The Damned

Event information

33 years on, and the rush of witnessing a Damned live show is still comparable to that first buzz of energy released at some long forgotten sweat box of youth. A series of inspired, ambitious albums and amazing live shows combining full-on rock energy, stylish sense of performance, and humorous deadpan cool are not necessarily what anyone would have thought when Ray Burns and Chris Millar met in 1974 when both ended up working backstage at the Croydon Fairfield Hall.

Burns and Millar — more famously known in later years as guitarist/singer Captain Sensible and manic drummer Rat Scabies — kept in touch as both struggled in the stultifying mid-'70s London scene. Things picked up when Scabies talked his way into a rehearsal with London SS, the shifting lineup ground zero of U.K. punk that nearly everybody seemed to belong to at one point or another. There he met guitarist Brian James, while in a separate venture overseen by Malcolm McLaren, casting about for his own particular group to oversee, Scabies first met theatrical singer Dave Vanian, still working through his New York Dolls/Alice Cooper obsession. Vanian's own history allegedly included singing "I Love the Dead" and "Dead Babies" while working as a gravedigger, but whatever the background, he proved to be a perfect frontman. Scabies put Sensible in touch with Vanian and James and the Damned were born, with Sensible switching over to bass while James handled guitar and songwriting.

Though the Sex Pistols became the most publicized of all the original London punk groups, forming and playing before everyone else, the Damned actually ended up scoring most of the firsts on its own, notably the first U.K. punk single — "New Rose" — in 1976 and the first album, Damned Damned Damned, the following year. Produced by Nick Lowe, both were clipped, direct explosions of sheer energy, sometimes rude but never less than entertaining. The group ended up sacked from the Pistols' cancellation-plagued full U.K. tour after only one show, but rebounded with a opening slot on the final T. Rex tour, while further tweaking everyone else's noses by being the first U.K. act to take punk back to America via a New York jaunt. Things started to get fairly shaky after that, however, with Lu Edmonds drafted in on second guitar and plans for the group's second album, Music for Pleasure, not succeeding as hoped for. The members wanted legendary rock burnout Syd Barrett to produce, but had to settle for his Pink Floyd bandmate Nick Mason. The indifferent results and other pressures convinced Scabies to call it a day, and while future Culture Club drummer Jon Moss was drafted in to cover, the group wrapped it up in early 1978.

So, 500 shows on from Grave Disorder, and just to prove their doggedness and belief in their own relevance, the band that many wrote off 2 years after inception, have recorded yet another classic collection of tunes entitled " So, Who's Paranoid? " and are stepping out on yet another exhaustive world tour to back it up. From the jangly garage punk opener of A nation fit for heroes to the lush psychedelic tones of album closer Dark Asteroid, the Damned have come up with 13 more reasons, after 32 years, that their trademark brand of dark melodic irony, blended with caustic political satire are more relevant now than ever.

"So, Who's Paranoid?" Certainly not The Damned, who have conjured up yet another collection of genre-defying anthems that sit effortlessly alongside their classic albums, their first since 2001's critically-acclaimed 'Grave Disorder' album. From the catchy, jangly garage rock opener of "A Nation Fit For Heroes" to the lushly psychedelic closing track "Dark Asteroid", The Damned masterfully affirms their legendary status. Thirty-two years on the heart of The Damned that is David Vanian and Captain Sensible beats stronger than ever, proving with "So, Who's Paranoid?" that their trademark dark, melodic beauty, tinged with jagged satire is truly timeless and very much intact. They might be a band with an incredible past but The Damned are very much here and now.