As you get older the meaning of ones birthdays changes.. I mean, who wants to be reminded of how effing past it they've just become.. sod that! 🙄 However, if the obscene number can be ignored then it's always a bloody good excuse to overindulge and even pamper yourself a tad so, with this in mind I nipped over to Espana to stuff myself tapas style - and not forgetting to gas up with slightly cheaper petrol (than Portugal) before heading back to the jolly old Algarve.
Thanks to all for the birthday greetings playmates which are much appreciated.. and life is still a bunch of fun when nurse lets me go and cavort about in front of a ridiculously loud valve amp occasionally. 🎸🎸🎸
Here's da summers The Damned shows..
May 22nd - Bearded Theory fest
Jun 7th - Kelvingrove Bandstand
Jul 5 -Südbrücke, Köln
Jul 6 - Tollwood Sommerfestival, München
Jul 12 - AMA Fest, Romano D'ezzelino, Italy
Jul 20 - Budapest Park, Hungary
Aug 14 - Cardiff Castle
Aug 15 - Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Aug 21 - Castle Park, Colchester
Aug 22 - The Piece Hall, Halifax
#ayemonte
#españa
#captainsensible
#thedamned
#finaldamnation50
Just arrived at #Wembley - I'm sure I had a diamond bracelet in the bag earlier.. 😎
Tomorrow - @thedamned 50th anniversary show 🎸🎸🎸
aegpresents.co.uk/event/the-damn…
#captainsensible
#davevanian
#ratscabies
#paulgray
Train just stopped at Balham.. where a dodgy punk guitarist arrived on the planet some 70 odd years ago, and as a youngster would wave at passing steam trains from nearby Tooting Triangle playground.. the occasional response from a soot covered driver launching a lifelong trainspotting obsession. 🚂
Later on in life said guitarist met a chap called Lemmy wherapon the word tooting took on an entirely different meaning 😜
There's still a few tickets left for the Wembley 50th anniversary celebration, available here..
#thedamned
#captainsensible
#davevanian
#ratscabies
#paulgray
Well, The Damned are back after a brief trip to Yurp and a couple of fun shows in Amsterdam (dark setlist) and Leuven (more kickass) but how we pitch the set for the Wembley spectacular is still not settled as cramming a 50 year career into 2 hours is nigh on bloody impossible.
It's gonna be epic though and if this is the last show this lineup plays in this great city where it all started 50 years ago then, for sure it'll be an absolute cracker!
And how London has changed in our lifetimes too from wall to wall cockney accents and pie and mash to something far more colourful.. in fact I just had a wonderful wrap at Mr Falafel in Shepherds Bush Market which is today's top tip for any of a gastronomic bent who may be attending Saturdays show.
Yeah, I know I'm always waffling on about me blinkin stomach these days but whatever.. let's make Wembley a full on banger of an event cos who'd have thought we'd even be capable of doing this all those years ago while bashing it out at those mad sweaty shows down the Hope & Anchor or Roxy Club?
See ya on Saturday playmates! 😜
/event/the-damned/
#thedamned
#captainsensible
#davevanian
#ratscabies
#paulgray
Listen playmates.. anyone attending tonights @thedamnedofficial Melkweg bash who fancies a bite to eat before it all kicks off allow me to recommend "Xi'an Delicious Foods" where i stuffed myself with a huge bowl of authentic and pretty fiery biangbiang flat noodles just now. Caps top tip.. belch! 🤪
#captainsensible
#thedamned
#thedamned50th
#punk50th
@xiandelicious Foods
A few years or so ago 😉 along with my chums I'd skip off school to bunk the train down from Croydon to Winchelsea, a sleepy little village near Hastings where we'd do some train spotting and see if we could get served in any unsuspecting pubs.
The local level crossing keeper eventually got fed up with shouting at us for trespassing and started inviting us into his hut where we'd listen to Johnny Cash records while consuming gallons of strong black coffee.
I was reminded of this the other day when, as happens this time of year in the Algarve my nose was treated to the pungent whiff of orange blossom from the many orangeries down this way.
And while getting a hooter full of that lovely fragrance I started blurting out some lines I remembered from that Johnny Cash classic Orange Blossom Special.. one of those tunes we'd learned down in that cramped little railway cottage.
I guess we thought we were rebels but more likely we were fed up with all the cobblers the teachers were coming out with at the time.. royalty.. the empire (still topical in the 60s).. and the GPD of various nations which we were expected to regurgitate on demand.
I think kids get taught a very different kind of garbage these days.. but maybe they too take the odd day off to explore the countryside while singing rebel songs?
And why ever not, eh?
March Damned dates...
5th - Amsterdam 🇳🇱
6th - Leuven 🇧🇪
11th - Wembley 50th party 🎉 🇬🇧
#captainsensible
#thedamned
#punk
#thedamned50th
#punk50th
How amazing is it that @thedamnedofficial are playing their 50th anniversary show next week at Wembley.. nobody would've put money on us reaching that milestone back in the day when, bearing in mind our perchance for chaos we could well have been described as being 'a danger to ourselves'.
The Wembley show promises to be a bit of a spectacular.. and that kinda thing involves all sorts of tech gobbledegook these days but my trusty guitar gear is tried and tested and shows no sign of packing up just yet.. a bit like myself thankfully.
So.. I've had the 2 all important Mesa Triaxis / Marshall EL84 rigs transported up the M23 from Brighton to London.. and for performing that task so diligently I have to thank @dinostoretradingltd of Sussex for getting them here safely.
Cheers for that guys!
#captainsensible
#thedamned
#thedamned50th
#dinostoretradingltd
Took Oki down to Faro for some trainspotting.. although it doesn't look like he found it as fun as yours truly 😂
#captainsensible
#thedamned
#thedamned50th
@municipiodefaro@cp_comboiosdeportugal
As part of our 50 Years of Punk Exhibition at the #GibsonGarageLondon, we’ll be displaying this 2013 Gibson SG Tribute 60s, used by @captainsensible1 of @thedamnedofficial .
The exhibition showcases some of the coolest punk guitars from the last 50 years and runs from 16 – 23 February. No ticket required, just turn up!
📍Gibson Garage London is at 61-62 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8NQ, near Oxford Street
⏰ Open 7 days a week. Weekdays 11am-7pm, Saturdays 10am-7pm, Sundays and bank holidays 12pm-6pm.
#Gibson #LesPaul #50YearsOfPunk #CaptainSensible #TheDamned
What do you do on a rainy day in Paris? Yours truly visited a disused railway station at the northern end of Metro line 4.. and well, while the trains may indeed not be running any more the building has been repurposed as a really nice little healthy eating cafe which now receives the much sought after Sensible seal of approval. 😎
As for the trainspotting the Petite Ceinture ran from 1850 something and was originally built by Napoleon 3rd to cart his troops about.. and it could be argued that this is Europe's very first 'circle line' - predating the London effort by a few years.. albeit above ground.
As for your chums - we had a blast playing our radical new covers set in Paris last night.. in the presence of Mozzer the Smith too, who was also in Paris for some unknown reason.
The Damned play their last ever 😭 Not Like Everybody Else show in Köln tomorrow night.. it's been weirdly fun to play this groovy bunch of 60s covers but the main event will be our career spanning Wembley spectacular in April where it's extremely unlikely See Emily Play will be anywhere near the setlist. 😅
#captainsensible
#thedamned
#notlikeeverybodyelse
#thedamned50th
