THE Damned were in the eye of the storm when punk exploded in London in ’76. Contemporaries of The Sex Pistols and The Clash, The Damned is the first of those punk upstarts to release a single ‘New Rose’ in 1976 and a debut album ‘Damned Damned Damned’ in ’77, both on Stiff Records.
When Captain Sensible (bass/guitar), Rat Scabies (drums) and Brian James (guitar) were forming a band and in need of a singer they invited Sid Vicious and Dave Vanian to audition. Only Vanian showed up and got the job and The Damned was formed.
The Damned were asked by Malcolm McLaren to tour with The Sex Pistols on the Anarchy Tour of the UK before the Pistols made their infamous appearance on ‘The Today Show’ hosted by Bill Grundy. The show that inadvertently introduced punk to conservative England and the Pistols to tabloid notoriety.
Singer with The Damned, Dave Vanian remembers why his band was booked on the tour.
“The only reason we got on that tour is because the Pistols only played to about 30 people a night. We had already been on tour and we were guaranteed to get more people in so Malcolm (McLaren) only put us on the bill to make the tour bigger. As soon as the pistols had done the Grundy show, we were not needed at all then.”
Most of that tour was cancelled by panic stricken organisers and local authorities as the story of punk moved from the music weeklies to red tops hyperbole.
The Damned announced their breakup in February 1978 only to reunite later that year and produce smart, ferocious punk singles and LPs into the ’80s. Check our ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ and ‘The Black Album’ where Vanian’s gothic influences begin to manifest among the spiky punk tunes
On a solo side project, guitarist Captain Sensible found himself gracing ‘Top of the Pops’ as a number one pop star with a version of ‘Happy Talk’ from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ‘South Pacific’ in 1982. Sensible left The Damned to pursue his solo career until rejoining in the ’90s.
Without Sensible in the band, Vanian’s gothic undertones came to the fore and the frontman’s dark theatricality and image contributed to and pioneered the emergence of goth rock.
The ‘Phantasmagoria’ album in 1985 was released on major label MCA featuring the goth classic ‘Grimly Fiendish’. A year later, the melodramatic ‘Eloise’ (a cover of a hit for Barry Ryan in the ’60s) becomes the biggest chart hit for The Damned. It made No. 4 in Ireland and top three in the UK.
Forty years on The Damned are still playing. The line ups have changed multiple times with more than 24 players coming through the ranks including Chrissie Hynde, Motorhead’s Lemmy and Jon Moss of Culture Club. The current line up is the longest playing together. Today two original members Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible are joined by Monty Oxymoron (keyboards), Pinch (drums) and Stu West (bass).
Guitarist Captain Sensible makes a strong case for checking out this band who are still a potent live force, sounding as fresh and exciting as they did way back in 1976.
“The current line up is not the longest lasting for no reason. We play the songs superbly so come along and celebrate 40 glorious years of your old mates The Damned,” advises Captain Sensible.
The band launched a successful Pledge Campaign for their new album and is already fully funded. A new record will be released in 2017.
The Damned play Dolan’s this Thursday August 25. DJ Tom Fitz will be trawling his vast collection of punk classics for the after party.
Limerick Post spoke to Professor Eoin Devereux of the University of Limerick about the cultural impact of The Damned on the UK’s fledgling punk scene in 1976.
“The significant role of The Damned in the initial emergence of Punk Rock is often underplayed by music historians who choose to focus almost exclusively on The Clash and The Sex Pistols. Far from being a cartoon punk outfit, their high octane pace of playing live gave a whole new meaning to musical anarchy. In fact, The Damned’s contribution extends well beyond punk. There are three distinct strands to their music – Punk, Goth and Psych. They are particularly important in terms of the advent of the Goth subculture.”
Professor Devereux, who is a co-founder of UL’s Popular Music and Popular Culture Research Cluster, noted that The Damned’s Limerick gig is the first of a number of gigs being held in Dolan’s marking Punk40. The venue will also see gigs by Buzzcocks and The Wedding Present later this year.
He also recalled The Damned’s November 1987 gig in Limerick’s Savoy. “Supported by The Golden Horde, The Damned played a fast and furious gig in The Savoy for Limerick punk fans,” adding that “As always, it was pure theatre. Dave Vanian’s superb singing ability was a particular highlight.”
