Paul Gray Of The Damned: Interview

Paul Gray has spent decades holding down the low end for The Damned alongside Captain Sensible, Dave Vanian and Rat Scabies, and fifty years on he still isn’t ready to call it history. Ahead of the band’s ongoing touring, Gray answered Red Raven News’ questions on chaos, keyboards and the arguments that almost never happened.

1. You’ve spent an extraordinary amount of your life walking into rooms with Captain Sensible, Dave Vanian and Rat Scabies. What’s the one thing about each of them that you still don’t understand?

They’re all absolute unique enigmas, and I’ve long given up trying to second guess anything about any of them!

2. Bass players are often the people holding a band together while everyone else gets the attention. How much of The Damned’s chaos have you actually had to quietly keep under control?

Here’s the thing- Rat and I have never actually rehearsed anything that we do together, it’s always been completely spontaneous – we have one of those weird things going on where we both subconsciously pretty much know exactly what each other are gonna play at any given moment. That’s not to say occasional unexpected jazz moments don’t creep in, but it’s one of the things that I guess keep this band fresh and exciting. Anything could happen, there are several songs that could end up as extended spontaneous jams and as a front man Dave is totally unpredictable. We can rehearse perfectly and the next night a song could descend into absolute chaos… It’s then that it particularly falls to me to hold things together!.

3. If you took the bass away from The Damned for one night and gave yourself another instrument, what would you play — and why?

Keyboards- a Hammond organ probably, or a Vox Continental – absolutely love them! Most of the stuff I write is on a Nord which can pretty accurately re-create both. I find it very uplifting and creative. You can change from dark and broody to ethereal or absolutely thunderous or cheesy Monkees pop with just a few changes of the drawbars. Most of my stuff is written on the keyboards. Brian Auger is one of my favourite players -those fabulous sweeps up and down the keys!

4. Do you think The Damned would have survived 50 years if everyone in the band had actually got along perfectly?

Whoever would get on perfectly after so many years in each others pockets? The reason this lineup works so well offstage as onstage these days is that we’ve learned to give space each others foibles, of which it’s fair to say there are a good few! It’s easy for tempers to get frazzled with the amount of gruelling travel, time differences and constant lack of sleep. Everyone has an opinion and none of us are afraid to voice them, but we’re a tad more circumspect in how they’re delivered these days, and that’s a good thing as nothing gets bottled up. That’s usually when the real problems start in band relationships.

5. What is the most ridiculous argument you’ve ever had with another member of The Damned — and what was it actually about?

Blimey, with the amount of bevy and other stimulants this band put away back in the day that was a daily if not hourly occurrence! Somebody playing too loud was a common one, which made not a blind bit of difference as you’d simply pretend to turn down. That and somebody snaffling the last Tim-Tam.

6. After 50 years, can you still surprise the other members of the band? 

Frankly, nothing that anybody in this band did would surprise me these days, and they’d probably say the same about me.

7. You’ve seen punk go from something that scared parents to something that gets celebrated in museums. At what point did you realise, “We’ve become history”?

I haven’t. We’re not done just yet, thanks very much!

8. What does a 50-year-old punk band have that a brilliant 20-year-old punk band doesn’t? And what does the 20-year-old band have that you’ve lost?

I’d never thought of The Damned simply as a punk band, we’ve transcended far too many styles over the years. I don’t really like categorising bands or music, if it’s good and you like it, then great. Boxing a band like us into any one category is pointless. New Rose was really a garage band record, it was the journos that started recycling the term punk. My first band Eddie and the Hot Rods got called fast rhythm and blues, pop, new wave, rock, pub rock, punk… I was in UFO for a while, considered heavy metal by many, but they were really anything but. Phil Mogg, their singer, came to see us a few years ago for the first time. Afterwards he said ‘punk band my arse, you’re a fucking great rock n roll band!’ And on that I’d totally agree.

For all tour dates for their current tour go to https://www.officialdamned.com

By Greg Haver

Photography by Leonie Moreland