The Damned & The Dickies... oh yes it is!

Cap 'n' Dave are waving bye bye

 

Stan Lee being a Dickie

Two for the price of one.  Read a full review of their recent Birmingham gig, with additional pictures, here at Louder Than War.

Feel free to leave a comment!

Brian James Grand Cru

It seems only fair to give a bit of a mention to Brian James 2012 album release.

Sneaked out without fanfare amid the 35th anniversary of 'Damned, Damned, Damned', his 'Chateau Brian' set is as far away from an anniversary cash in as it's possible to get. 

If anyone had a right to cash in on 'Damned, Damned, Damned', it's James.  After all he wrote the damn thing!

But no, the original Damned guitarist has been going his own way for a long time and this album is little more that James' acoustic guitar and piano for the most part.  It's a fairly mixed bag - James has for a long time been a great guitarist in need of a singer & lyricist.

But anyone who was lucky enough to see him reprise his old 'Damned, Damned, Damned' material a couple of years back at The 100 Club will know he remains a fine player and nobody plays 'Damned, Damned, Damned' quite like Brian James.

You can hear tracks from 'Chateau Brian' here.  

Man at work...and play

Putting in a shift in Birmingham

Killing time at a well known shopping emporium

If only all jobs were like this!

The top picture is one of an exclusive set taken for a forthcoming review for Louder Than War, the bottom one was one posted on Twitter by the Captain, (a self portrait?) from his day off in the Second City.

Return of the Ruts DC

Really looking forward to catching the Ruts DC tonight, previewed here on Louder Than War.

Which is as good an excuse as any to post this curiously affecting video of The Damned's Limit Club, which was of course written about the late Malcolm Owen.

 

Still Censored - after 35 years!

Despite myself, I am enjoying some of the BBC's 'Punk Britannia' coverage - if only as an antidote to the tedious House of Windsor soap opera.

But, listening to the eminently reasonable Gideon Coe's contribution this evening, it was surprising to hear that The Damned's 1976 Peel session - played in full and still sounding stunning - was censored.  The F-word being rather more subtlety edited out than the traditional BBC beep that graced it at the time of the original broadcast.  But censored it was.

Apparently the word fuck is not acceptable at almost 10 o'clock at night on 6music.

Hmm, what exactly has punk rock changed then?