It's 34 years since Dire Straits sang about a 'love struck Romeo' and 20 years since the band, which was one of the most commercially successful ever, split up for good.

Keyboard player Alan Clarke still gets asked if they’ll reform “all the time“, but says: “It will never happen.“ It’s hard to get him to open up about his younger years and the details of how the famous rockers parted ways and he simply says: “It has allowed me to do other things.

“In 1992 I had 12 years of non-stop action. It was good to get my foot off the pedal and think about doing other things like spending time with my family.“ But, as for millions of fans worldwide, the music still has an inexplicable hold over him and he is now back performing it on stage with The Straits, albeit without most of his original bandmates.

So what does former frontman Mark Knopfler think of Alan and Dire Straits saxophonist Chris White forming the tribute band and playing hits such as Telegraph Road and Private Investigations at Alban Arena next month?

“I haven’t spoken to Mark about it especially, “ says Alan, “but I know he knows about it and that musically it’s in excellent hands.“

Many people saw the Dire Straits break-up coming, as the band struggled to cope with the super-stardom they’d achieved on the back of 1985’s multi-platinum smash, Brothers in Arms, which has sold 30 million copies worldwide.

Alan says spending three months in Montserrat making the album was a career highlight and the years that followed were like being in a “bubble“.

When it burst Mark went solo and Alan worked with greats including Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. But none of the band ever achieved the dizzy heights of Dire Straits, success again.

So does Alan have any regrets?

“How long have you got? Tell me someone who doesn’t have regrets?

“Nothing I would talk about though.“ He quickly adds: “I can’t complain. I have had some amazing moments in my career. One of the reasons I’m here is I heard Tina Turner’s River Deep and thought it was the wildest thing I had ever heard and then I ended up playing with her in ‘83 and made a record with her.

“Not long before joining Dire Straits I used to lie on the floor and listen to Bob Dylan’s Desire and a few years later I was recording with him.“ Now, aged 61, he is back on the road with The Straits, originally formed for a charity concert at the Albert Hall and deemed by Alan “too good to stop“.

The Cheshire resident says: “If someone had said to me six months before that charity show that I would be doing this I would have bet quite a lot of money I wouldn’t be.

“But once we got up there and started playing it was a lot of fun. This music is ingrained in my being now. I was involved in its creation.

“I have played it so many times that way back in 1992 I was sick of it and left thinking ‘I don’t care if I never play any Dire Straits again’.“ The grandfather-of-two says it was his timely discovery of singer Terence Reis that persuaded him a revival might be possible.

“If they had asked me a year before I would have said no because Mark Knopfler is so idiosyncratic in the way he sings and plays that I had never met anyone who could do it until I met Terence.“ The band, which also includes guitarist Adam Phillips, drummer Steve Ferrone, bassist Mickey Feat, and additional keyboard player Jamie Squire will be coming to St Albans as part of a UK tour before heading to the USA and then Russia.

Alan says: “If anything it’s more fun with this band because there’s less pressure and we just go out there and have fun.“ They’ll even be recording an album of original tracks later this year. But will it have echoes of his former glory?

“It will fit in the genre of Dire Straits I’m sure, but I have no intention of making a copy of anything we did in the past.“

Alban Arena, Civic Centre, St Albans, Sunday, February 16. Details: 01727 844488, alban-arena.co.uk