The Damned

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This article is about the music group. For the movie, see The Damned (film).
The Damned

Origin England London, England
Years active 1976 -
Genres Punk rock
Gothic rock
Members Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Monty Oxy Moron, Pinch, Stu West.

The Damned are a punk and gothic rock band formed in London, England in 1976.

They were the first British punk band to release a single (New Rose), put out an album (Damned, Damned, Damned), and tour the United States. The Damned are generally regarded as one of the founders of gothic rock, and their earlier music (roughly 1979 to 1984) was an influence on the hardcore punk sound of the United States. They have incorporated many different styles into their music and image, most notably from garage rock, psychedelic rock, the theatrical rock of Screaming Lord Sutch and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, and the New Romantic genre.

The Damned have dissolved and reformed many times, with singer Dave Vanian as the sole constant member. However, the lineups have always included either guitarist Captain Sensible or drummer Rat Scabies (or both).

Contents

[edit] Pre-formation

Original Damned members Dave Vanian (David Lett), Captain Sensible (Raymond Burns), and Rat Scabies (Chris Millar) had been members of the Masters of the Backside, which included future Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde.

Original Damned guitarist Brian James (Brian Robertson) had been a member of the punk band London SS, a unit that never played live, but included members who later found fame in The Clash and Generation X. Rat Scabies tried out as drummer for London SS, but was rejected.

[edit] Mid-1970s early punk phase

Cover of the band's debut single, "New Rose"
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Cover of the band's debut single, "New Rose"

The Damned played their first gig on July 6, 1976, supporting the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club. They were the first of the London punk bands to release a single on the independent record label Stiff Records.

That single, "New Rose", was described by critic Ned Raggett as a "deathless anthem of nuclear-strength romantic angst." [1] Vanian's deadpan intro — "Is she really going out with him?", was borrowed from The Shangri-Las' 1964 "Leader of the Pack." The B-side of "New Rose" was a warp-speed version of The Beatles's "Help!".

Cover of the band's debut album, Damned Damned Damned
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Cover of the band's debut album, Damned Damned Damned

Their first album, Damned, Damned, Damned featured "I Feel Alright", a stomping adaptation of The Stooges' "1970". Scabies' powerful, Keith Moon-style drumming is prominent throughout. It was the first album released by a British punk band, and it included several minor hits. After the band's initial stint with Stiff, record deals followed and collapsed with labels such as Chiswick, Bronze, and Big Beat with striking regularity.

In March 1977, The Damned opened for Marc Bolan and T. Rex on Bolan's final tour. The Damned then recruited a second guitarist, Lu Edmunds; a move inspired in part by the dual guitar sound of MC5, and possibly engineered by Brian James in order to keep Captain Sensible on bass, where he wouldn't overshadow James.

This expanded line-up unsuccessully tried to recruit the reclusive Syd Barrett to produce their second album Music For Pleasure. They settled for Barrett's Pink Floyd bandmate, Nick Mason, who they reported was generally uninterested in the task. The album featured an appearance by free jazz saxophone player Lol Coxhill. Music for Pleasure flopped critically and commercially, drawing comments that it sounded just like the first album, only toned-down and without memorable tunes.

[edit] Late 1970s

James, until then the band's main songwriter, quit in 1978 (later co-founding The Lords of the New Church). The band splintered, and a series of brief side projects and solo recordings were released, making little commercial impact. The Damned soon tentatively reformed, blaming James for its decline and split; performing at first as The Dimmed and The Doomed to avoid potential trademark problems.

Sensible had switched to guitar and keyboards. After a brief period with Lemmy Kilmister of Hawkwind and Motörhead on bass for studio demos, the position was filled by Algy Ward, formerly of The Saints. The band recorded more demos, gained a deal with Chiswick Records, and went back to the studio to record another album.

Cover of Machine Gun Etiquette
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Cover of Machine Gun Etiquette

They released a series of singles leading up to 1979's Machine Gun Etiquette, a diverse and polished album featuring a 1960s rock slant (Farfisa organ is in effect in several songs). The heavier songs have an even more manic delivery than on "New Rose". Sensible had become the band's main songwriter, and he played keyboards on the album in addition to lead guitar.

With the arrival of Ward — a real bass player — the band was operating with a full, tight rhythm section. Vanian's vocals had expanded from the high-baritone barks of the early records to a smooth, proto-Gothic crooning style. The Damned had carved out a niche; a dark, melodic style that was sometimes fast and loud, and other times relaxed with dominant keyboards.

The Damned had been recording at Essex Studios at the same time The Clash were there to record London Calling. Joe Strummer and Mick Jones made an uncredited vocal appearance on the title track of The Damned album.

Although their records were only sporadically availabile in the United States, The Damned had a sizable cult following in that country. Beginning with their 1977 US tour, they inspired many later bands in New York City and Los Angeles. The fast tempos of many of The Damned's harder-edged songs from the period between Machine Gun Etiquette and Strawberries (including "Ignite", "There Ain't No Sanity Clause", and "Therapy") influenced bands who played what would later be called hardcore punk. "Therapy" opened with a faster rewrite of the opening bassline of Machine Gun Etiquette's "Love Song".

A single of was released later, with a version of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" with a new Damned song, "Rabid", on the B-side. This single was only released in mainland Europe.

[edit] 1980s Goth phase

From nearly the beginning of The Damned, Vanian had a vampire-like appearance onstage, with chalk-white makeup and formal dress. With The Black Album, the band turned into a proto-goth ensemble. They emphasized Vanian's role over Sensible's clownish persona, and the rhythm section somewhat modified their characteristic punk image. Ward had left at this point, and was replaced by Paul Gray, formerly of Eddie and the Hot Rods. Their music remained mostly super-heavy, speed rock, but with increasing use of silence; more acoustic guitar and keyboards; and a rising, dark New Romantic ambience.

The band released the album Strawberries (featuring new full-time keyboardist Roman Jugg) in 1982, and a series of non-LP singles released without a record deal in 1983 and 1984. Sensible played a last gig with the band at Brockwell Park (from which a bootleg was issued, called Captain's Last Stand), before he left to pursue a solo career. Jugg took over the guitar slot.

The next album was a one-off side project, a soundtrack to an imaginary 1960s movie called Give Daddy the Knife, Cindy. This limited run album of 1960s cover songs had the band billed as "Naz Nomad and the Nightmares". As Ned Raggett writes, "Dave Vanian becomes Mr. Nomad, while Roman Jugg turns into Sphinx Svenson, and Rat Scabies into Nick Detroit."[1]

With Sensible gone, Vanian's Gothic influence took over unimpeded, and Raggett insists that "Vanian's smart crooning and spooky theatricality ended up more or less founding goth rock inadvertently (with nearly all his clones forgetting what he always kept around -- an open sense of humor)."[2]

The band signed a contract with MCA, and the successful Phantasmagoria album followed. Phantasmagoria's official follow-up, Anything (1986), was another critical and commercial flop, which ended the band's record deal and original run. However, the non-album single "Eloise" became a UK hit and in the US, MCA included a Damned track (In Dulce Decorum) on the original soundtrack release of Miami Vice II (1987).

1984 appearance on The Young Ones.
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1984 appearance on The Young Ones.

[edit] Recent years

James rejoined temporarily for a few live appearances, some of which appear on 1988's Final Damnation.

The Damned name was afforded notable homage during the 1990s, when two popular groups each covered a Damned song: Guns N' Roses recorded "New Rose" for their The Spaghetti Incident? (1993), while The Offspring put their spin on "Smash It Up" for the Batman Forever soundtrack (1995). Both cover versions would enjoy major label distribution and create more exposure to the Damned sound, sometimes to a younger audience unfamiliar with the group.

In 1993 a new line up of The Damned appeared featuring Scabies, Vanian, guitarists Kris Dollimore, and Alan Lee Shaw, and bassist Moose Harris in 1995. They toured reguarly for about two years the release of a new full-length album, Not of This Earth. Promoted with a series of long tours prior to its release, by the time the album finally saw the light of day The Damned had yet again split, partly as the result of legal battles: Vanian and Sensible accused Scabies of releasing Not of This Earth without proper authorization.

In 1996, Sensible rejoined Vanian and yet another formation of The Damned appeared. This initially featured bassist Paul Gray, who was later replaced by Patricia Morrison, previously of The Bags, The Gun Club, and The Sisters of Mercy. In 2001, the band released the critically acclaimed Grave Disorder and this has been followed by constant touring. Morrison has since taken on motherhood as a full time profession and has been replaced by ex-English Dog Stu West. The current Damned line-up continue to tour on a regular basis. They recently held a mini-tour around Tokyo, Japan in mid-2005, playing mostly small venues (between 500-1000 people); these were always sold out well in advance.

Patricia Morrison married Dave Vanian and they have a daughter, Emily, born on February 9, 2004.

Captain Sensible wrote and performed a song called "Brain's Theme" for the movie Skinned Deep in 2004.

As of 2006, The Damned are currently working on their new studio album, have released the new single "Little Miss Disaster", and also the live DVD MGE25 documenting a 2004 Manchester concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of Machine Gun Etiquette.

In 2006 The Damned's hit song "Smash It Up" appeared in the console based game, Driver: Parallel Lines.

On October 21 2006, BBC Radio 2 broadcast an hour long documentary entitled "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" concerning the recording of the Damned's first single "New Rose" and the group's place in the 1976 London punk rock scene. Featuring interviews with Brian James, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies, Glen Matlock, Don Letts and Chrissie Hynde the program gave some new insights into the bands and personalities around the scene, particularly the ill-fated Anarchy in the U.K. tour.

Another tour in mid November 2006 played clubs in California and included one date in Las Vegas.

[edit] Discography

This is a discography of The Damned's studio albums. See The Damned discography for details about other albums, compilations and singles.

[edit] Members

[edit] Current

[edit] Other members

[edit] Collaborators

[edit] References

  1. ^ Raggett, Ned. Give Daddy the Knife Cindy. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2006-09-10.

[edit] External links

The Damned
Dave Vanian | Captain Sensible | Patricia Morrison | Monty Oxy Moron | Pinch
Former members: Brian James | Rat Scabies | Lu Edmunds | Algy Ward | Paul Gray | Roman Jugg | Bryn Merrick | Kris Dollimore | Allan Lee Shaw | Moose
The Damned discography
Studio albums: Damned, Damned, Damned | Music for Pleasure | Machine Gun Etiquette | The Black Album | Strawberries | Phantasmagoria | Anything | Not of This Earth | Grave Disorder
Live albums: Live Shepperton 80 | Live at Newcastle | Not The Captain's Birthday Party? | Mindless Directionless Energy | Final Damnation | The Damned Live | Ballroom Blitz - Live at the Lyceum | The School Bullies | Fiendish Shadows | Eternal Damnation Live | Molten Lager
Related articles
Masters of the Backside | London SS | The Lords of the New Church | David Vanian And The Phantom Chords | Punk Floyd
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