Party: The Damned + Special Guests

Party: The Damned + Special Guests

35 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.

Catch The Damned at Motion on the 5th of November!

Invited: James J Polson, Luddite Nerida, Laura Sturgeon, James Moore, Neil Ferguson, Harriet Shannon, Lloyd Von Hesselberg, Tracey Hailes-Brown, Sean R Indiffint, Sam Bam Blackmore, Jamie 'Jay' Curd, Shanna Coles, Rebecca Hutcheon, Louis Jones, Kate Cragoe Mayfield, Laura K Williams, Nick Sheppard, Moody Margraret, Jamie Stuckes, Eloise Magee, Amy Parsons, Patrick Somers, Steve Hodges, Alex Panter, Dave O Jones, Peter Marsh, Martin Aylward, Ewan Cameron, Tereza Cleverley, Sofia Isabella Rosato, Anton TheSwan, Kirsty Wretham, Tom Whitfield, Alan Cattermoul, Kirjastonhoitaja Hamis, Lisa May Higson, Matt Holds, Marie Cunningham, Richard Hawkins, Nella Bellinzoni, Ashley Do Nut Earle, Liz Davies, Nicky West, Carly Curtis, Freya Sophie Thornton, Bill Radford, David Bond, Moose Man, Jay O'Hanraha-hanrahan, Wendy Beck, Antony Pepler, Paul Reardon, Sasha Baynes, Jeff Sparkes, Joe Müstanski, Samantha Wiltshire, Tina Smith, Jennifer Southcott, Nikki Hyatt, Steve James, Sian Parry, Lisa McCann, Liam Hodge-Bane, Vanessa Wayne, Jane Osborne, Jessica Hardie, Lisa Powell, Anji Rox, Chris Dench, David Clift, Christopher Moss, Chas Shaw, Jess Spice, Alan Markopoulos, Ant Feltham, Angel Tattooed-Terror Homfray, Danowar Healy, War Destroys Paullaurel, Kieran Denman, Dave Rivett, Rrob Ccracknell, Vivien Kitty Hopes, Angie Thomson, Nick Jones, Charlotte Hunt, Damian Jester Sargent, Gary O'Neill, Julie Read, Gordon Powell, Emz Crudge, Mark Phillip James, Angie Davies, Samantha Knievil Black, Bryony Burgess, Steve Punk, Jack Bird, Mandy Punkinboots, Ed Davis, Daniel Anderson, Jane A Palmer show more »