John O’Neill is well known for being the Undertones’ guitarist and principal songwriter. He is less known for his work with The Divine Comedy as the producer of Fanfare For The Comic Muse in 1990.

At the time he was mainly implied in his band That Petrol Emotion, but was also playing for another Northern Irish band called Rare who released a single entitled Set Me On Fire on Setanta Records (1990). That link with the record company may explain why he was asked to produce some records for the label such as Fanfare... or The Power Of Dreams’ A Little Piece Of God.

Aside from Rare, John O’Neill was also involved in the early 90’s in the North West Musicians Collective (which became later the Nerve Centre). The collective helped bands to play in Derry, including The Divine Comedy.