Naming your band Dodgy while under the influence of psychedelic fungi might not have been the wisest of moves, but for a few years in the mid-‘90s it worked.

They had dyed blonde hair, cheeky charm and two big hits of the Britpop era, Staying Out for the Summer and Good Enough.

Inevitably this trio had to grow up, which resulted in lead singer Nigel Clark leaving in 1998 to pursue a solo career, a slightly resentful Andy Miller and Mathew Priest unable to find a successful replacement, and the band’s star eventually waning.

But with the current thirst for mid-’90s nostalgia, they’re back to try and prove they’re still ’good enough’ for a second crack of the whip.

Comeback album Stand Upright In A Cool Place only went to number 76 in the charts last year, so didn’t exactly set the world on fire.

But when I speak to drummer Mathew about their upcoming St Albans gig he tells me they are having “as much fun as they ever did“ and will be back in the studio next year, having just signed a new deal with Cherry Red Records.

“Nige (who lives in the Malverns) has got grown-up kids and I have got a teenager, but Andy (who lives in Hackney) is still pretty crazy and still staying up ‘til the early hours and living the dream,“ says Mathew.

Proving it’s not all about sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll any more, they’ve just released a single Christmas At the Food Bank to raise money for The Trussell Trust, which runs food banks across the UK and is planning to open one in St Albans.

“I think it’s touched a few people, “ says Mathew. “So many people rely on them, three times as many this year as last Christmas.

“I think people are a little bit sick of the commercialism of Christmas and fed up of adverts, and this competition to see who can make the best advert, it’s not right.

“All the money we would have got will go to the trust. Unfortunately iTunes haven’t given their bit. We asked but funnily enough never heard back. “But the message is buy Dodgy’s Christmas song and it will make you feel good.“ So what brought them back together after all this time?

“The catalyst was our lighting man Andy Moore, who we adored, was dying from a brain tumour and was having a testimonial to raise money for his girls. He got us in a room and banged our heads together and said ’What are you f***ing doing?’ “There’s nothing like your best mate dying in front of you to make you realise what life is about, so we said ’Let’s do it’.

“He died on the first day of rehearsals of us getting back together, so it was bittersweet.“ So have there been any arguments or tearful apologies about the split?

“It wasn’t a case of ’right let’s sort this out’.

“I think we all realised we were being a bit silly. Nigel said ’Oh I made a bit of a mistake there, and that broke the ice, but I wasn’t looking for an apology because it wasn’t his fault.

“That’s the great thing about getting older, you get wiser and respect each other.“ But no matter how grown up they are now they’re still stuck with that very ‘90s name aren’t they?

“Yeah we came up with it when we were under the influence,“ says Mathew, “and thought it was a really really funny idea and then the next day no one had the nerve to say it was a really s**t idea.

“It’s an awful name really and I wish we could change it, but we can’t, we are stuck with it.“ What would he choose now then?

“The Well Hung Studmuffins,“ he laughs.

So is the music the same or can the St Albans audience expect to hear something new I ask the dad-of-one?

“If we weren’t creating new stuff I can’t really see us getting together that much.

“There’s nothing worse than when you see a band and they have dyed their hair and are wearing the same clothes they did in their 20s and are playing songs they think the fans want to hear.

“We just said ’this is us now in our 40s having gone through hard times, but getting on with it’.

“We have got the legendary second bite of the cherry and it’s very sweet.“

You can download Christmas At the Food Bank at dodgyology.com/shop

The Horn, Victoria Street, St Albans, January 16, 2014. Details: 01727 853143, thehorn.co.uk