PAULINE Black remains as passionate an advocate for social justice and music’s power to both entertain and carry a message as she was when The Selecter were at the forefront of the Two Tone movement in the early Eighties.

Now the Selecter come to Clitheroe Grand next Saturday as part of a tour celebrating the 35th anniversary of their debut album Too Much Pressure, which they will play in its entirety.

“No-one thinks when they are first setting out how long they will last as a band,” said Pauline.

“When you’re young you don’t think that far ahead.

“But it’s a great privilege now to be in a position to be able to keep doing what we’ve always done.

“We are still producing new material, which I think is very important, but for this tour we can look at the legacy of the band and what we have achieved over the years.”

As part of the Two Tone movement, the Coventry-based Selecter were part of a movement which also produced The Specials and The Beat — and all three bands are drawing sold-out crowds today.

Singles such as Three Minute Hero and On My Radio were immediate chart hits and are proving equally popular to a new generation of fans.

“We did around 80 shows last year and the 26-date anniversary tour this year gives us the opportunity to celebrate Too Much Pressure.

“We will be playing the album in full but there will also be plenty of other material, including some more recent songs too.”

Last year The Selecter were one of the surprise successes of the hugely influential Coachella Festival in the States.

“I don’t think many people there were aware of us.

“They were probably too young to remember. I think they thought we were a new band and then out we came and blew them away. It was a great feeling.”

Pauline is fronting the band with long-time bandmate Arthur ‘Gaps’ Henderson.

“We feed off each other on stage,” she said. “We put on a show. If an audience is having to look at you for 90 minutes then I think you’ve a duty to keep the goods presentable. This year is very much a celebratory year and a chance to show how far we’ve come,” said Pauline. “It also gives us the chance to introduce audiences to our new material.

“As first it was difficult to come back and do new material as we weren’t the disaffected youth of ’79 any more but we did it and it’s among the best material we’ve ever done.

“We did a festival in Chicago last year and Blondie were also playing and I met Debbie Harry there. It just struck me then how fantastic it was for two women of ‘a certain age’ to be still doing it. I think we both wondered how did we get here?”

The Selecter, the Grand, Clitheroe, Saturday, April 12. Details from the box office on 01200 421599.