WHODAFUNKIT? One of the most exciting, most volatile bands of the punk explosion of the mid 1970s, still going strong some 40 years on.

The Damned, along with the Sex Pistols and The Clash, were at the forefront of the spitting, snarling pus-filled snotquake that swamped this septic isle from 1976 onwards, frightening mums and dads and delighting teenage herberts like me in equal measures.

Many people of a certain vintage can remember where they were when they heard that JFK had been assassinated: I can clearly remember the first time I heard The Damned’s New Rose.

You see, officer, I was behind this grassy knoll in downtown Dallas… No, actually it was October 1976 and I was in a geography lesson and my mate Ian played his recording of John Peel’s show from the night before on a cassette. It’s safe to say not a lot was learnt about continental drift or escarpments that day.

As befitting a band of such raw energy and unpredictability, The Damned have seen more splits, bust-ups and falling-outs than Shrek in a pair of budgie smugglers.

But original members Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible are taking the band on a UK tour, before heading to Europe and then America and Canada to promote Don’t You Wish You Were Dead, their delightfully-entitled, ahem, rockumentary, if you will, of the band’s history.

Vanian, believed to be around 300 years old, has not aged a millisecond since becoming a vampire in around 1974.

 

 

Thanks to a diet of virgin goat’s blood and sleeping every night in a coffin, he has maintained both his lifeless pallor and the haunting beauty of his baritone.

The good Captain, still eminently Sensible in red beret with matching mini skirt and slingbacks, has now switched from bass to lead guitar and is as sensible as he ever was: So not very then.

The band have a rich mine of material, from the amphetamine rush of the early punk days, through the dark metal and goth years and the psychotic psychedelia of the mid-80s.

There’s no doubt they can still dice the Dijon when it comes to playing live, albeit these days it can sometimes be for arthritic pogo-ers who like to spray the band with a sea of gob and phlegm that smells suspiciously of Werther’s Originals.

So dig out your Seditionaries cowboy T-shirt and safety pins for their visit to Weymouth Pavilion on Thursday, August 13. Tickets are £21 from the box office on 01305 783225 and I’ll see you down the mosh pit. I’ll be the one in the Rupert the Bear tartan bondage trews with the elasticated waist.

Till next time…

TONIGHT (31)

As Flames Rise. Griever, Refuge of the Fallen (Finns, Weymouth) Launch night for the new As Flames Rise EP. £3 on door.

Seabass, Leggomen (Lazy Lizard, Weymouth)

Tauntones (Royal Portland Arms, Portland)

The Mighty Fine (Wyke Smugglers, Weymouth)

Bianca (Weymouth Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

Total Madness (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

The Duke and The Broad (Park, Weymouth)

Billy Solo (Wellington, Weymouth)

Gale Force 4 (Royal Exchange, Portland)

Blazin’ Strings (Old Town Hall, Weymouth)

Fuzzy and the Grooveriders (Little Ship, Portland)

Left Right and Centre (Chalk and Cheese, Maiden Newton)

Mark Stacey (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

Brothers Grimm (Junction, Dorchester)

Shelby’s Elbows (Ropemakers, Bridport)

Matt Black (King’s Arms, Weymouth)

Amy Mayes Trio (Royal Oak, Quayside, Weymouth)

SATURDAY (1)

Shakespearos (Finns, Weymouth)

Slipstream (Sailors Return, Weymouth)

Chloe and Tom (Lazy Lizard, Weymouth)

The Riffs (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

Steve Nicholas (Conservative Club, Weymouth)

Replay (Wyke Regis Working Mens Club, Portland Rd, Weymouth)

Haze (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Gut and Steel (Southwell fayre, Portland)

Ukebox (HiVe Café, Park St, Weymouth) 3-5pm.

Freak Circus (Park Hotel, Weymouth)

Dale Fender Band (Centenary Club, Weymouth)

James Baker (Old Castle, Weymouth)

Andy Grant Trio (Brewhouse, Dorchester)

Amy Mayes Trio (George, Portland)

Louise Day (Weymouth Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

BJ McCabe (Bridge Inn, Weymouth)

Tripod (Wyke Smugglers, Weymouth)

Tim Tom Brown (Tom Browns, Dorchester)

Lady Winwood’s Maggot (Bull’s Head, Dorchester)

SUNDAY (2)

Stereoironics (Lazy Lizard, Weymouth) 6pm.

Danx Kennard (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth) R

icky Solo (Sailor’s Return, St Nicholas St, Weymouth) From 3pm.

Jam Night (Sailor’s Return, Nicholas Street, Weymouth) Mark Stacey and friends host this regular Sunday acoustic jam session. Music from 8pm.

Gut and Steel (Old Ship, Upwey, Weymouth) 2.30pm.

Sunday Session (Sydney Arms, Dorchester)

Kipper and Roye (Royal Exchange, Portland)

Juke Box Junkies (New Vic, Weymouth)

Finn (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

Martin Maton (Weymouth Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

Replay (Red Lion, Hope Sq, Weymouth) 2pm.

Amy Mayes Trio (Wyke Smugglers, Weymouth) 2pm.

MONDAY (3)

Seabass (New Vic, Weymouth)

TUESDAY (4)

Stacey Lou (New Vic, Weymouth)

Martin Freed (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

Paul Williams (Weymouth Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

WEDNESDAY (5)

Dave Bowen and Jazz Friends (Three Compasses, Charminster)

Dave P’s Open Mic Night (Rendezvous, Weymouth) From 8pm.

Wessex Folk Night (Sailors Return, Nicholas Street, Weymouth) Acoustic folk, here every Wednesday.

The Leggomen (New Vic, Weymouth)

Martin Freed (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

Danx’s Open Mic Night (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

THURSDAY (6)

Ann and Norm (Ferrybridge, Weymouth)

Leggomen (George, Weymouth)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Open Mic (Park Hotel, Weymouth)

Open Mic Surgery (Tom Brown’s, High East St, Dorchester)All backline provided, come on down andhave a play.

Steve’s Singalong (Duke of Cornwall, St Edmund Street, Weymouth) Steve hosts this session, with guests joining in.

Lauren Bannon (New Vic, Weymouth)

Traditional Tune Session (Cove House Inn, ChiswelI, Portland)

Ukulele Sessions (Sailors Return, St Nicholas St, Weymouth) Strum on down from 8pm.

FRIDAY (7)

Regulation 9 (Finns, Weymouth)

Martin Freed (Little Ship, Portland)

The Secrets (Royal Portland Arms, Portland)

Average Wyke Band (Royal Exchange, Portland)

Billy Solo (Wellington, Weymouth)

Acoustic Session (Victoria Inn, Knights in the Bottom, Chickerell, Weymouth)

Blue Moon Hillbillies (Park Hotel, Weymouth)

Neil O (Weymouth Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

Darren H (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

The Underclass (Ropemakers, Bridport)