“They were the defining times of my life. I’m never going to be known as an art teacher – I will always be knownas that bloke in The Specials.”

So says Horace Panter, bassist with the UK ska band which is returning to the Brighton Centre tomorrow in their reformed line-up.

Panter is one of two members of the band who has committed his memories of the two years The Specials spent at the top of the charts to paper.

His book Ska’d For Life was released in 2007, when the idea of the band reforming to mark their 30th anniversary was just a pipe dream. His bandmate Neville Staple also released his memoir Original Rude Boy in 2010.

“You’ve got chalk and cheese with those books,” laughs Panter.

“The two most opposite members of the band got to write a book. I was the guy with the degree and the posh language, whereas Neville was the rude boy out of borstal.”

For his book Panter drew on his diaries from the time, as well as the wealth of press cuttings his parents had saved for him from the NME and Melody Maker. Reaction to the book has been positive – not least from band members’ children.

“Lynval Golding’s daughter Michelle and Terry Hall’s son have both come up to me separately and said that now they understand a bit more about their dads,”

says Panter.

“They had never figured out what their parents did. To get a thank you for writing it was an unexpected bonus.”

The band's initial split followed arguably their biggest hit, 1981’s Ghost Town, which soared to the top of the charts as Brixton went up in flames on the news.

The seeds of this reunion were sown when guitarist Golding was invited to perform Specials’ classic Blank Expression onstage with Lily Allen when she visited his current home town of Seattle.

When Allen played Glastonbury the following year she was joined by Lynval and Hall, the former Specials vocalist, to perform classic singles Gangsters and A Message To You Rudy.

“We realised something was going on here,” says Panter.

“It took about two or three years to get everyone in the same room at the same time.”

Sadly not everyone from the original seven-piece is still involved. Jerry Dammers, who formed the group, wrote many of their greatest songs and cofounded the band’s independent Two-Tone label, left early on during the reunion talks.

“He brought so much pleasure and joy to so many people with this group,” says Panter.

“It’s really sad that he’s not involved – but in this business you never say never.”

With their combination of the punk aesthetic and their love of reggae and ska, Panter believes The Specials were in the right place at the right time when it came to their explosion of success. Their look, which drew on the former mod gear filling the charity shops at the time, also played a part, with the band still looking cool on the cover of their eponymous debut even now.

“They were explosive tunes that spoke about how things were going culturally in Britain,” he says of the band’s first album.

“And they were great to dance to.”

Things got much darker with the More Specials album, which Panter admits it took him ten to 15 years to listen to again after the split.

“It was a reflection of what was going on in the band as much as anything else,” he says.

“We’d burnt ourselves out over 18 months to two years. There was such a lot of stress and we didn’t take a break. That Ghost Town was recorded was a triumph of will.”

This tour will see them return to some of the later songs, as well as the crowd-pleasing first album cuts, with a three-piece string section added to the musical palette.

“It may be a little difficult for some of the hardcore fans to take but it keeps us on our toes,” admits Panter.

“We are playing these songs better than ever.”

The proof of this will be heard long after the night is over, as fans are being offered the chance to buy a live recording of each show on the tour.

As for the future of the band, Panter wouldn’t be drawn on rumours of possible future recording sessions.

“We’re talking about it but I can neither confirm nor deny it,” he says.

“We’re finishing our tour on November 3 at the Alexandra Palace. After that we’ll sit down and consider what our options are.”

* Doors 6.30pm, tickets £36, 0844 8471515