The Undertones' DAMIAN O'NEILL hopes you like his new direction

The joyous punk pop of The Undertones and the spiky groove rock of That Petrol Emotion couldn't be further from the current musical direction of Damian O'Neill - who's recently completed an album for release on Alan McGee's Poptones label in the new year.

"Oh God - it's a world away from what I'm doing with The Undertones" he says over the phone from his London home. "For starters it's all instrumental - very atmospheric and there are practically no guitars on it - which is about as far as you can get from 'My Perfect Cousin'. Alan McGee got to hear an EP I did for a French label - which Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine produced - and made an approach which was gratefully accepted - needless to say!" So why did the co-author of 'Mars Bars' - 'Beautiful Friend' - 'The Love Parade' and the sole write of the shot across the bows to his band mates of 'Fairly In The Money Now' change direction so radically?

"Well. I'd always been interested in arranging songs for brass and strings" explains Damian" which I first dabbled with on The Undertones' 'The Positive Touch' and it just grew from there. I started using samplers a while back because It got to the point where things weren't going great in my personal life - my marriage was breaking up - and I just couldn't pick up the guitar - so I got more and more into this new area. It's kinda hard to describe what it sounds like but someone like DJ Shadow would definitely have been an Influence and people have said that it's quite filmic so with any luck that'll be something I can bluff my way into!"

So where do The Undertones figure in Damian's plans - if at all?

"Doing the gigs during the summer was great fun - no question about that - but I honestly don't think it's going to lead to us getting back together on a permanent basis. Doing a burst of shows a couple of times a year is fine but even that's an organisational nightmare. I'm living in London with a new baby to bring up - Paul is in Dublin - the others are living in Derry and everyone has jobs - so even getting together to rehearse songs we already know Is like coordinating a military operation. To go beyond that would be insane - Nab - it's not going to happen - to paraphrase a popular song from a few years back!"