SELF-PROCLAIMED the "rudest, crudest, lewdest, drunkest band in Christendom", the Macc Lads cut a foul-mouthed swathe through the 80s music scene with their songs concerning binge drinking, sex and fighting.

The punk band, who took their name from their Cheshire hometown of Macclesfield, extolled and exaggerated the virtues of the northern, macho, male-dominated pub scene: drinking real ale, 'pulling' women and Chinese takeaways and with album titles like From Beer to Eternity, The Beer Necessities and Alehouse Rock it was pretty obvious where their main interests lay. The lyrics, of course are far too rude for the Leader to publish!

Originally splitting in 1995, the band reformed in 2018, playing a headline set at Blackpool's Rebellion Festival in August to more than 3,000 people, before a UK tour spanning venues from Scotland to London was a total sell-out, with the Macc Lads packing out venues like Manchester Ritz and Nottingham Rock City.

"We are having all venues fitted with Stannah Stairlifts and toilets," jokes Muttley McLad (real name Tristian O'Neill), the only member to be with the band throughout their career, when I ask why the band have waited until now to reform.

"I need a new kitchen," interrupts Chorley the Hord (Charles Moore). "I need a new extension," says singer Bammy (Christopher Bamford). "I need a pension," adds The Beater (Geoffrey Conning).

Trouble followed the Macc Lads wherever they went in their 80s heyday. A concert at the Birmingham Hummingbird in 1989 resulted in thousands of pounds worth of damage by fans. Vandalism included scaffolding being pulled apart and thrown onstage, as well as a broken toilet, pots of paint and ashtrays. The band's website states that at a gig in Cheltenham in 1991 a "bag of hot sick" was thrown at them.

"I think most bands have crazy shows to be honest, so we're no exception," says Chorley. "We once did a sound check at five in the morning on the back of a wagon, playing to an assembled, non-paying captive audience of several cows, assorted sheep and an elderly chicken."

"I saw a pig's ear sailing through the air," says Bammy. "And someone threw an entire toilet on stage once. A cow's udder too."

"We played in East Germany once where nobody spoke English," adds Muttley. "The crowd knew all the lyrics but not what the words meant."

In 2015, The Guardian website ran an article claiming the Macc Lads were not the 'sexist, chauvinistic boors' they appeared, and were actually 'near the knuckle satirists' who were a 'subversive parody of unreconstructed macho bigotry'. The claim gets short shrift from Muttley: "There was no ulterior motive, he says. "The Guardian are reading too much into it. Making us out to be witty, intelligent satirists is probably the worst thing that's ever been said about us."

As Bammy explains this year's tour may be an unlikely return for the lads but one that felt inevitable after their success at the Rebellion Festival.

"It's all been a bit sudden, but last year was so much fun, we just wanted to keep doing it," he says. "This year our tour started last weekend at Scotland Calling, and we are at the Buckley Tivoli on May 11, then Belfast and Dublin the week after.

"The US tour starting in Boston on May 24 has been cancelled as the US Embassy have not granted us visas, which we only found out this morning. We are able to apply for waivers, but that will take six months and we are hoping no one in the band will have died of old age by then."

"The band are wetting themselves with excitement, but then they are always wetting themselves," adds Muttley. "Have been for years. The van smells like on old peoples' home. Which is exactly what it is."

The Macc Lads play the Buckley Tivoli on Saturday, May 11. Doors: 7pm. Over 18s only. Tickets: seetickets.com or themacclads.co.uk