FORTY years on from their first mad cap gig – at Stonehenge Free Festival of all places – Buster Bloodvessel and the boys are still mixing that heady blend of moon-stomping ska, reggae and punk.

And Bad Manners return to the Grand, Clitheroe, on Saturday night for a special birthday knees-up.

Bloodvessel, who reportedly took his stage name from the bus conductor in the Beatles film Magical Mystery Tour, admits he never expected Bad Manners, who scored their first chart success with Lip Up Fatty in 1980, to still be touring today.

“It seemed absolutely impossible, 1976 seems a long, long time ago,” said Buster.

“We never thought we’d be a long term band, but from early on we knew that our great appeal was our live shows.

“Our songs are just party tunes and people associate us with good-time party music so, if we get a show where everyone is a little bit under the weather and needs cheering up, we always bring it to life with a pumping tune like Special Brew.

“Still, we never thought we’d last this long, but here we are, still going, and sometimes when I get out there, I feel it is starting all over again, which gives a little tickle to my heart.”

He added: “We’ve been all over the world this year, but we are really looking forward to playing in Clitheroe again because last time we had a ball.”

Buster is half the man he used to be, though.

After drastic surgery, he lost a staggering 18 stone and the Hackney-born crooner, who once ran a hotel in Margate called Fatty Towers, with gigantic beds and an annual Belly of the Year contest, recalls: “I lost so much weight people thought I was dying when they saw me.

“When I got down to 12 stone I looked like a ballerina on stage.

“At one stage I was 31 stone and I collapsed during a show.

“I suppose I was living up to an image. People expected Buster to be huge.

“I liked the idea of being fat, eating, drinking, being jolly – to me those are fine qualities.”

Whilst Bad Manners’ monster hits, My Girl Lollipop, Lip Up Fatty and Can Can topped the charts, Buster’s weight topped the scales.

“In every performance I was thinking this could be my last, the way I was performing on stage,” he recalled.

“I suppose I was a prime candidate for dying on stage.

“I hope that is in the distant future, but I’d rather go out that way than sat in an old people’s home.”

Bad Manners’ brand of good time party music still sounds as fresh as the day it was penned – although Buster is the only founding member to have lasted the marathon course.

“I always had a desire to perform,” added Buster.

“On stage, probably as an actor more than a singer, but I chose singing because I absolutely love it.

“I don’t understand those bands who stop touring, but there’s a lot of rubbish around today, particularly the disgraceful talent show stuff on TV.

“Singing is my life, though, and you can’t replace the feeling of jumping on stage and singing those great songs and everybody going mental.”

Bad Manners, Clitheroe Grand Theatre, Saturday, December 3. Details from 01200 421599.

“In every performance I was thinking this could be my last, the way I was performing on stage,” he recalled.

“I suppose I was a prime candidate for dying on stage.

“I hope that is in the distant future, but I’d rather go out that way than sat in an old people’s home.”

Bad Manners’ brand of goodtime party music still sounds as fresh as the day it was penned – although Buster is the only founding member to have lasted the marathon course.

“I always had a desire to perform,” added Buster.

“On stage, probably as an actor more than a singer, but I chose singing because I absolutely love it.

“I don’t understand those bands who stop touring, but there’s a lot of rubbish around today, particularly the disgraceful talent show stuff on TV.

“Singing is my life, though, and you can’t replace the feeling of jumping on stage and singing those great songs and everybody going mental.”

Bad Manners, Clitheroe Grand Theatre, December 3. 01200 421599.