“I had no idea, to be quite honest, we thought that we’d be allowed to do a few gigs and maybe make a record; and then it’d be back to the old, like, eh … ‘70s kinda bullshit again.” So reveals The Damned’s Captain Sensible, co-founding bassist-gone-guitarist, in response to still playing 25 years after they began.

Sensible, along with singer Dave Vanian, set out to resurrect the band in the mid-to-late ‘90s that many point to as a true originator as well as innovator in UK Punk, having inched out fellow prognosticators, The Sex Pistols, by one single one month earlier.

The Damned own no records in rock and roll continuity. However, where ingenuity is concerned, they’ve known no equal. Like the many others before and after them, they went in fits and starts, having produced massive quantities of punk anthems, as with their Damned Damned Damned 1977 debut, nearly disbanding a year later, actually doing so soon after that, surviving The Softies, Doctors Of Madness, and Brian James Brains to re-emerge in ’79 with a surprising new album and label that transcended the original success of two short years before.

And while there’ve been many updated versions of The Damned, theirs has remained a style that’s outlived even the individual exploits of the personalities that originally defined it.

So here they are today featuring Captain Sensible, teaming again with Vanian, along with veteran new recruits, Pinch, former English Dog, current blue-haired drummer, Monty Oxy Moron, keyboardist and Sierra Pale Ale’s number one endorser, and new bassist Patricia Morrison. All now comprise the latest edition of The Damned, a hyped-up new version of a rock 'n’ roll original. Now a year removed from their impressive Nitro Records comeback, Grave Disorder, the band did a recent gig at NYC’s The World, together with Rockabilly chill-seekers Tiger Army, where I sat in with the Captain to cover a little of The Damned’s past and future by way of a few album insights and insignificant particulars of a bygone barroom era.

So you guys were at the forefront of the first wave of punk music really, and you had groups like The Sex Pistols of course, The Clash, you know, and then there’s The Damned and “New Rose” being the first punk single, edging out “Anarchy”.  What did this mean for you at the time; was there a sense of camaraderie amongst the bands?

Yeah, we got on reasonably well with The Buzzcocks.

Okay, good.  (Laughs.)

Yeah, we all used to go drinking quite a lot, and stuff. Occasionally, you know, that whole period was a funny time because looking back, I suppose it does seem it’s got some glamour, that period, but I assure you it was pretty sleazy.

There was a lot of getting chased down by gangs of kind of football hooligans and that kinda stuff, who objected to the kind of punk clothing and hairstyles.

We always were getting involved in fights and ending up in police stations.  I’m not painting a very nice picture of it but, I mean, it was euphoric, of course, but, you know, you were changing things just by, like, the looks on peoples’ faces. Their mouths were gaping wide open; they couldn’t believe what they were seeing onstage 'cause it was so radically different from anything that was going at the time.

So something had to happen, you know, and it was punk.

From those bands you used to play with back then, are any still around that you’re in touch with?

We did a gig in the desert, somewhere in California, with The Pistols and The Buzzcocks, which was really nice. To see them all again and have a chat and a beer and stuff. It was a big gig with about 60,000 people.

I never thought that this country would embrace punk rock the way it has. All the years we were coming back through the ‘80s and ‘90s touring over here, and it was soul-destroying, watching America, like, sort of in this ongoing love affair with these appalling kinds of hair metal bands.

So what inspired you guys besides doing something about the shitty music scene that was going on back then? What made you want to play?

I loved bands like The Electric Prunes, and then The Stooges, and MC5, things like that. Just things with attitude, and stuff that was inventive.  You know, you can listen to these MC5 and Prunes’ albums and you know there’s a lot of interesting psychedelic kind of freak out stuff going on in there. We were privileged enough to work with the Prunes recently when they did their comeback tour in Britain a few weeks ago.

I want to talk a little about the first couple Damned records which were recently reissued and contain some very revealing insights from you guys. Like, for instance, what’s this about “I Fall” being your choice as first single for the first album? Still a bit bitter, then?

(Laughs.) Yeah, a little.

Of course, Damned Damned Damned is the recognized classic with “New Rose,” “Born To Kill,” “Stab Your Back” with all the great stuff, but I was intrigued to read up on the second record, Music For Pleasure, which, not to seem unkind, I actually liked! It doesn’t seem to get the recognition like the first or third, but you guys really didn’t support it.

The problem with “MFP” is, compared to the first album, which was kind of under-produced, if you like, but which was right for it, the second album was done in more clinical studio conditions. There was a lot of attention to getting rid of any spillage, any noise, you know. All the instruments were close miked. It was done in weeks rather than the first album, which was done in two days. I’m not saying that was bad for it, but you can hear the difference.

Also, the producer was a mistake. We weren’t, none of us, on the same page. Brian [James] had written all the songs in a matter of a few days and you can hear it. It just doesn’t sound like an album that has an awful lot of spirit.

So then looking back, appreciating it for its diversity is totally out of the question?

(Laughs.) Yeah, you can say that.

What inspired you to do this again?

I kept in touch with Dave. I got a lot of time for Dave and what he does. He’s a decent human being and I know he’s passionate about what he does and he’s got a great sense of humor. (Laughs.) And I like the way he sings, you know, and he’s quite good with the melody as well. So, yeah, we just naturally got back together.

Talk about Grave Disorder a little from the inside.

Well, we were doing shows and stuff and by the time the record deal with Nitro had been sorted out, we had plenty of material and were just raring to go, to be quite honest. People seem to like [the] record, though there’s been no singles released from it, no video either. It could’ve done with that, maybe, but Nitro aren’t the biggest label in the world and they haven’t got sort of inexhaustible funds. So it’s nice for them to stick us in the studio and just do our thing.

I think the sound of the record is just so complete.

It wasn’t overproduced was it? That, you know, is what it’s got in common with, maybe, Damned Damned Damned. It does sound like a band, you know, even the kind of subtle moments.

Fans can check out The Damned’s official web site at www.officialdamned.com for upcoming tour dates, endless discography and where to send beer fund contributions.