Tim Hughes talks to punk icon Captain Sensible of The Damned

THE original punk-rockers, The Damned have been a part of the rock furniture for more than 36 years.

But while their phlegmatic contribution can’t be overstated, they can be forgiven for feeling a little overlooked. After all, there’s barely a band playing in Britain today that doesn’t owe its existence in some small way to this theatrical bunch of punchy, schlock-rock showmen.

Well, maybe not everyone. One Direction, JLS and their ilk may owe little to the filth and fury of punk, but any band with rock and spit in their soul, and who are in music for any other reason than to be liked and to make money, have in some way been inspired by these suburban chancers who helped shake music to its core.

So it was with blunt gratitude that the band’s Captain Sensible reacted to news that the band were to be honoured with an award recognising their outstanding contribution to music.

“It’s about bloody time too!” says the man known to all as ‘the Captain – or just ‘Cap’.

“We scooped the Outstanding Contribution Award.... but to music?” he says, quizzically, “Is it not more truly deserved for punk rock, goth, chaos, unruly behaviour, showing off, fashion disasters, insane keyboard players, ale snobs, monocle revivalists, trainspotting, garage rock collecting, over-sized beaks, or frenetic drummers? Take your pick!”

I caught up with the Captain earlier this week, mid-way through their Loco-A-Go-Go tour, which reaches Oxford on Tuesday.

The show has become a tradition. “We go to Oxford every year because they seem to like us,” he says. “And this year we have got a really entertaining show which is fun to watch.”

He is still incredulous, if, I suspect, a little bit proud, at the award, presented to him and Dracula-coiffured bandmate Dave Vanian, at the Classic Rock Roll Of Honour awards, at London’s Roundhouse last month.

“It was a good night,” he says, “And lots of our chums were there, like Lemmy. But I was also rubbing shoulders with the likes of Rick Wakeman and people I’ve been busy slagging off over the years. Some are so vain!”

Despite the Captain’s healthy scepticism, the award is well-earned. Not only were The Damned the first real punk band, they released the first punk single, New Rose, and album, Damned Damned Damned.

“That doesn’t mean too much but I like the fact it gets up Malcolm McLaren’s nose,” he laughs. “I always said the Sex Pistols were the first punk boy band!”

The Damned were also the first punk band to tour America.

“We had a certain shock value,” he says. “People were shocked not by our music but by the fact we weren’t bothered whether they liked us or not.

“They’d had The Ramones, Talking Heads and the Velvet Underground, but we brought a different style. It was an anti-authority thing. We had no respect for anyone who had come before. “It was as if music had started in 1976. We were creating something new. We were playing the same guitars and chords but the attitude was so different. “Of course it was all tongue in cheek, but we didn’t try to be rock stars; we were the same as our fans. You wouldn’t ask a plumber for an autograph, and it was the same with us.”

Perhaps, I suggest, that explains the frequently obscene reaction from hardcore fans when he sings his solo chart hit Happy Talking.

“The fans have a healthy disrespect for Captain Sensible,” he says, referring to himself in the abstract. “They bring you down a peg or two. Someone the other day told me I’d put on a bit of weight. I bet Bruce Springsteen doesn’t get that.

“The Captain is not everyone’s cup of tea,” he goes on. “He could almost have been a great musician but he’s got a screw loose and that spoils it every time. Whenever you think he’s got it, he’ll grab the microphone and say something rude about Phil Collins and destroy all the good work built up over all those shows.”

Leaving aside Sensible’s failure to take anything, well… sensibly, the band’s contribution to rock cannot be doubted, with chart hits like Smash It Up, Love Song and their pop tune Eloise hitting the charts, and loyal fans continuing to pack out their shows.

Sensible, Vanian, and the rest of the current line-up, Monty Oxy Moran, Pinch and Stu West, have, if nothing else, failed to sell-out, which is more than can be said for many of their fellow punk travellers. So, I wonder, would the Captain, be up for a nicely earning butter advert, perhaps, like his old friend Johnny Rotten (whose late bandmate Sid Vicious had originally been invited to audition for The Damned)?

“If someone offered me a bucket load of cash, who’s to say I what I’d do? I’d probably do it and spend the money wisely on birds, whisky and posh guitars.”