FRENZY REUNITED

Swindon's finest musical export, XTC were also one of the most quietly influential British bands, setting a template for Britpop while pioneering a brand of left-field guitar pop – from herky-jerky invention to consummate craftsmanship – that has spawned many imitators.

- Andy Partridge

But their career was characterised by discord, and wrangles with producers and record labels – they even went on strike in the 90s, just when interest in them among a new generation was starting to grow. They finally split in 2006 but in the wake of a new mix of their 1986 album, Skylarking, they look back with more pride than regret. As Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory tell Terry Staunton, “It’s always best to slope off on your own terms.”

After the release of their 10th album, Nonsuch, in 1992, XTC infamously downed tools. Conflict with Virgin, the label to which they'd signed 15 years earlier, prompted the band to go "on strike", refusing to deliver any more music until longstanding contractual - and financial - issues were resolved.

They would stay silent for close to seven years, a period that saw the emergence of hugely successful groups whose output invited parallels with the work of Messrs Partridge, Moulding and Gregory. It's there in the beat group hooks and earworm melodies of Oasis, the wry humour and social portraiture of Pulp, and the arty, left-field populism of Blur (Girls And Boys is a clear descendant of XTC's equally quirky Meccanik Dancing from 1978).

Andy Partridge once suggested press accusations they were "too clever-clever" kept the band, unlike those mentioned above, from ever becoming full-blown pop stars and Top 10 regulars, but during their absence and inactivity it was nonetheless tempting to paint XTC as, if not quite forefathers, then certainly Britpop's boffin uncles.