PAULINE Black did not mind speaking to Mono even though she was in a restaurant with a mouth full of cheese.

"Let's do it, now," she boomed in a voice that is now known in theatre land as well as ska land.

With Selecter, Pauline, pictured, has been at the forefront of ska, on and off, since 1979. In recent years she has taken to the theatre and has just finished acting in a production of Mother Courage and Her Children by Brecht, also starring Tyne Daley of Cagney and Lacy fame (the dark one).

The next Selecter album will be an acoustic rendition of the band's hits, such as Too Much Pressure and Celebrate the Bullet.

Pauline and bass player Nick are touring as Selecter Acoustic with Stiff Little Fingers, but take a night off for a knees-up in TJ's next week, a venue they are more than familiar with having played there several times.

"We just really, really like the place," said Pauline. "And it's owner, John, he's lovely guy too... he seems to like us as well. It's always good before Christmas."

Selecter is working on a triple album, In Session, which will be one CD of new material, one CD recorded live and a third recorded acoustically.

"Selecter is known for doing stuff that's pretty lively with some comment," said Pauline.

"When we wrote these songs it was roughly the time of the recent troubles. Peace Crisis, is kind of about that."

The last original studio Selecter album came out in 1998. Titled Cruel Britannia, it was a swipe at the Cool Britannia cobblers that was all the rage at the time.

Since then, Selecter release three albums of old school ska given the Selecter treatment for the label, Trojan.

* Selecter play TJ's, Newport, on Wednesday, December 12. Doors open 10pm.