The Commitments' Ken McCluskey talks ahead of Wolverhampton Grand Theatre appearance

Ken McCluskey featured in The Commitments, the Irish-British-American comedy drama adapted from Roddy Doyle's 1987 novel. It told the story of a young music fanatic who assembled a group of working class kids to form a soul group called The Commitments. He's been on the road ever since.

The film's 21st anniversary is being celebrated with a major tour that reaches Wolverhampton's Grand Theatre on Sunday, when McCluskey and co will line up to get audiences dancing in the aisles.

They'll be playing all the hits from the multi-million selling soundtrack albums and the Oscar Nominated, Golden Globe & BAFTA award winning film, including Mustang Sally, Chain of Fools, Take Me To The River, Try A Little Tenderness, Nowhere to Run, In The Midnight Hour and many more.

Ken played Derek Scully in the Commitments film and it feels like only yesterday.

"Isn't it amazing," he says, rhetorically. "It's a quarter of a century. I was only 25 when it happened and I'm double that now.

"I'd played in a couple of bands in Dublin and it was in the days of the 45s (vinyl singles) and we'd had a few of them in the charts. We were trying to make it. There were 8 or 9 of us in the band and we were driven and focused. I'd been playing since I was 12.

"Then basically, Alan Parker and all his crew came to Dublin and said they were going to make a movie. There were posters and it was amazing. Everyone was talking about this movie and we got a phone call. We went down, played a few songs in a small room on this tiny stage. Then we did a screen test. We sat on a chair, there was a desk in front, a casting agent on the other side and a camera and a couple of people.

"It was not much bigger than a bathroom. I did something that they liked. They called me back a few times. I did a few more screen tests then played with the session band. It was nerve-wracking, they were the best musicians in Ireland. They wanted me to be the bass player but I told them I couldn't because I didn't have a bass. I thought that would be the end of it. They said 'don't be silly, we'll buy you a bass'."

The rest, as they say, is history. The Commitments won four BAFTA Awards and became a cult hit in the USA.

McCluskey adds: "The camaraderie on the set was great. The craic was great. For me, just to just be involved in a movie and be behind the scenes was brilliant. It was like being at was university where Alan Parker – who'd made Midnight Express – was our teacher.

"All his crew were there and they were teaching us how films were made. I didn't understand how they were made I only knew how to watch them.

"When the day's work was over, everyone had a band and would be doing a gig, so we'd prop ourselves up at the bar and get on like a house on fire. I had no idea it would do well. I remember lying in bed one night wondering what would happen when it was made. I remember saying to myself it would just go straight to video, rather than be in the cinema. Little did I know." Little did he know indeed.

"The film was incredible. I remember reading sometime that within a week The Commitments soundtrack had outsold the film soundtrack to Dirty Dancing. It just outsold everything. It was huge. They couldn't keep it in the shops. It was phenomenal. The music is legendary and it will last another life time."

McCluskey got to meet some of his heroes, like Wilson Picket, who told him to keep on keepin' on. We were on the same bill as him in Finland. He told us that the movie had had a massive impact." By Andy Richardson