Xdreamysts were signed up by Polydor at the same gig as Protex. Their single, Right Way Home, was one of the first releases on the Bad Vibrations but unlike most of their labelmates they didn’t even pretend to be punks.

Not surprising really, since they had originally formed in Coleraine as a country-rock band called Flying Squad, before jumping aboard the New Wave in 1978 and changing their name.

Check out pictures of the band and they looked like any other pub rock band with their denims and long hair, making no attempt at all to fit in with the punks, but their retooled sound had plenty in common with the urgent power pop of their new labelmates.

The band – singer Uel Walls, guitarist John Doherty, Roe Butcher on bass and drummer Brian Moffatt – released three singles for Polydor: Bad News, I Don’t Wanna Go and the infectious Stay The Way You Are – the latter later covered by Paul Young’s band Q-Tips.

They also did a Peel Session in London, but did not exactly enjoy the experience. Drummer Brian Moffatt later recalled: “It was a massive thing for us – it just didn’t get much better than that. Sadly the reality was a big let down.

“We turned up at Maida Vale Studios on 5th December 1979 where the designated producer Ted De Bono and engineer Nick Gomm read a newspaper the whole time as we were laying down the session. The results were crap and to be honest, we were crap. It was a very disappointing day for us”. 

Unlike Protex, whose debut album gathered dust in the Polydor vaults for 30 years, Xdreamysts did at least manage to release their eponymously-titled album – in Belgium and Holland – before being dropped by the label in 1980 and splitting up the following year.