All posts by Steve Bunche

The Damned @ Gramercy Theatre (10/29/2016)

logo-the-damned

Artist: The Damned
Venue: Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY)
Opener: n/a
Date: 10/29/2016
Label: English Channel Records

Written By: Steve Bunche

“NEAT, NEAT, NEAT!!! 40 YEARS OF THE DAMNED AT THE GRAMERCY THEATRE”

Where to even start when discussing the Damned?

One of the seminal bands of the early British punk movement, the Damned always stood out from their safety pin-and-Doc Marten’s-sporting contemporaries in a number of ways, such as eschewing the era’s Mohawk and swastika fashion for markedly individual ridiculousness (singer Dave Vanian’s silly-yet-elegant Edwardian vampire chic and Guitarist Captain Sensible’s red beret, sunglasses, nurse’s uniform and occasional complete and utter nudity spring to mind), possessing a sense of humor, shamelessly allowing the beautiful voice of its singer to dominate the proceedings — seriously, Dave Vanian is blessed with one of pop music’s most singular, evocative, and beautiful vocal deliveries — and a flair for actual musicianship that flew in the face of British punk’s famous “any arsehole can pick up a guitar and bang out three chords” attitude.

the damned, the damned concert photos
The Damned by Ken Pierce (2016)

While the majority of their contemporaries fizzled out like a fart in a thunderstorm, largely due to their cookie-cutter sameness and embarrassing (though well-intentioned) amateurishness, the Damned visibly grew and evolved from album to album, refining their sound from its rough-edged origins of four decades past into the tight, wholly professional and enthralling unit that endures to this day, despite numerous personnel upheavals and the criminally offensive ignoring that they receive from pretty much all but those in the know. Undaunted by such shabby treatment, the Damned have once more returned, this time to mark their forty years of merrily purveying polished mayhem to their loyal followers (and not one of their periodic so-called farewell tours) with an anniversary tour that recently brought them to NYC’s venerable Gramercy venue, a former vintage movie palace that now serves as an unpretentious concert space that’s mercifully free of the plague of hipster types that have infested what remains of the Big Apple’s dwindling old school punk scene.
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The Damned @ Fillmore at Irving Plaza (5/14/2009)

The Damned are one of the music world’s most interesting Punk acts.  At times their material borderlined on Metal and this was an aspect that I found very appealing as a young fan of music.  Tonight they would be performing at The Fillmore NY at Irving Plaza and our own El Buncho was on point to see how it was going to turn out.  To learn his thoughts about the gig and to enjoy a couple of photos just scroll past the bands logo below
logo-the-damned

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO-THE DAMNED, LIVE AT THE FILLMORE, 5/14/2009

the damned, the damned live photos
The Damned by Steve Bunche (2009)

The Damned: one of the seminal bands in the original UK punk rock movement, the first to release a single, and one of the longest-lived of their breed. I’ve greatly enjoyed them since first encountering their music in 1985 — I admit being late to the party — and have seen them perform live six times between 1988 and the present, but one thing that needs to be said about the Damned is that when they’re firing on all cylinders there are few bands, live or in the studio, who can touch them for kickass tunes, clever and fun lyrics, exceptional vocals — frontman Dave Vanian has one of the finest sets of pipes in rock history, let alone punk — and the raucous sense of energy that make old school punk such a blast in the first place. However, when they’re mediocre or just plain bad, there are few bands less worth listening to, and in many ways they can be held responsible for taking the whole Goth thing into the mainstream with the frilly-shirt theatrics of their “new romantic” PHANTASMAGORIA album back in 1985. Even as a sworn fan of the group it’s possible to be polarized by their output, and following the results of their most recent album and the live show I saw on Thursday night at Manhattan’s Fillmore, my twenty-four-year love affair with the Damned is finally over.
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“So, Who’s Paranoid” by The Damned

Artist: The Damned
Title: “So Who’s Paranoid”
Label: 02. Records
Release Date: 12/9/2008
Genre: Punk Rock
Rating: 2.5/5

The Damned are back with their tenth studio album, the previous being 2001’s GRAVE DISORDER, and to a greater degree than that record they’ve turned in yet another mixed bag.

As anyone who knows me well can tell you, I love the Damned, rating them at number three on my list of all-time favorite bands (coming in behind the Cramps, with Devo in the number one slot), and the reason they keep their place at number three is due to their incredibly inconsistent output. I’m talking in terms of musical flavor, not their sporadic album release rate, and while I salute them for their willingness to experiment and not necessarily pigeonhole themselves within the confines of their status as elder statesmen or original British punk — for those who don’t know, the Damned claim a place in punk rock history for being the first British band of the movement to release a single and an album, waaaaaay back in the stone age of 1976 — but yet again we’re handed a sampler of well-crafted musicianship that struggles to find its own unique voice or flavor that says “This is the Damned.”
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“Against The Rest” by Never Again

Artist: Never Again
Title: “Against the Rest”
Label: 1981 Records
Release Date: May 29, 2007ath Metal
Genre: Death Metal
Rating: 1/5

Dear PiercingMetal Reader-

If you’ve read my reviews for this site you have by now gathered that I am in no way, shape or form a fan of the “Cookie Monster” vocals-ridden death metal genre. This raging dislike comes not from the genre’s ubiquity, but from the fact that albums and bands within the form tend to be virtually indistinguishable, perhaps over-illustrating the old adage of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That assessment may sound glib, but having had to listen to album after album after album of this stuff, I swear to whatever gods there may be that they really do all sound the same and I can only take so much of it without suffering a nervous breakdown of Brobdingnagian proportions. That sameness is a complete and total headache inducing drag, and this album is another example of that. There is simply nothing more that I can say about it without repeating myself yet again, so if you like this stuff, good on you. If not, skip it.
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“Genuine Sense of Outrage” by The Warriors

Artist: The Warriors
Title: “Genuine Sense of Outrage”
Label: Victory Records
Release Date: August 7, 2007
Genre: Metal/Hardcore Fusion
Rating: 2/5

So worn out am I by the seemingly endless deluge of shrieked/growled vocals that I can’t even joke that this album’s title echoes my sentiments about it. The band is tight and heavy, but once again I just can’t get past how it’s lyrically presented. Someone likes this stuff, but that someone sure ain’t me.
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