Whilst riding on a train this morning, I was reading The Metro. Within its pages was an advert for a production of 'The Hunting of the Snark' at The Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. This brings up the issue of Captain Sensible's involvement in the theme tune of 'Big Break'.....because 'Snookering You Tonight', which is the chorus of that masterpiece, is The Billiard Masters song from Mike Batt's musical based upon Lewis Carroll's poetry. So who links John Virgo, The Wombles, The Sex Pistols, Dizzee Rascal and John Hurt.......? I never realised that he was a Chris Waddle looky-likey until I saw him in this. The Captain appears at 27:28 singing a song that is only superficially about snooker and pretty obviously, mostly about sex......
Paul Gray is back on bass for the gigs with The Damned, somehow supporting a covers band in June - The Hollywood Vampires [Booooo] and headlining in Southampton in August [Hurrah...as Mrs B and I have tickets]. He's my favourite bassist........probably ever. Oh, that Rickenbacker...........
There are certain things that are wonderful beyond words..... Good cheese, proper English cider, roast beef with yorkshire pudding and horseradish and a nice glass of red wine, MV Agusta motorcycles pre-1978, merino wool socks, Tottenham Hotspur, fresh cotton sheets, the films of Mel Brooks and The Damned. Here are 2 combined...you lucky people...enjoy
Last night, I was watching a review and the comedic assessment of The Young Ones. Of course, the music in the shows came up. Apparently, the show wasn't classed as a comedy but some sort of 'Youth Programming' which meant that it had to feature a band, so they got in bands that they liked. It was said how professional Motorhead were. Apparently, The Damned weren't. The Captain was out of the band due to his cocaine fuelled behaviour, post-Happy Talk, but they agreed to him coming back for the TV performance. Things ended badly, in a fight in an Indian restaurant, which prevented a scheduled press interview and scared off a couple of record companies. It was ever thus...........decent performance, though.
Being less professional and more drugged up than Motorhead? That's messy! I love Neil Gaiman's blog tribute to Lemmy. It's the top result: https://www.google.co.uk/search?sou...1j0i10k1j0i22i30k1j0i22i10i30k1.0.3A51fF7BhA0 Linking it breaks the site, for some reason.
Apart from the Captain's coke habit from the '80's and a bit of speed, they were always boozers. Often to great excess. I've seen the Captain so drunk that he couldn't stand up on stage, so he played lying down. He would often appear naked but very seldom sober. Fights were common place between the band and occasionally with the audience. I recall Rat dismantling a drum kit with the Captain and throwing it, bit by bit, at the crowd. Who promptly threw it all back at them. Rat pissed in a pint glass and threw it at me during a break in a gig at The Hammersmith Palais. I probably deserved it. I'd been yelling "Big Nose" at him all night. For the life of me, I can't remember why? There were some gigs they played with The Ruts in '79 or '80 where both bands bought bags of manure [animal excrement] to throw at each other on stage. Of course some got chucked into the audience and the next thing, the whole venue's covered in it. The bands had to go back and clean it up themselves. No problem for Rat and the Captain, as they met when Rat was cleaning floors and Captain doing toilets in The Fairfield Halls in Croydon. I just can't imagine Dave with a mop, though. Lemmy loved them because they just didn't stop or care about the fall out. They weren't just claiming to be anarchic but were truly not bothered by things. It definitely hurt their career but made them unbelievable live........or truly dreadful. I've walked out on a few occasions because they 'jumped the shark' but I'll always go back. Every ex-member apart from Algy Ward has done too. You can check out but you can never leave........The Damned - 42 Years Of Anarchy, Chaos and Destruction This, featuring Lemmy, gives a pretty good idea of what they were like.....
I went to see this tour at some venue in Camden, I can't remember what one [looked it up and it was Dingwalls]. Jonah Lewie played, which was a bit of a disappointment as it was snowing and getting home cost me a fortune as they cancelled the trains. Still, seeing this was worth it.... This isn't from that venue but brings back some good memories as a friend that went that night died three years back or so......Martha RIP, baby.
A very nice cover of a 60's classic by a British Girl Proto - C86 Indie Band - The Dolly Mixture...............................sweet. Oh okay, one of them, guitarist Rachel Bor [the one on the right], was married to The Captain and they appear on most of his early solo stuff........including that one........yes, that one. You know full well the one that I mean. Don't make me put it on here. I'll bloody do it.
Joe Strummer said he wrote this about football hooliganism......it underwent some lyrical changes, as everything Joe wrote did from time to time as he forgot them. Bits of that original are still there with references to terraces, etc.