110 - 50 Years of The Undertones with Damian O'Neill Undertones (Derry)

110 - 50 Years of The Undertones with Damian O'Neill Undertones (Derry)

Author: Rock n Roll Book Club April 4, 2026 Duration: 44:46

This week we celebrate 50 years of The Undertones with guitar player Damian O’Neill. 


Damien kept diaries during the early years of the band & reads extracts for us throughout & he tells us about joining the band age 15 & their first gig at a local scout hall. From there The Undertones honed their craft playing regularly at The Casbah in their hometown of Derry, Northern Ireland. 


His older brother John O’Neill starts to write songs & they record their debut release The Teenage Kicks EP - after which John Peel plays it & becomes a fan - resulting in the songs success & an appearance on Top Of The Pops. 


The day after their TV debut the band return to Derry for a triumphant homecoming gig at The Rocking Chair, a local pub.


Damien tells us about briefly touring with Joy Division & The Rezillos & their ill fated attempt to stage a festival in their hometown headlined by The Clash. The festival is cancelled after Joe Strummer receives a letter from local political loyalists. 


In return for the cancellation, the Undertones get to open for The Clash on a US tour in the Autumn of 1979. 


Damien also tells us about his favourite Undertones tracks, his brother John getting arrested on tour & previews the upcoming 50th anniversary gigs later this year. 



It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps



It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it. 



You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events



Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17


X: @simonmusicmaps


Facebook: E17rockbookclub



Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell

Music by Andy Maxwell


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


The Music Maps Podcast from the Rock n Roll Book Club isn't your typical music show. It's an audio expedition where geography is the guide. Every episode starts with a specific location-a city, a venue, a forgotten roadside attraction-and uses that place as a launchpad to explore the sounds, stories, and scenes connected to it. You might find yourself deep in the blues clubs of Chicago one week and tracing the underground punk threads of a small European town the next. The conversations are wide-ranging, connecting the dots between iconic artists and obscure movements, all anchored to a point on the map. Listening to this podcast feels like adding a new, richly detailed pin to a global atlas of musical influence. It’s about the context behind the chords and the cultural soil from which genres grow. The result is a continuously evolving, deeply human portrait of how music and place are inextricably linked, one fascinating destination at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Music Maps Podcast
Podcast Episodes
The Strokes - Is This It with Steven Hyden [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:48
Join us to go back 25 years to the release of The Strokes debut album Is This It. Steven’s new book Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of the Strokes is out now in the US & also here in the UK. The story begins w…
Adam & The Ants with Marco Pirroni [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:24
Marco Pirroni joins us to talk us through his huge success with Adam & The Ants - Marco’s new book Your Money Or Your Life is out now. It all starts with a note through Marco’s door which simply says ‘Call Me, Adam’. The…
When UK Punk Went Pop - The Jam, Madness, Fanzines, The Face & more [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:59
Tony Fletcher joins us to talk about his new book POW!: When UK Punk Went Pop, 1980-84.Starting with his Jammin’ fanzine at age 13, by the time he is 14 Tony writes a letter to Paul Weller & receives a reply. He is invit…
Elliott Smith with Jamie Fisher [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:15
Elliott Smith is our focus this week & we are joined by Jamie Fisher whose new book - Nobody Broke Your Heart: An Intimate Biography of Elliott Smith is out now in the UK & the US. What differentiates Jamie’s book from o…
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young with Rolling Stone's David Browne [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:11
Our first episode focusing on Crosby, Stills Nash & Young with Rolling Stone’s David Browne.David’s book is out now or on audio if you prefer. David also has a regularly updated substack you can subscribe to with lots of…
128 - Jimi Hendrix with Jimi's roadie Eric Barrett [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:11
Our first episode about Jimi Hendrix & we are joined by Jimi’s former roadie Eric Barrett. Eric ran into Mitch Mitchell & Noel Redding, bassist & drummer in The Jimi Hendrix Experience in a club & received a phone call s…
126 - Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska with Warren Zanes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:56
Join us for a deep dive into Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska with writer Warren Zanes, author of Deliver Me From Nowhere which was recently made into a Hollywood movie. In late 1981 Bruce Springsteen is coming off his bigge…
125 - Stevie Nicks & Fleetwood Mac with Rachel Brodsky [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:26
We are joined by author Rachel Brodsky to talk about the life & career of Stevie Nicks. Rachel’s new book Lessons & Lace is out now. Stevie Nicks was born in Phoenix & moved around a lot as a child, finally settling in L…