With their 2013 album Oh No, It’s… The Wonder Stuff described as “one of the most impressive comeback records of our time”, frontman Miles Hunt gets vocal with our friends from Hype ahead of his band’s gig in Dubai, at Irish Village on March 6.

“The Wonder Stuff have had a career where we’ve been seen as a bit daft, and we asked for it by making silly videos and doing a record with [comedian] Vic Reeves, but my idea for us was looking back to bands like Slade. They knew how to write hit singles but their albums would be great rock records.”

“I really enjoy playing the new stuff because it offers me a bit more of a challenge. We’ve been playing the old songs for so long that I can recite the alphabet backwards in my mind while I’m doing them. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy doing them – I love doing them.”

“I think there’s a collective characteristic in the Midlands that we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I think this sends the wrong message to the wider media – if we’re not taking ourselves seriously then why should they?”

“I’m lucky. I’ve never found anything else in life that rivals my enthusiasm for making a noise. I’m just thankful that there is still an audience out there that wants to hear us make that noise.”

“When we reformed in the early 2000s we were surprised to see all these quite young people, and we were like, ‘Where did they all come from?’ We were expecting fat, bald blokes squeezed into old T-shirts that don’t fit them anymore!”

“I never wanted to be a famous rock star, I just wanted to be in a band and to hang around with likeminded people.”

“The thing that keeps me writing and recording is exactly the same thing that got me into it as a kid. It’s the absolute joy of the creative process, and getting halfway through something and thinking ‘Wow! This is actually pretty good!’ It’s such a positive and exciting feeling every time.”

“I think the thing that I’m most proud of is that I haven’t had to get a job.”

“We’ve been playing long enough to know what an audience wants from us. There are always a couple of people in the audience that shout out titles of obscure B-sides, but to be honest with you, I think they’re just trying to show off.”

The Irish Village, Garhoud, Dubai. Doors open 7pm for 9pm show. Dhs60. Metro: GGICO. Taxi: Irish Village. theirishvillage.com