Reproduced from The Mirror 15 October, 1999

Now The Piranhas smash hit has been resurrected as a football chant and the band is planning to reform. They might be approaching middle-age, but the five original members hope to record their famous song Tom Hark with a new set of lyrics.

It reached number six in the charts in August 1980 and was recently featured by DJ Chris Evans as background music for his TV show, TFI Friday.

But what has really pushed The Piranhas back into the limelight is the fact that fans of top clubs such as Newcastle United and Manchester City have adopted the song an unofficial anthem. And earlier this season, it became the song that resounds around Highbury every time Arsenal's new striker Thierry Henry runs on to the pitch.

"We never dreamt it would be immortalised in this way," says lead singer, Bob Grover, now 42. "It's really flattering that so many soccer fans have taken it to their hearts. When I first heard Tom Hark being sung on the terraces, it brought tears to my eyes.

"It fits all the criteria for a football chant - simple, easy to pitch, and very catchy. Once it's in your head, it's impossible to get rid of it. "I've caught people humming it all over the place, but the younger ones probably don't know where it's from.

"Now seems like the obvious opportunity to re-release the song.

We might do different versions for different clubs. I can see it going straight to Number One." The Piranhas were not the first band to have a hit with the song.

It was originally recorded in 1953 by a group calledElias And His Zig Zag Jive Flutes and is based on "Kwela", the traditional South African folk music.

The Piranhas' saxophonist Phil Collis, alias Zoot Alors, discovered the song in his mum's record collection and persuaded the band to do a version. Bob wrote the lyrics as the group travelled in the back of a van from their hometown of Brighton to a recording studio in London.

"The original was an instrumental so we brought it up to date with some lyrics," says Bob. "I could say the words were deep and meaningful, but they don't really mean much. I scribbled them on an envelope in about an hour."

Pop impresario Pete Waterman was executive producer on the single which was regularly played by Radio One DJ John Peel. Eventually, it sold 325,000 copies and reached number six in the charts in August 1980.

"After years of slumming it, there I was on Top of the Pops, wearing a chicken suit of all things," recalls drummer Dick Adland, 37, alias Dick Slexia.

"It was a surreal experience."

But The Piranhas' success ended almost as soon as it started, although they toured with The Pretenders, The Jam and Bad Manners. They were involved in an horrific road crash, in which their road manager died, and spent 16 weeks away from the circuit.

"Creative differences" forced them to split in 1981, although Bob Grover kept the name and had a hit a year later with the Pete Waterman-produced single, Zambezi. "The last time the five of us were even in the same room was at our final gig," says guitarist and singer John Helmer, 43. "Over the last two decades, we've lost touch.

It will be great to play together again. Just like old times.

PIRANHAS' saxophonist Phil Collis, 45, a father of two, is an advertising executive living in New York. He still walks with a limp after the band's devastating road accident. He left England nine years ago after marrying his American girlfriend.

DRUMMER Dick Adland, 37 - known as Dick Slexia to his fans - lives with his girlfriend near Lewes, West Sussex, and is now a painter and decorator. He gave up music two years ago after working with other bands and also as a session man.

WILD-haired lead singer and songwriter Bob Grover, 42, is single and still lives in Brighton. He is now joint director of a computer company designing websites for the Internet. His nickname from the Piranhas days was Boring Bob.

FORMER co-lead singer and guitarist John Helmer, 43, lives in Brighton and is married with three children. Despite his full-time job as marketing manager for an Internet company, he has found time to write a novel, Mother Tongue.

BASSIST Reginald Hornsbury, 42, returned to his old trade as an electrician. Based in Swindon, he is separated with two children and still "mucks around" with his bass guitar. "The band was a slog," he says, "but there was lots of beer!"

THE PIRANHAS' ORIGINAL LYRICS TO "TOM HARK"

Does anybody know how long to World War Three?
I wanna know, I've gotta book me holidee.
They want me in the army, but I just can't go, I'm far too busy listening to the radio The whole thing's daft, I don't know why.
You have to laugh, or else you cry, You have to live or else you die.
You have to laugh or else you cry.
My friends say that we're heading for a grotty time, It's just a load of slapstick in a pantomime. We're heading for disaster, but I just don't care.
Shut your eyes and count to ten, you won't be there.

Arsenal's version

Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry! Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry!
He plays on the left, He plays on the right.
Thierry Henry! He's the new Ian Wright

Manchester City's version

United sing, We don't know why! 'Cos after the match, They're gonna die!

Newcastle United's version

We hate Sunderland!
We hate Sunderland!
We hate Sunderland!
We hate Sunderland!