Sick Of Being Sick

Greetings, all. Been out for the count since Sunday night with some sorta weird alien stomach voodoo - couldn't hold down food or get out of bed all day yesterday, running a fever, simultaneous chills, complete lack of energy. Doing much better today, but I'm still taking it easy. I appreciate all the well-wishes I got at Facebook. Thanks.

Meantime, I thought I'd present the one thing that'll cure anyone's ills: Some vintage Damned footage. Film or video of the original Brian James lineup is more scarce than a stray hair on Rick Perry's head. Capt. Sensible once told me that we have then-manager Jake Riviera to blame for that, as he'd ask anyone like Don Letts who approached with a film camera for insane sums of money, all for the privilege of filming his charges. Too bad - the existing footage displays a raw, powerhouse, chaotic world-beater of a band. It's no mistake they arrested the interests of so many of us.

First up, a version of "Fan Club" mistakenly mislabled at YouTube as being from 1978 - were that the case, we'd be seeing short-lived second guitarist Lu Edmunds and no Rat Scabies behind the traps. This looks to have been filmed at the Marquee, and I love it for the claustrophobic feel of band and audience squashed together in tight quarters as The Damned rip the shit out of this 1st LP highlight:



Next we have two parts of an NBC TV news report that was America's first real exposure to English punk. It was broadcast on a great Saturday night news show called "Weekend" which ran once a month in what was usually "Saturday Night Live's" slot. This footage is incredible, as we not only get to see the band onstage at a few different venues, but at a mixing session for "Neat Neat Neat" (complete with a cameo from producer Nick Lowe in the control booth), at the photo session for the single's cover, and overall takes a less sensational tone than UK media coverage of the time.





Okay, enough from me for today. Enjoy these blasts from the past. Thanks for reading this.

POSTSCRIPT: Rat Scabies himself wrote me at Facebook with the following info on these clips: "Hi Tim, thanks for the link, I've never seen it all before, but now that I have, I'm certain it's not the Marquee, but could possibly be at the Roxy ~ if it's not the Roxy then it must be some dodgy shithole somewhere in the north ;-)"

Let my fave British punk rock drummer-cum-grail hunter have the last word. Amen.