THE Adverts defined punk’s early sound with their singles, No Time to Be 21, Bored Teenagers and the brutal Gary Gilmore’s Eyes, a controversial song based on the wishes of Gilmore, an American murderer, that his eyes be donated to medical science after his execution.

TV Smith was the Adverts founder and leader, one of the pioneering bands who played at The Roxy, London’s first live punk venue, made famous by The Clash and the Sex Pistols.

During the punk revolution the Adverts toured with Iggy Pop, The Jam and Stiff Records’ stable mates The Damned before splitting in the late 1970s.

TV Smith, though, remains a fiercely independent spirit, and last year the 61-year-old played 130 solo shows.

“We were young and just writing what was in our heads, but we are in exactly the same political environment in 2017,” said Smith, who will be delivering The Adverts best known hits at this year’s Rebellion Punk Festival in Blackpool.

“The establishment is more sophisticated, but it is still the same.

“Kids are still dissatisfied with governments aren’t they?

“It’s funny, I actually feel more like the voice of a generation now, because no one is speaking for the over fifties.

“We still have something to say, but people aren’t talking enough about what’s going on in the world.

“Look at that nonsense in America.

“You wouldn’t trust Donald Trump with a children’s piggy bank would you?

“Our lives revolve around the internet and smart phones.

“We’ve not had a chance to rest or pause for the last 30 years.”

Immediately after the Adverts split, he formed TV Smith’s Explorers, before re-entering the live arena as a solo artist and later collaborating with German superstars Die Toten Hosen.

“I feel as up for the fight now as I did when I was 21, and that high octane fuel of live music keeps me going,” he said.

“Sometimes I feel an apathy around me in society, but when I get to a gig I feel an extraordinary sense of community with like-minded people.

“My shows have a non-stop, furious intensity.

“You have to give them everything and I do.”

The Adverts’ debut album, Crossing the Red Sea, became one of the most highly regarded albums of the punk era.

“I always looked at things from the anti-obvious angle, and song writing is also about developing my own attitude,” he added.

“Songs about the threat of nuclear war is just as relevant now than during the Cold War.

“In fact, the world we live in is a far more dangerous place than 30 years ago.”

This year’s Rebellion sees The Skids, 999, Menace and Anti-Pasti among the hundreds of acts playing at Britain’s biggest punk gathering, but Smith dismisses the notion that punk has become a nostalgia trip.

“Many young people come to my shows and say that today’s mainstream music does not offer them anything.

“Young people are curious, not just about what happened 40 years ago with punk, but about wanting a better life and music can still bring that into focus when we all get together and talk about making the world a better place.”

TV Smith plays the Adverts at Rebellion Festival on Thursday, August 3. Rebellion runs from August 3-6 at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, with a line-up including Ruts DC, Misty in Roots, Angelic Upstarts and the Skids. Details from 02476 601678 or www.rebellionfestivals.com