The Moondogs were another of the seemingly endless parade of power pop bands to spring up in Northern Ireland in the late 70s.

Before they even had a name the three teenagers made their debut on the back of a coal lorry in Derry with The Undertones, who were celebrating their signing to Sire with a hometown gig.

They trio went on to have their own TV show, Moondogs Matinee, and then flew to New York to record an album with Todd Rundgren… but broke up halfway through.

Released in 1981 – after they had disbanded – That’s What Friends Are For includes an infectious song called I’m Not Sleeping.

For reasons I cannot fathom I seem to have had lodged in my brain ever since then – perhaps I remember it from the second of their two excellent Peel sessions.

Their first single, She’s Nineteen, was released on Good Vibrations in 1979, though Peel preferred the B-side, Ya Don’t Do Ya.

It’s one of several songs betraying their ages when they began – Schoolgirl Crush (which owes a heavy debt to The Boys’ Brickfield Nights), Talking In The Canteen and, ahem, Baby Snatcher.

The three were still at school when drummer Austin Barrett (a cousin of Undertones drummer Billy Doherty) and vocalist/guitarist Gerry McCandless recruited his sister’s boyfriend Jackie Hamilton.

He had never played an instrument but bought himself a bass and they began rehearsing together above The Bogside Inn and, in true punk fashion, a band was born.

Since their breakup The Moondogs have sporadically reunited, notably for a Derry City FC benefit in 2000, in between successful day jobs – Jackie as an in-demand TV producer, Gerry in computers and Austin running a dog training school.