THE Jam were top of the hit parade with Going Underground and the Vapors at number three in the charts with their insanely catchy jingle, Turning Japanese, when they rolled into Blackburn for The Jam’s Setting Sons tour days before Christmas, 1979.

“It was brilliant, we were having the time of our lives, but I’ll always dispute it when people say we were one hit wonders,” said lead singer Dave Fenton who brings the re-formed Vapors to Blackpool’s Rebellion Festival next month.

“We wrote some great pop music. Turning Japanese is a super record, something I’m very proud of and it was never an albatross around our necks.”

He added: “It all happened so quickly, we’d gone from playing to one man and a dog in a pub to big venues like the King George’s Hall with The Jam.

“I remember we each had our own minibus and every time we got to a service station had water pistol fights in the car park.

“The Jam would tape our clothes to the ceiling of the dressing room while we were on stage, that sort of thing, while we’d put talcum powder on the snare drum.

“I’ve got really happy memories of all that.”

A well-received debut album, New Clear Days, with heavy-duty themes of war, and militarism addressed the fear of the Cold War and the nuclear threat between the feuding Super Powers.

“It was just so busy, so frantic, like a lot of bands from the punk era we just burned out in a few months and after two albums,” recalled Fenton.

“When we started out, everything that possibly could have gone wrong went right for us, from finding a record company and management to having a hit record.

“But the following year everything went horribly wrong, and that was it.”

The link with The Jam was always a strong one, bass player Bruce Foxton having co-managed the band with Paul Weller’s dad John.

And the musical journey never really ended for Fenton, who worked as a lawyer for the Musicians’ Union for many years after the Vapors split.

Meanwhile, guitarist Ed Bazalgette is a BBC director, having worked on Doctor Who and Poldark and having also produced a documentary about his great-great-grandfather, the 19th century civil engineer, Joseph Bazalgette.

“It was just a chance thing we got back together again, as a one-off for Polyfest (A tribute to the late Poly Styrene, X Ray Spex singer) in London last year,” said Dave

“There were no rehearsals and it was the first time we’d been on stage together for 35 years, so it was a bit nerve-wracking.

“It’s funny, all the songs we wrote about, the threat to the planet and war, is just as relevant today, if not more so.

“At least Ronald Reagan never pressed the nuclear button, but the one thing that has changed dramatically is the power of communication.

“Back then we never knew who our fans were, apart from the occasional letter when they put pen to paper.

“But our set from Polyfest had 12,000 hits on Youtube, and now we seem to have fans all the world.

“To play live again and to see people mouthing the words of our songs back to us on stage is so humbling and such a lovely feeling.

“The Vapors has made me feel young again.”

The Vapors play Blackpool Opera House on Saturday. The Rebellion Festival opens today at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens and runs until Sunday. Details from www.rebellionfestivals.com or 02476 601678. Sex Pistol’s Paul Cook interview - page 36