The Damned

WISHING YOU A DAMNED

FINE 2021!

Interview by Martin Hutchinson Photography by Jill Furmanovsky (unless stated).

Punk pioneers The Damned’s original line-up has reunited for a UK tour in 2021. The founding members Dave Vanian, Rat Scabies, Captain Sensible and Brian James will play five shows next July ... assuming this ‘damned’ pandemic has slung its hook.

The greatest surviving British punk band The Damned formed in 1976, releasing the first ever UK punk single ‘New Rose’ on 22nd October of that year. Considered one of the greatest songs from this period, The Damned’s ‘New Rose’ brought focus on the burgeoning punk scene before any other group. On their upcoming tour in 2021 they will celebrate the iconic single’s 45th anniversary, as well as perform tracks from the first two albums, B-sides and covers that the original line-up played.

The band has an illustrious and extensive history, beginning in 1976 with the aforementioned ‘New Rose’ and with the release of their debut album ‘Damned Damned Damned’ in February of the following year. Produced by Nick Lowe (Elvis Costello, Graham Parker), it was the first full-length album released by a British punk band and included their now most-streamed song, ‘Neat Neat Neat’, currently on 18.2 million plays.

After releasing ‘New Rose’ and its B-side, a sped-up cover of The Beatles’ ‘Help!’, The Damned were asked by the Sex Pistols to be an opening act on the ‘Anarchy Tour of the UK’ in 1976. Alongside The Clash and Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers too, the band hit the road, but most of the dates were cancelled by organisers or local authorities, making it one of the most infamous tours in rock ‘n’ roll history.

Shortly after the release of ‘Damned Damned Damned’, The Damned went on to support T.Rex on what would be their final tour before Marc Bolan’s tragic passing later that year. Bolan was famously a big fan of the group and invited them on tour himself. Soon after the T.Rex shows, Dave, Brian, Rat and The Cap became the first UK punk band to tour the United States and play the renowned venue CBGB. Their spectacular performance at CBGB fully inaugurated the punk scene in America, sparking a revolution for many who attended that memorable first show Stateside.

Original guitarist and main songwriter Brian James left The Damned at the end of 1977 and the band split for the first time in February 1978. When they reformed (initially as The Doomed) in early 1979, he declined to rejoin his former bandmates. Captain Sensible switched from bass to guitar and keyboards, but also left in 1984, after his solo career took off. He rejoined between 1988 and 1992 and again in 1996, remaining in the line-up to the present day.

The Damned in 1977. L/R: Brian James; Dave Vanian; Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies

In the eighties, The Damned changed course and their new Goth image spawned a number of hit singles such as ‘Grimly Fiendish’ (‘Phantasmagoria’, 1985) and covers of Barry Ryan’s ‘Eloise’ (1986) and Love’s ‘Alone Again Or’ (‘Anything’, 1986). More recently, they have toured and recorded extensively with the line-up of Dave Vanian on vocals; Captain Sensible on guitar; Pinch on drums, Monty Oxymoron on keyboards and Paul Gray, initially a member of the band between 1980 and 1983, on bass.

Their last studio album, 2018’s ‘Evil Spirits’ was produced by the legendary Tony Visconti (T.Rex, David Bowie) and just last year, they returned to Rockfield Studios in Wales to record a four-track EP. Entitled ‘The Rockfield Files’, it features the track ‘Black is the Night’, which is included on the two-CD anthology of the same name released in 2019.

Now, after over four decades of The Damned and after many different line-ups, multiple albums and nine Top 40 Singles, the original band are back together for one tour only. I recently caught up with Captain Sensible and the returning Brian James to ask them about this much-anticipated tour and how they have been coping with the restrictions due to COVID-19.

The Captain, his usual outspoken self, tells me, “I’m just a daft guitarist

not a politician. [I] want nothing to do with COVID discussions ... the rights and wrongs of any of it. Since March I’ve been in the same boat as everyone else. Our amazing London Palladium show, over a year ago now, with its extravagant stage design and additional circus of horror characters was the Damned’s last performance; it may have taken a couple of antics, but we could’ve toured that stage set for sure. Sadly the live arts have been destroyed by government restrictions. Do they care? It sure don’t look like it.”

Brian, on the other hand, is a little more reserved and a little more positive:

The sleeve of ‘New Rose’, the first ever UK punk single, released 22nd October 1976

“I’ve had to cancel some gigs, there’s been no live work either with The Damned or my own band, The Brian James Gang, and I was involved with trying to resurrect The Lords of the New Age. Luckily though, I live just outside Brighton, just five minutes from the sea, so can go for walks and have got my family here. I’m doing some writing [more about which later] which is keeping me busy. Hopefully the vaccines will work and I’ll be able to get back into the studio in the spring. You have to look for the positives.”

The idea of the original line-up of The Damned getting back together is one that the fans have been wishing for for years, so how did this reunion come together? Captain Sensible tells me, and also reminisces: “Well, our jobs

have gone so we’re all skint, that was a factor. But Dave pointed out that none of the original line-up are getting any younger and it would be a real shame if we hadn’t done some shows before someone kicks the bucket. They’re great players, and nobody else sounds like them. Those first two albums [‘Damned Damned Damned’ and ‘Music For Pleasure’, 1977] are the sound of 1976 for me ... the Roxy Club, the Hope and Anchor, the Red Cow, the Fulham Greyhound ... and all the other sweaty dives that punk inhabited back then, most of which have sadly disappeared to become betting shops or student accommodation. That’s progress, I suppose. They were rough old days, but blooming good fun ... sleeping on other people’s floors ... bunking the trains ... every night based around attending some gig or other, usually down the Marquee. In fact, we used to shift some market stalls in Duck Lane to create our own private parking space ... never paid a penny.”

Brian tells me that it’s been a long time coming: “Actually we bandied

the idea about four or five years ago originally, but Dave and Cap didn’t want to do it then as they didn’t want to let the other guys in the band down. Back in the day there was

always friction between Cap and Rat, but it must have been resolved as I got a call from the management earlier this year to say that everyone was keen to do it. And, ad Dave says, there might not be another chance. It’s gonna make a lot of people happy. We’ll be making a hell of a noise.”

After the breakthrough and success of the first two albums, the band split up then reformed in 1979, but without Brian: “That’s right. In ’77, Rat left

the band. Firstly, we were being worked really hard and we brought in a second guitarist in Lu Edwards. Neither Rat or Cap thought he was necessary. We got Jon Moss in on the drums [pre-Culture Club], but it wasn’t the same, although he was a great drummer. It was the energy of me and Rat that was the backbone, Jon just didn’t have the same energy. I needed the Keith Moon-like Rat to bring out my inner Pete Townshend. When the other guys reformed, I was doing other things, from Tanz Der Youth, Brian James and The Brains and then Lords of the New Church.”

Coming back to the tour, I wondered whether it was difficult to convince Brian and Rat to take part? Cap laughs and announces, “Wasn’t me that

asked them!”

After years of playing guitar with the band, Captain Sensible has, for the upcoming tour, gone back to his original instrument, the bass. And it appears that he is quite happy about this, as he explains: “I was excited

[about playing bass again]. [I]went straight out and tried a few basses down at GAK and settled on a violin model by Epiphone as I’d toured these McCartney style basses through most of those ’77 shows. The thing about a violin bass is they are nearly all medium scale - good for a guitarist who is used to shorter necks. Hofner also do a repro model of their classic McCartney bass but it had less weight than the Epi so didn’t get the nod. Bass is fun ... Paul Gray [who joined The Damned for the first time in 1980 started his fourth stint in the band in 2017] makes his sing,

it’s very impressive stuff, so I need to have a bit of a twang to refresh myself to get anywhere near stage-worthiness ... but I’m looking forward to playing Brian’s old tunes again ... some of which are a real workout, especially for the wrists.”

He adds with a laugh, “I’m more than

happy to play bass, banjo, or bassoon for that matter, if someone pays me to.”

It appears that the rest of the ‘normal’ Damned line-up [Monty Oxymoron and Paul Gray – the band are without a drummer at the moment following the departure of Pinch last year] will have no part of this tour, but once this reunion tour is finished, it looks like it’ll be business as usual, once a new drummer is decided upon. However, Cap has been working with Paul Gray:

“That’s right. I work with Paul on the Sensible Gray Cells and we just spent the first half of 2020 making ‘Get Back Into the World’ ... when we were allowed to of course. [Laughs] He’s probably glad to have a break from my presence for a while

The newly reformed original line-up of The Damned. Photograph by Paul Harries

after all that. The lyrics reflect our amazement at what was happening with COVID and all that ... it’s all so difficult to ignore. I’d imagine there’s many bands writing about these

matters.” And Brian has seen Monty:

“Monty lives in Brighton and I see him from time to time. He’s a mental nurse as well and he tells me that he’s writing songs.”

As it’s a reunion of the original quartet, the band will be performing songs from that part of their career they were all together, as Brian tells me: “I think

we’ll be doing the first album in its entirety, plus ‘Help!’, as well as some stuff from the second album, but I’m not sure what yet. We’ll get together when we can and mess around with the songs at rehearsals.”

Cap chips in, “We’ve not rehearsed

yet. That’ll be fun. I can recall the sessions for the first album vividly. Rat and Brian both led the band tempo wise and when things occasionally went awry there was some choice Anglo-Saxon phrases

thrown around the room. My job in the band was more to glue the rest of it together. I had a lovely old Selmer valve amp and 18 inch speaker cab back in the day ... so rare I’ve never even seen one since then. Anyone who likes the first two albums is going to be in heaven here ... there’s going to be no ‘Eloise’, that’s for bloody sure!”

Looking back at the era, the pair must have some favourite songs. Brian’s answer is short and to the point:

“There are some songs that are close to my heart, such as ‘New Rose’, ‘Neat Neat Neat’ and ‘Born to Kill’”.

And Cap also lists the latter: “Oh

yeah, ‘Born to Kill’, ‘I Fall’, ‘See Her Tonite’ ... pretty explosive tracks, just a million miles away from the mid-pace of Clash and Pistols material which always used to amuse me, as punk really ought to be blistering adrenaline-fuelled mania. I remember us playing these songs so fast at gigs, the entire repertoire of material would be exhausted after three quarters of an hour and we’d

Photograph by Paul Harries

get sent back on to complete the alloted time as stated on the sodding contract which a club manager might be waving in the

air to make the point”. But he does like some of the ‘slower’ ones though:

“‘Feel the Pain’ has a different kind of intensity though ... because although slower, it creates a dark and creepy vibe. I like that one too.”

Of course, the question arises whether the band will record the shows for a possible live CD or DVD and whether the band will write and record any new music. Brian remains hopeful about the recording, as he tells me: “I think

they’ll be recorded, the reunion will be too good not to. But as regards a new album, I doubt it. But we might do some shows in the States and Japan as there’s been some interest.”

And Brian has some interesting plans for the future: “I want to finish my

Brian James Gang album and I’m halfway through writing my autobiography. I’m also putting together a ‘Rarities’ album full of unreleased songs. I’d also like to do

more Damned gigs, but resurrecting Lords of the New Age will be a priority.”

The original line-up of The Damned will be touring around the country in July 2021. “As Dave Vanian says, it’s

more a string of dates rather than a

tour”, adds Brian.

The dates are as follows, with tickets available from all the usual agencies: 09/07/21: Eventim Apollo, London 10/07/21: Eventim Apollo, London 17/07/21: 02 Academy, Glasgow 18/07/21: 02 Academy, Manchester

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