The Damned Reminisce About Australian Tours: ‘That Was Almost The End’

Ahead of their 50th anniversary Australian tour, The Music caught up with The Damned's Dave Vanian and Rat Scabies for a chat about memories from previous visits to Australia.

The Damned

Pioneering British punks The Damned are returning to Australia and New Zealand this month, commemorating their 50th anniversary on their Final Damnation tour.

Launching the tour at Auckland’s Powerstation on Tuesday, 8 September, the shows continue in Australia, taking place at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday, 10 September, Brisbane’s The Tivoli on Friday, 11 September, and Melbourne’s Forum on Sunday, 13 September.

The forthcoming shows follow The Damned’s “final” tour of Australia in early 2024. When they visited that year, the shows marked the first tour since 1989 to feature the band’s classic line-up of Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies and Paul Gray.

Formed in 1976, The Damned’s career spans over four decades and includes numerous acclaimed albums, including Damned Damned Damned, Machine Gun Etiquette, and Phantasmagoria.

The band are often cited alongside The Clash and The Sex Pistols as a seminal force in music, thanks to their frenetic fusion of punk rock, gothic influences, and dark lyrics. To this day, The Damned continue to deliver chaotic, theatrical, and unforgettable performances. And this year, they’ll perform the most definitive shows of their career.

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Ahead of their return to Australia and New Zealand, The Music caught up with Dave Vanian and Rat Scabies. The pair looked back on Australian tour memories to celebrate – see what they had to say below.

Dave Vanian

The Australian Outback was wild. When we went there and the regional areas, we had great audiences. It was always a really good time—a different vibe than the city shows. A lot of real hardcore fans hit these shows.

It’s a vast wasteland out there, the outback. It feels very isolated, yet you feel like there are hundreds of eyes watching you, but then you realise there's nothing around you that is alive or moving. It was so surreal and very eerie feeling. There was just something about it.

We had a terrifying flight in a tiny Cessna aircraft that flew us between the remote shows, and at one point the pilot fell asleep. We were throwing stuff at him to try and wake him up.

Shooting a video for Alone Again Or, in Broken Hill of all places, was something we didn’t expect. The heat was intense, like nothing I had felt.

It was supposed to have been filmed in California, but here we are in the same desert surroundings where Mad Max 2 was filmed, shooting a video. That was not on my list.

We did a show in the middle of nowhere, shot all day in the heat and then literally walked on stage from the desert. I found red sand in my clothes for years after that.

Australia holds a very special place in our hearts. We have played all over the country from the desert to the Sydney Opera House. So many amazing memories, but those outback shows are etched deep in my memory.

Rat Scabies

It was back in the 80s—87 I think—when I found myself down under.

The Damned had been riding on the back of the success of our album Phantasmagoria. We’d even managed to squeeze out a hit single, Eloise.

We’d based ourselves in Sydney and were scooting in and out of the city playing shows in places like Newcastle, etc. Along the way we’d made friends with Melbourne-based cow punks The Johnnys, who showed us the finest in late-night drinking and eating and where to find cowboy shirts.

Eloise had done well, so management decided we needed another single and had chosen our cover of Love’s Alone Again Or.

We needed a video, and the director wanted to catch Golden Hour.

Hmm.

We played a show, slept for an hour and then found ourselves in a small plane heading to Broken Hill at 3 am. So far so good.

We took off, and I decided to catch up on a few zzz’s along with Bryn [Merrick], Roman [Jugg] and Dave.[Vanian]. The sound of the engines was strangely calming, and I nodded off without any trouble.

I guess I’d been dozing for an hour or so when I was shaken awake by Roman. I didn’t bother to open my eyes when he asked me if the pilot should be asleep.

Drowsily, I replied that he must be on autopilot and not to worry.

Good job he didn’t believe me.

He tapped the pilot on the shoulder, who woke up with a start and asked for coffee.

That was almost the end of The Damned.

The show that night was wild. Blimey, you Ozzies certainly know how to enjoy yourselves and treated us to some of the best gigs we ever played.

Thank you.

It’s good to be back…

The Damned tour Australia and New Zealand this month. Tickets are available via The Phoenix.