THE DAMNED
The ’76-era line up of Scabies, James, Sensible and Vanian are back! But how?
They said they’d never re-form. And now, the UK punk trailblazers have announced dates for summer 2021. We report from their Roundhouse press conference, and get the skinny from Captain Sensible and his Sensible Gray Cells.
NEW ROSE BY The Damned – AKA the first British punk 45 – was released on October 22, 1976. Almost 44 years later to the day, on October 21, London’s Roundhouse played host to a socially distanced press conference to announce the reformation of the original group for a UK tour in July 2021.
Hosted by Don Letts, the matter-of-fact event belied its unexpected nature. Such were the historic business and personal differences within the ranks that bassist/guitarist Captain Sensible once quipped in MOJO that if the primal quartet of himself, guitarist/songwriter Brian James, drummer Rat Scabies and frontman Dave Vanian should ever again be in the same room, not all might emerge alive.
Yet today all was cordiality. They’d be playing “the early stuff that we all played together,” James confirmed. “It’s probably the worst time to get a band back together, but here we are,” said Vanian. “I owe my whole career to Brian, in a way, and Rat, for pulling me into the band in the first place.” “I’ve enough regrets in my life,” said Rat. “This is one I’m really pleased I’m not going to have.” Of the creative tension that saw them first split in 1978 after second album Music For Pleasure, the drummer added, “That was why the band worked… we all thought we were the best one and there was always competition.”
Captain Sensible, the self-professed “optimistic side of The Damned”, is in buoyant mood when speaking to MOJO two days later. This month his band Sensible Gray Cells – which includes current Damned bassist Paul Gray and Johnny Moped drummer Marty Love – release their second album, Get Back Into The World. Driven, variously, by their love of classic pop and ’60s garage psychedelia, Captain declares the material, “too melodic for The Damned. Some of the songs are insanely catchy. And it’s a concept album!” Subjects include Trump, matrimony, Prince Andrew and, on Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn Ya, certain health concerns of the mature punk rocker. Does this apply to The Damned?
“It’s a band that exploded with all the energy of punk rock, and the next thing, it’s 44 years on,” he reflects. “There’s regret that you’re not young any more, ’cos those days were bloody magnificent, even if all the hilarious booze-fuelled camaraderie and the rest of it have taken their toll on our festering carcasses.
“Now is pretty much the time,” he adds, “regardless of any viruses or anything, because the four of us are still alive. It’s not just because the fans are always on at us, it’s for ourselves as well. I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys, despite any disagreements we’ve had. No one else plays like them. You’ll know a Rat Scabies drum track. Brian James is the greatest guitar player of his generation. So it’s pretty exciting for me – I wanna hear the noise we make through a big PA, and hear those songs the way they should be played. I’ve been doing cover versions of that material for years! Brian knows how the guitars should go.”
He says in-band peace has been maintained by avoiding, “any unpleasantness – we’re old now and it was all years ago. And it’s not going to take a vast amount of rehearsing, is it?” He adds that new recordings have not been discussed and the reunion will be a one-time thing. “I know the ticket prices are quite high and people have complained, and I’ve resisted the temptation to remind them that Elton and the Stones go out for much more than that… I mean, if Elton John’s worth fucking 80 quid a ticket, so are we! We’re better than that cunt anyway!”
“It’s not going to take a vast amount of rehearsing, is it?”
CAPTAIN SENSIBLE
The Damned play London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester in July 2021. Sensible Gray Cells’ Get Back Into The World is released by Damaged Goods.