ON Top of the Pops many moons ago, Vaughn Toulouse, clasped a microphone to his ear like a telephone receiver and sang: ‘The night is young. The mood is mellow.

And there’s music in my ears.

Say, is Vic there?’

“People often ask me if that song was an albatross around our necks, but that was our calling card, our first single, and the one that opened so many doors for Department S,” said current lead singer Eddie Roxy, one of the founder members of the group who took their name from the sixties cult TV series starring Jason King.

“I think we ended up chasing the dream because of it, though.

“Vaughn was very driven and he wanted the fame, but it was not something that interested me whatsoever.

“They asked us to do more commercial stuff afterwards.

“We didn’t want to go in that direction, but were told to do it by the record company.

“One minute we were in the New Musical Express and the next we were on Cheggers Plays Pop and the front of my sister’s Smash Hits.”

The band split a couple of years later and when Vaughn Toulouse died in 1991 that appeared to draw a line under another brief post-punk story.

However a new version, featuring two of the original cast - Roxy and Mike Herbage - plus ex-Public Image bassist Brian Brain and guitarist Phil Thompson, from Preston, sparked a fresh chapter in the Department S story.

“We’ve been playing for 10 years now and it feels a lot more comfortable,” added Roxy as Department S prepare for their fourth appearance at Britain’s biggest punk festival, Rebellion, in Blackpool next weekend.

“We left our 20-year-old egos back in 1982 – we’ve all grown up,” he said. “It is funny how things work sometimes isn’t?

“Originally, the whole thing started off with us wanting to be a band like Mott the Hoople or The Faces.

“Earlier this year, we contacted Ian Hunter’s management out of the blue, as they were looking for a support act at one of their shows near London.

“They asked us what we did and I said, ‘Remember the song, Is Vic There?’ and they are going, ‘Yeah Yeah. We remember.’. We got the support dates.

“It was a dream for me because I was a huge fan of Mott the Hoople and Ian Hunter was just the nicest man in the world when we met him.

“Ian’s the same age as my dad but he was quite remarkable on stage and it was a real privilege to be part of that show.”

Department S are set to release a singles collection – 45 Revolutions, 1980 to 2017 - later this year and Roxy added: “I’m very happy with our music now, and we’ve done a couple of albums.

“It’s much more true to what we wanted to do in the first place, and a lot more fun.

“Nearly 40 years after Is Vic There?, well that song is still opening doors for Department S.”

Rebellion Festival, Winter Gardens, Blackpool, runs from Thursday, August 3 to Sunday, August 6. Department S play the Opera House stage an Saturday. Headliners include Slaves, Bad Religion and The Skids. Tickets, 02476 601678 or rebellionfestivals.com