The Wonder Stuff to play at the Newcastle Boiler Shop

“There are cities in our country that are always an absolute joy to play,” says the charismatic frontman. “And Newcastle is one of those places.”

Ahead of performing at Newcastle Boiler Shop on Sunday (July 23) Hunt was fondly recalling an anecdote from the first time the indie rockers played in the city.

It was December 1987 and The Stuffies – as they’re affectionately known – were supporting Big Country at the much-missed Mayfair ballroom concert hall.

Only they were without their bass player – the late Rob Jones, who had been meeting a friend the night before the gig and was nowhere to be found when the Midlands band were preparing to travel to the North-East.

He still hadn’t shown up the next day – and his bandmates were beginning to think they wouldn’t be able to go on.

“He arrived probably five minutes before we were due to go on stage to an absolutely packed out house," recalls Hunt.

“The members of the band were absolutely fraught and furious – he left it so late that there wasn’t even time to shout at him, we were so angry and frustrated.

“We got on stage in front of probably 1,500 people – and they just went berserk. It was the first time we’d ever seen an audience in front of us become a sea of people, jumping up and down together.”

Hunt says he momentarily suspected the audience thought they were watching the headline act.

“But absolutely they didn’t,” he adds. “And that was my earliest memory of playing in Newcastle.”

Hunt says he’s experienced that same energy every time he’s been back to the city – and he’s anticipating the same reaction more than 35 years on at the Boiler Shop on Sunday.

This tour marks 30 years since the release of The Wonder Stuff’s fourth album, Construction For The Modern Idiot.

The band will perform the album in its entirety, plus a range of B sides, a full set of hits, classics and rarities from their extensive 37-year catalogue.

Hunt was initially reluctant to agree to a friend’s suggestion to mark the anniversary with a tour as it “wasn’t my favourite” of the band’s first four albums and his memories of it were clouded by the fact that they split up not long after its release .

“This friend phoned me when I was half way down a bottle of wine and asked me when was the last time I listened to it. It was probably about 30 years ago,” says Hunt.

“He said I should put my headphones on and listen to it. I did what he suggested – and I loved it. I thought it was a really good record.”

He got the rest of the band on board and the idea for the tour was born.

“It was a challenge,” says Hunt, especially for the newer band members, as the majority of the songs have never been performed live.

“It feels great, rather than relying on stuff that is kind of muscle memory to me ­– songs like Unbearable, Size of a Cow and Give Give Give Me More More More, which I can literally play in my sleep. It’s nice to revisit these tracks.”

But given that the whole process of creating an album takes about 18 months, he says the songs are “part of my DNA”.

“They never leave you,” he adds.

Several of those songs which are deeply ingrained have formed part of The Wonder Stuff's setlist for years - songs like A Wish Away, Caught in My Shadow, Welcome to the Cheap Seats and more, many of which will feature in Sunday's gig.

Hunt has a knack of writing catchy tunes which stick, but he has no idea how he does it - claiming " the science of songwriting" is a mystery to him.

"I never know," he says, whatever the songwriting process is.

"In the case of 'Construction' it was a record company going 'you need another album'. Other times I can be walking my dog and something can come into my head with the rhythm of the speed we're walking.

"I do know people that have done really well as songwriters who can do that to order. But I don't know how to sit down and write something that'll stick in someone's ear - it's a happy accident."

Hunt says he'll probably always write songs, but as he's got older he's finding other things to do with his life.

Last year he decided to get a job as a drayman, delivering barrels of beer to pubs for a brewery.

And he tells me an anecdote about a time he was making a delivery.

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"I loved the job, I was often singing to myself as I'm pushing the barrels.

"I delivered to this one pub in Wolverhampton and the owner of the pub goes 'you don't half look like the singer out of The Wonder Stuff'. I said 'there's a reason for that'!

"He asked me 'why on earth are you doing this job'? I said I was bored and needed something to do.

"He said 'when you turned up, you were pushing that barrel and singing. Was it one of your own songs and do you ever walk around singing your own songs'?"

But Hunt adds: "The idea appalled me. I would never walk around singing my own songs, or drive around listening to my own records."

Happy to let others do the listening, Hunt is raring to go ahead of Sunday's gig, relishing the prospect of seeing the Newcastle fans reacting the the same way as they did on The Wonder Stuff's memorable first appearance in the city.

• The Wonder Stuff will be at the Boiler Shop, on South Street, Newcastle, on Sunday, July 23. Visit www.gigantic.com/the-wonder-stuff-tickets for tickets.