Damned fine nostalgia!

Damned fine nostalgia!

Published : 02/02/08

Just finished re-listening to a BBC Radio 2 documentary that was first aired in October 2006; "Is she really going out with him?" on the making of the New Rose , the first single by the Damned. The Damned were always one of my favourite bands and I loved them right up until I realised what a sack of crap Phantasmagoria actually was (alright, Street of Dreams was OK). I'd written them off as total corporate whores until I saw them again live with Sensible back in his rightful place behind his SG a few years ago. Now I love them again because they are actually a very, very good live band that I've since seen anytime they get within driving distance of Blackburn. Anyway, back to the radio show : I knew much of it already but there was also quite a lot of extra bits and pieces in there that made some very interesting listening, especially concerning the 1976 Anarchy in the UK tour with the Sex Pistols and the Clash that the Damned managed to get themselves thrown off. The show had lots of interview snippets with those around at the time including Captain Sensible (top guitar hero) (poor site sir, Sensible's MySpace profile is better) , Rat Scabies (top drum villain), Brian James (also featured singing a Dylanesque solo version), Chrissie Hynde, Glen Matlock and Don Letts. Disappointingly there was no interview snippets from Dave Vanian, but then again it was probably recorded during the hours of daylight... There's been some heated discussion on the Damned's discussion forum over the pros, cons and practicalities of a full video documentary of the band's life but some how I don't think it'll happen...

Listening to this nostalgia laden audio cake left me wondering what had happened to some of the other bands I used to listen to when I was a wee spotty punkling back in the early eighties. I managed to find 2 gems from a couple of simple searches, both of them on Myspace.

Firstly I managed to track down "The Blood" one of the the bands with the greatest unfulfilled potential I've ever heard. When I was 15 I got hold of their single "Meglomaniac" , a blistering attack on all things papal played at 123mph after I read a somewhat biased review in Sounds by Gary Bushell who later went on to manage the group. The main point of reference for this is The Blood on Wikipedia  but  nosing around on Google turned up The Blood on Myspace which actually has 4 tracks to play and download ; Megalomaniac (with its piano opening very reminiscent of the Damned's Melody Lee), Stark Raving Normal, Napalm Job and Such Fun. After a bit more searching I also found out that the band's original guitarist JJ Bedsore (real name Jamie Cantwell) had died back in 2004 from alcohol related diseases at the age of 44. What a waste. JJ's guitar work shines on the Blood's music, his scorching but succinct solos and pre-Metallica chugging perfectly bridging the punk/metal divide. Apparently the vocalist Cardinal Jesushate has now put together a new line up and is recording a new album "A Punk at the Opera" - can't wait for that one.

The other truffle I dug up was Splodgenessabounds  (terrible website guys!), also with a Myspace profile.  I was never a massive Splodge fan but digging through my music collection turned up quite a few bits and pieces including the Ant Music flavoured 1981 Cowpunk Medlum (bought from Woolworths in St Annes when it was released!) with the surreally stupid "Brown Paper". Other gems include the exquisitely icky "The Butterfly Song" ("I squashed his little head; his blood was green and not red") , Madness spoof "Sox" ("Yum, yum, yum, but don't tell me Mum!") and the incredibly banal "Malcolm Opera" based on the old Vicks Sinex advert ("course you can Malcolm"). Splodge were like a punk version of another of my favourite bands, The Bonzo Dog Doodah Band ; confident enough in their musical ability not to give a shit about whether anyone took them seriously or not and hence free enough to write some very funny and very listenable stuff.