Original punk rockers of real quality (The Damned in general)

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Product:	The Damned in general
Date:	10/09/01 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Intelligent and interesting, Musically astute, Real style and quality

Disadvantages: is not "punk" more goth

Of course I've heard of "The Damned" even though I'm not a punk fan. I enjoy quality music from any genre, don't like to restrict myself as there's plenty of good stuff out there.

I review music, computer games and product for Unity skate magazine, and recently they've started flowing me punk albums. I had a few through from The Ataris and "That Damned Punk : Soundtrack" that I enjoyed.

But many of these albums I received still seemed to be stuck in the shouting / bloody loud noise style of music -maybe that's what this genre is all about? I don't know enough about punk to really say, but I didn't really enjoy them.

And then The Damned's new album "Grave Disorder" arrived in the post. From the band photo they looked pretty interesting, like real (older) people rather than pick n'mix manufactured band members like you see today peering out of NME photos and "Teenage Metal" magazine. Then I recognised Captain Sensible, I remember him doing the "Talky Talk" song on Top of the Pops all those years ago.

The blurb accompanying the album gave me loads of background about this legendary band, so I loaded up the album and sat back for a listen. Immediately I was interested, very little shouting and loud noise, but lots of intersting and relevant lyrics and great use of music. Songs like "Democracy" and "Surfin for my Life" really capture the flavour of the 2nd millenium. "Absinthe" is a great warning about the dangers of this evil liquor. And talking about evil, "Amen" is a brilliant stab at religion, which evolves into dubby melody at the end (a long song at 9 minutes). The songs definetely grew on me over the following weeks, there were only 1 or 2 that I didn't really take to but could still listen to without skipping tracks.

And then I get a call from the The Damned's PR people, telling me
they are playing at Dingwalls in Camden,London. Quickly I secure two guest passes and take a fellow skater, who is much younger than me at 19 years old. He's well into punk / goth / rap / whatever and has some knowledge of The Damned. I lend him the album as a precaution and he comes round on gig night babbling about it "brilliant but very strange". I agree, and we head to the gig.

I live only 5 minutes from the venue, so we arrive in plenty of time, to find middle aged balding rockers and punks staggering about Camden market, big spliffs and pints of beers everywhere. We head inside and hook up some great food, before the support act "Anti-Product" jump on stage, fresh from the good 'ol USA. They're loud, obnoxious and look like rejects from a Megadog trance party. They're also pretty crap and get boo'ed a bit before finishing their set. Then it's a long, long wait, like 45 minutes. People get restless, fights start to break out. Alcohol is flowing, s**t these middle-aged guys and galls can drink like fish!

Suddenly it goes dark, the audience shuts up and music starts playing. I recognise it as one of the new songs, and the band start to take place on the tiny stage. Lead guitarist Captain Sensible and singer David Vanian stand alongside Particia Morrison (ex sister of Mercy), drummer Pinch and keyboard master Oxy Moron. They all have real stage prescence, no doubt honed through countless hours of live gigs and studio sessions. They all have their own character too, their own style, their own story to tell. But in this case the Captain starts by winding up the audience and talking to them whilst they get ready. And then they're off!

It's loud but very musicial. David Vanian is a brilliant singer, really clear and precise which is really unusual in this genre. He's wearing an Elvis style ruffled collar shirt, big quiff (carefully sculpted), black leather gloves, he's the man an
d he's in control. My guest starts taking a real shine to bass guitarist Particia Morrison, she looks fine in typical metal/punk attire and must be a wet dream for loads of these punk rockers. Monty Oxy Moron sits at his keyboard, like some kind of classical composes in his classical garb, whilst all I can see of drummer Pinch is a flurry of hands and sticks.

The songs flow, loads from the new album plus a couple of golden oldies like "Smash it up". Plus some I don't recognise which must be from earlier albums like Strawberries.

"Amen" is performed really well, extended and ad-libbed in the best tradition of live performance. And then it's all over, too quickly. But we're satisfied, they do an encoure and the show finishes. We walk away with ringing ears, stunned by what we've just seen. The Damned are a legend for true reasons, and they've just proven themselves to be still capable of holding their own amongst today's manufactured punk bands.

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