always loved that song but I also felt that the recording that The Undertones made of it never really did it justice. The production just wasn’t right for it and I also felt the same about ‘Much Too Late’. I wanted to try it again as I thought that could have been much better, and I thought I could perhaps do something with ‘Gnaw Mark’ by That Petrol Emotion… On top of that, I also had a bunch of demos that I’d recorded over the years, instrumentals and things like that…’
But although the songs came from different periods, they do all work well together as a cohesive album…
‘Well, there were two or three tracks that I left-off because they didn’t seem to work so well with the rest of the songs, so I guess I must have been thinking of it more as a whole thing. The tracks aren’t really in a similar style all the way through, but I did take quite a lot of time sequencing them so that it felt natural. I did record some of it at home, but the rest was recorded at Press Play studios and it was all mixed there, so I think that helped to give it a better sense of continuity.’
I think the new version of ‘Love Parade’ really works well because it has such a different feel to the Undertones version…
‘Yeah, that’s the way it should’ve been all along. Me and Mickey wrote it in 1982 while the Undertones weren’t really doing anything. We put together this little spoof-band in Derry, called The Wesleys. It was basically me, Mickey and Ciaran and we were mostly playing Nuggets-type songs. We originally wrote ‘Love Parade’ for The Wesleys in a very Sixties-style, but it was eventually adopted by The Undertones. I have a great cassette recording of The Wesleys playing in a pub and the version of ‘Love Parade’ that we played back then is a lot more like the way I recorded it this time. The drums are different, it’s faster and the sound is more sparse… I just think it sounds miles-better like this. I’d always wanted to revisit that song, so I was really pleased when I finally managed to do it. I mean, it’s not that I ever hated the Undertones’ version, it’s just that I didn’t like the production, which was too over the top… I was always happy with the way we played it live as that was much more like the way I’d originally intended it to sound.’
The new version of ‘Much Too Late’ was a bit of a surprise as that had only been released by The Undertones relatively recently…
‘Yeah, but again, I hadn’t been entirely happy with the way it had come out and I wanted it to sound a bit more rockabilly than it was. It was supposed to be more rockabilly on the Undertones’ version but it didn’t really come out that way. I wanted to give it a bit more shuffle… I’d also been really pleased with that song because I don’t think I’ve ever been that great with lyrics, but I really liked the words I wrote for that one so I wanted to record it as best I could.’
The version of ‘Compulsion’ from That Petrol Emotion is also pretty different to the original release…
‘I actually came across an old four-track demo of that song and I thought it sounded great, so I decided to put it on the tail-end of the album. So it’s basically that recording that’s on there, just two guitar tracks and me singing, but I think it really works well and it’s just a nice end to the record.’
The album has been credited to ‘Damian O’Neill and the Monotones’… obviously, other musicians were involved in the recordings but do you have an actual ‘band’ ?
‘No… but I thought it would be good to call it that in case I ever get to play live. Some friends have been trying to persuade me to play live, but I keep chickening-out as it would mean I’d have to sing in front of people ! I can’t think of myself as a lead singer… But Sean O’Hagan played on a few tracks and Dave Hattee played drums on a lot of it, so if I was ever to play live, they’d be the first people I’d be asking, and Brendan Kelly has said he’d be happy to play bass. But at the moment, I don’t really have a live band. It is a possibility, but I don’t really know. The Undertones don’t really have too much lined up later-on this year so I should have some free time to think about it, although as I was saying, I’d also like to do some more stuff with The Everlasting Yeah… not so much live, but certainly trying to make another record. So maybe I’ll get some time to look at playing my own stuff live towards the end of the year…’
‘Yeah, that’s the way it should’ve been all along. Me and Mickey wrote it in 1982 while the Undertones weren’t really doing anything. We put together this little spoof-band in Derry, called The Wesleys. It was basically me, Mickey and Ciaran and we were mostly playing Nuggets-type songs. We originally wrote ‘Love Parade’ for The Wesleys in a very Sixties-style, but it was eventually adopted by The Undertones. I have a great cassette recording of The Wesleys playing in a pub and the version of ‘Love Parade’ that we played back then is a lot more like the way I recorded it this time. The drums are different, it’s faster and the sound is more sparse… I just think it sounds miles-better like this. I’d always wanted to revisit that song, so I was really pleased when I finally managed to do it. I mean, it’s not that I ever hated the Undertones’ version, it’s just that I didn’t like the production, which was too over the top… I was always happy with the way we played it live as that was much more like the way I’d originally intended it to sound.’
The new version of ‘Much Too Late’ was a bit of a surprise as that had only been released by The Undertones relatively recently…
‘Yeah, but again, I hadn’t been entirely happy with the way it had come out and I wanted it to sound a bit more rockabilly than it was. It was supposed to be more rockabilly on the Undertones’ version but it didn’t really come out that way. I wanted to give it a bit more shuffle… I’d also been really pleased with that song because I don’t think I’ve ever been that great with lyrics, but I really liked the words I wrote for that one so I wanted to record it as best I could.’
The version of ‘Compulsion’ from That Petrol Emotion is also pretty different to the original release…
‘I actually came across an old four-track demo of that song and I thought it sounded great, so I decided to put it on the tail-end of the album. So it’s basically that recording that’s on there, just two guitar tracks and me singing, but I think it really works well and it’s just a nice end to the record.’
The album has been credited to ‘Damian O’Neill and the Monotones’… obviously, other musicians were involved in the recordings but do you have an actual ‘band’ ?
‘No… but I thought it would be good to call it that in case I ever get to play live. Some friends have been trying to persuade me to play live, but I keep chickening-out as it would mean I’d have to sing in front of people ! I can’t think of myself as a lead singer… But Sean O’Hagan played on a few tracks and Dave Hattee played drums on a lot of it, so if I was ever to play live, they’d be the first people I’d be asking, and Brendan Kelly has said he’d be happy to play bass. But at the moment, I don’t really have a live band. It is a possibility, but I don’t really know. The Undertones don’t really have too much lined up later-on this year so I should have some free time to think about it, although as I was saying, I’d also like to do some more stuff with The Everlasting Yeah… not so much live, but certainly trying to make another record. So maybe I’ll get some time to look at playing my own stuff live towards the end of the year…’
A lot of the songs on the album do sound as if they should be played live…
‘Yes, they do… I think all it would take would be for me to play at a local pub in front of friends, so I could see how it went. If it’s good, it’ll give me the confidence to do other things and if it’s shite, then I won’t have to do it again. I think the worst thing would be having to remember all of the words, because I’ve never had to do that before ! Maybe I could get a teleprompter ?’
Regardless of whether you play live, you’ve obviously enjoyed putting this album together, so are you likely to work towards another one ?
‘Definitely, in fact, I’m actually already working on stuff. I have some tracks from the Quiet Revolution days, things that I started to write but never completed. I kind of got bored with the whole sampling thing, but I recently got around to mixing them down to two-tracks and I’ve been revisiting them to see what I can do with them. I’ve been enhancing the original recordings with live instruments. The thing about A Quiet Revolution is that it was almost entirely samples. I played some guitar and drums on there, but very little. But now I’m taking those recordings and trying to add as many live instruments as possible. I’m really enjoying it because it’s getting me away from the old rock, four-four structure but also getting away from just constructing samples. It’s a challenge to put the two things together and I’m enjoying it. I guess it’ll be quite different to this album, but I think I’d still be happy to do it under the same name and perhaps I’ll add a few instrumentals or songs, if they all work together that way. But it’s still a long way off and I’ve only been working on things at home. I haven’t even thought about going to a proper studio, yet, but if it all goes smoothly, there’s a good chance that it might see the light of day sometime next year…’
‘Yes, they do… I think all it would take would be for me to play at a local pub in front of friends, so I could see how it went. If it’s good, it’ll give me the confidence to do other things and if it’s shite, then I won’t have to do it again. I think the worst thing would be having to remember all of the words, because I’ve never had to do that before ! Maybe I could get a teleprompter ?’
Regardless of whether you play live, you’ve obviously enjoyed putting this album together, so are you likely to work towards another one ?
‘Definitely, in fact, I’m actually already working on stuff. I have some tracks from the Quiet Revolution days, things that I started to write but never completed. I kind of got bored with the whole sampling thing, but I recently got around to mixing them down to two-tracks and I’ve been revisiting them to see what I can do with them. I’ve been enhancing the original recordings with live instruments. The thing about A Quiet Revolution is that it was almost entirely samples. I played some guitar and drums on there, but very little. But now I’m taking those recordings and trying to add as many live instruments as possible. I’m really enjoying it because it’s getting me away from the old rock, four-four structure but also getting away from just constructing samples. It’s a challenge to put the two things together and I’m enjoying it. I guess it’ll be quite different to this album, but I think I’d still be happy to do it under the same name and perhaps I’ll add a few instrumentals or songs, if they all work together that way. But it’s still a long way off and I’ve only been working on things at home. I haven’t even thought about going to a proper studio, yet, but if it all goes smoothly, there’s a good chance that it might see the light of day sometime next year…’
