Eyes, recorded in the late 1970s when the group performed as Gentry, is to be released for the first time. It will feature on Everything Is Now – Vol 1: 1978-1982, a box set of the band’s early recordings due to be issued on 12 September. The track will be available on streaming services on Friday.

Gary Kemp said: “Eyes, which we demoed at Halligan’s, was one of the early songs that I wrote with the synthesiser. It’s kind of Gothic post-punk. It suits what was going on at the time with Joy Division, Siouxsie and Magazine. We liked the dirty garage quality of that period. We had all been brought up on guitar riffs and now we could riff in a way that was very monophonic and grainy that had a very modern but retro sound. I would write on the synth and on an upright piano in our hallway at home. Producer Richard Burgess didn’t think Eyes was right for the album. I like it, but it went by the wayside.”

Eyes was recorded in the late 1970s at Halligan’s rehearsal studio, the location where journalist Robert Elms gave them the name Spandau Ballet, and the song features on the Demos disc of the box set. The release comes as the band are due to appear in Blitz: The Club That Shaped The 80s exhibition at London’s Design Museum opening on 20 September, which they will soundtrack. Spandau Ballet is made up of Gary and Martin Kemp, Tony Hadley, Steve Norman and John Keeble, and they are best known for the UK number one single True, and for the accompanying chart-topping album of the same name.