THEY are one of the most legendary names in punk.

But The Undertones guitarist Michael Bradley has admitted that when the band first formed he thought they would never even make an album.

Happily they did, and fans of that eponymous debut will be thrilled to hear the band are planning to play it in its entirety on their latest tour.

“When we started in 1976 I thought we would never even make a record,” says Bradley.

“We talked about it for so long and never did anything about it.

"Eventually, we bought instruments and rehearsed and rehearsed, and we wrote six songs. I would have been happy with that.”

Had they not been released, the British public would have been denied the joys of Jimmy Jimmy, Here Comes The Summer and, of course, the late, legendary John Peel’s favourite song, Teenage Kicks.

“In 1978, it wasn’t a big thing to be John Peel’s favourite record,” Bradley says.

“It was when he kept saying it 20 years later that it really became a big thing.”

That song in particular sums up for many a particular moment in time.

“You’re very lucky if you’re about 18 and a major musical movement starts — one that older people hate,” says the guitarist, who as a father of four now knows a thing or two about the intricacies of inter-generational musical tastes.

So how do his children feel about having a punk legend as a father?

“I definitely don’t try to be ‘down with the kids’,” he says.

“I say to them that I won’t spoil it by saying I like what they like.

"They’re big Green Day fans; I took them to see them last year and really enjoyed it.

"The stage was covered in posters of old New York punk bands, and I thought it was really good they were acknowledging their roots.”

Although Michael says the band are planning on recording some new material, by day he is a BBC radio producer and says he has no intention of going back on the road full time.

“It’s very much a part-time rock and roll lifestyle,” he says. “That suits me fine.”

* The Undertones play Liverpool Academy on Thursday, April 14. 08444 772000; then Manchester Academy 3 on Friday, April 15, £17.50, 0161 832 1111.