The Damned: Still Around and as Furious as Ever

The Damned released the first punk rock single in the UK, the first punk rock LP, and were the first English punk band to make it to the States, where they first played at CBGB's and then burst upon an unsuspecting Los Angeles. The Damned were first; they were important, and influential -- but then they fought through a series of lineup changes, fought a music industry that seized on The Clash and The Sex pistols as if The Damned were just an afterthought...but mostly they fought amongst themselves. Yet, they're still around, and a new documentary, The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead, follows up with Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies, David Vanian and the rest. Director Wes Orshoski joins us in the studio to talk about these true punk originals.  

Interview Highlights

Orshosk on The Damned’s claims of being the ‘first real punk band’:

The Clash has always been my favorite band and in a lot of ways The Damned are kind of the most punk of all those bands in that they really did not care what they looked like. Captain Sensible used to dress up in a nurses uniform or tutu, David Vanian used to dress up as a vampire. Musically they dressed up however the felt, they weren't constrained by the “three chord formula” as Sensible calls it.

Orshosk on the tension between Captain and Rat: 

There’s all this bickering about money but a big part of the war between Captain and Rat has to deal with time. As we all grow older, we grow apart from people and just the space between us becomes a part of the weirdness. It's hard to talk to people and you forget sometimes exactly what you’re mad at.

Orshosk on the million dollar record deal The Damned never saw:

Rat is still very friendly with Jake Riviera, who is one of the co-heads of Stiff Records, and he’s remained friends with him all these years. Jake retired and he’s been cleaning out his office and they found a letter from EMI Records promising The Damned over four years, a major label worth around a million pounds now. And the band never even saw it, they never saw that offer. In 1977 right when they got off the plane, CBS offered them a million dollar deal they said no to it -- CBS would go on to sign The Clash. They said no out of some weird allegiance to a company, this punk company who would just drop them in a year. The reason I bring that up is that if they took that offer, there’s no question that The Damned wouldn’t exist right now, or one of them would be dead if they had that money then. Because what made the Machine Gun Etiquette record so great is their hunger and need to prove themselves again -- to resurrect themselves. Such a big part of the story is that they didn’t get the money.

See The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were Dead in Yonkers, New York at the Alamo Drafthouse August 30. For a complete list of screenings visit their website.