Damaged Goods

Following their recent appearance at HRH NWOCR, Doomsday Outlaw returned with the release of their third studio album Damaged Goods. Like most bands, the pandemic era certainly impacted not only the band’s touring schedule, but also their release plans for the record. “We were touring abroad when the pandemic started. We were in Spain, and we had this plan of 15 gigs in a row in all the Spanish territories,” explains Alez. “At that time, COVID was pretty much in China and some cases in Italy. So, we weren’t really prepared for what would have happened. While we were in Spain, they started the lockdown. We had to go back from Spain to the UK in a rush before they closed the border. That was quite an adventure. Obviously, all the gigs were cancelled.”

As the old story goes, the band were side-lined, with touring curtailed until restrictions began to lift. “Obviously, after that, we didn’t play together for 16 months,” confirms Alez. “But we had the chance to write some new material together, even at distance. So, we had some proper creative moments, also during the lockdown. When things calmed down a little bit, we’ve been able to find ourselves in a room again, and that was quite a sensation. That’s when we released the lockdown session, which is a live session of all the new songs. An EP, which was released, I guess it was in September 2020.”

With the band’s latest offering, they’ve expanded their signature sound. “Coming into Damaged Goods, I think we made a decision that we wanted to do something bigger and wider and include more of our influences because I think we deliberately kept stuff quite focused on the other albums,” explains Indy. “A lot of stuff that me and Steve enjoyed listening to was Aerosmith and The Stones, and there was very little of that influence in the last two albums. With Damaged Goods, it’s what we love, and it’s what we like.” He adds: “Phil’s the same, he loves loads of different things. He’s a massive Chili Peppers fan, and a big blues fan. So, we made a real effort to try and incorporate all of that. So even though it’s not the first album, apart from for Alez, I think it felt like a first album because we approached it completely different in every aspect from songwriting to performance to recording. So, it felt fresh and new all the time.”

Deaf Havana) and Dave Draper (The Wildhearts) on Damaged Goods. “They were my two options. I spoke to them, and basically, their diaries were quite full,” declares Indy. “Chris had done the Wayward Sons album, and so that was why he was there. And then Dave has done loads of Wildhearts and things I’m a massive fan of. So, they were my two options. But it turned out that neither of them had space in their diary to do a whole session.” Collectively they came up with a plan. “Chris did all the recording and the producing and then Dave did some extra sessions and the mixing and mastering. I think it worked out well because it gave a fresh pair of eyes on everything. Chris was great because he’s really good at challenging what you’re doing.”

“It was great to work with both of them,” confirms Alez. “I think they both took the best out of the songs we had, in terms of sound. It’s been really great. And the first half of the work with Chris was really creative in a writing sense. I think Walking the Line, and The Little Things were born in the studio while were sound-checking and trying stuff. So, the atmosphere was great. Dave gave the mastering a push a bit more. So, I think that they were two great choices for sound.”

The album title itself is open to interpretation. “There’s a lot you can read into it. I think the funny thing is, because we came up with that fairly early on, kind of in 2019, maybe even at the end of 2018. But then the more time goes on, we have line-up changes and then COVID and everything else, the more it sounds like it’s about COVID and it’s really not,” explains Indy. “It was just about trying your best and just keep going through it.”

The band’s latest offering had originally been intended to be released pre-pandemic, but the group took the wise decision to hold off until the return of some semblance of normality. “The original plan was to come back from Spain in March 2020. There was a single out in April, and then have the album out in June in time for festivals in 2020,” explains Indy. “We got as far as releasing Runaway as a single, and then it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to tour. We knew then that this was the best thing we’d ever done, and what we didn’t want to do is just throw it out there into the void, and then not be able to support it and not be able to talk about it.” A wise move, perhaps you agree. “We didn’t want to waste that opportunity with what we know is the best thing we’ve done. And so, we took a step back, went back into hibernation, and just waited until we could start doing it properly,” said Indy.

But how did it feel returning to the stage after two years of lockdown life and an absence of live music? “The guys sometimes have fun with me because I have a little bit of pre-performance anxiety,” explains Alez. “The first day we performed together, I was literally panicking. I mean, it’s good because it’s all adrenaline. It’s all energy. But the first time we went on stage together after the pandemic was an amazing feeling; it was really great. I don’t know if I have any words that are enough to explain it. When I felt that tight sound that we have when we play together. It felt like, what did we miss during the last 18 months or so? So yeah, that was quite a moment.”

The band recently performed a string of release shows for the album. “Last week, we did three launch shows where we played the entire album from start to finish. And as I said, we are a live band. So even though we did write a couple of these in the studio, they were never intended to be unplayable,” explains Indy. “They were always supposed to be something that an audience could feed off and interact with. We’ve been playing quite a lot of it for the last couple of years. We put a few singles out last year just to keep our profile up and let people know we are still alive. But there were four songs that we hadn’t done before, which we did last week, and the whole thing went down really well.” He adds: “People were loving the songs and how they come across, the slower ones, the faster ones, the heavier ones. So, I think moving forward, we’ll have to make some decisions about what stays in the set and what gets moved in and out.”

Beyond the release of Damaged Goods, the band has irons in the fire. “The only stuff that we’ve got confirmed and announced is Love Rocks and Hard Rock Hell in November – the big main one. I’ve been talking to some people today about some interesting stuff. We’ve got some irons in the fire, but like I say, nothing is confirmed,” said Indy. “We want to be doing some festival shows and looking at some support tour-type things, getting in front of new people. I think that’s one of the things that we particularly like getting in front of people who don’t necessarily know us and winning them over. So, there’s not much out there in the wild to tell, but it’s going on behind the scenes.”

Damaged Goods by Doomsday Outlaw is out now via Republic of Music. The band will be performing at HRH 16 in Great Yarmouth. The event will take place between the 2nd and 5th of November at Camp HRH. For tickets and further information, please visit https://hardrockhell.com/.