The world might be changing for the worse in some ways, but Bradford punk band The Negatives remain defiantly positive.

The trio will be trying to blast the roof off The Mannville Arms pub this Saturday night, aided by up-and-coming Bradford punksters No Eager Men and a special guest appearance from another local band.

"You'll have to come along and find out who it is," The Negatives' drummer Tino Palmer said. Now in his late 40s, he is the only original member of the band left.

"In the old days, The Mannville was more of a meeting place. Everyone met there before moving off to the Students' Union or The Vaults Bar.

"Then the pub became a Murphy's. Someone then thought it would be a good idea to call it The Head. Now the name has been changed back to The Mannville Arms - like the good old days of 1978."

Thirty years ago The Negatives recorded some of their songs at a studio in Heaton and took the tape to Pennine Radio.

"The songs were full of swearing and references to sex. They played it, all of it. I thought we would get arrested. Then they said they lost it," Tino said.

"A couple of weeks ago our record label - Detour Records in Sussex - told us they had found a demo tape of ours with a letter from me. Three-quarters of the songs we thought were lost are on the tape. The label is looking at releasing it."

If Detour takes that step the band's royalties should mushroom. The other week Tino got a notice of royalties totalling 14p for airplay of one of the band's songs!

Lest that makes The Negatives sound like a joke, be advised that the late influential DJ John Peel treasured a double A-side - Stakeout and Love Is Not Real.

"I think it was Love Is Not Real he liked best. He last played it on April 1, 2001 - my wedding anniversary," Tino added.

Peel included the disc in a box of his 100 favourite singles of all time. Only 1,000 copies of the disc were pressed in 1979. They are now collectors' items, fetching up to £200 a time.

"But we won't be giving up the day jobs," Tino laughed. During the day he works for Gordon Rhodes & Son, a Bradford firm of sausage seasoners. Tony, who plays bass guitar, is a driver for the same company. Rik, singer and vocalist, is what? "Describe him as a jack-of-all-trades. He does a bit of everything."

The Negatives claim to be Bradford's first punk band. There used to be four of them: Tino, guitarist Pete Stobbs, bassist Bob Robinson and vocalist Dave Wilcox.

"Some say Punk died in London in 1976, but it carried on in the provinces and was strong in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. We wrote a song called We're From Bradford, to put two fingers up at Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool," Tino added.

Later this year, as part of the band's anniversary Thirty Years of Torture tour, they will be playing Newcastle, Blackpool, Kilmarnock, Birming-ham, Macclesfield, Leeds and Motherwell.

  • The Negatives' gig at The Mannville Arms this Saturday starts at 8pm. Admission is free. Next Friday The Negatives play at The Shay, Halifax, with No Eager Men and The Krayons from Wakefield.