Here’s another slice of Ulster punk from Protex. With their primal power pop sound they were Belfast’s answer to Buzzcocks. And with their ear for a good tune – like this, their debut on Good Vibrations – it’s a surprise they weren’t bigger.

Protex formed in 1978 in that first wave of Northern Ireland punk bands inspired by the visit of The Clash the previous year… even though the gig itself was cancelled when the venue’s insurance was withdrawn.

Despite that, it was a seminal moment and bands began to form, following the progress of punk through the pages of NME and Sounds and their own local fanzine Alternative Ulster, started by my old friend Gavin Martin.

Protex, who were still in sixth form at school, wore their Clash influence on their sleeves by takin their name from an early Clash song, Protex Blue – their original name – despite not knowing the song in question was about condoms. Which would not have gone down in at least half of Northern Ireland at the time.

They recorded a three-track single for Terri Hooley’s Good Vibrations label, later rereleased by Rough Trade in London, leading to a major-label deal with Polydor and the release of another single, I Can’t Cope (sample lyric: “I don’t want to be alive / When I’m twenty-five”).

After a UK tour with Adam & the Ants, the band moved to London and released another single, I Can Only Dream, produced by Slade svengali Chas Chandler, going on to tour with The Boomtown Rats.

They were dropped by Polydor after a final single, A Place In Your Heart, met the same fate as the others – their harmony-drenched punk failing to find an audience – and they split after farewell shows in Belfast in 1981.

Three decades later their recordings from that time were compiled for a posthumous album, Strange Obsessions, in 2010.

On the back of that, original members Aidan Murtagh and David McMaster reformed the band with two new members , touring Spain and Japan and releasing a live album. I have a feeling they’re still going, too.