THE late 1980s were a lousy time for indie bands – unless you wanted to cake your face with make up and listen to Sisters of Mercy, or had an aversion to volume that left you contented by the gossamer thrills of Talulah Gosh and their kind.

So fans of gutsy guitar-based indie pop were naturally beside themselves about bands like The Wedding Present and The Primitives, whose Crash must rank as one of the decade’s great lost singles.

Fronted by striking bottle blonde singer Tracy Tracy, the Coventry quartet wore their influences on their sleeves – mid-60s mod pop, late-70s power pop and a sprinkling of girl group harmonies. They burned briefly but brightly before splitting in 1992, leaving us a rash of classy 45s like Really Stupid, Stop Killing Me, Out of Reach and, of course, Crash.

And now they’re back. Reunited by cruel fate last year as bassist Steve Dullaghan died of a rare cannabis overdose, the band decided to play a set in tribute to their fallen comrade at an exhibition dedicated to Coventry bands.

“It sort of snowballed from there,” says Tracy, bubbly as ever.

“Obviously losing Stevie was a huge shock and we wanted to do something to honour his memory really. But once word got out about the Coventry gig, we got asked to play London and the buzz got going. I mean, it’s not like we ever had a falling out – it was more to do with music industry stuff, being on a major and losing the support of key people.”

Tracy lives in Spain these days but had vaguely stayed in touch with her old band mates in Coventry through mutual friends.

“I did a few bits of singing to keep my hand in, I got by. I did a solo album with our producer Paul Sampson, and some songs with Stevie D, and sang a bit for a couple of DJ collectives but nothing much come of it.

“But we’re back in the studio with Paul to do an album of covers of obscure hits by female singers like Breakaway by Toni Basil. First though, we’ve got this tour, then who knows? It’s all one step at a time, but we’re having fun.”