Far from trading on former glories, the seminal UK punks will be treating fans to a sneak preview of their Grave Disorder album, which is due through Nitro in August.

“I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun making a record,” Captain Sensible tells hotpress. “Being in LA for the duration obviously helped, but what really blew me away was the studio. Recording used to be a real fucking ordeal, whereas now there are gizmos to do all the hard bits. Seriously, being in a band in the ‘70s was ten times harder.”

The Damned swapped Los Angeles for New York last week, when they journeyed to the Hammerstein Ballroom for Joey Ramones’ posthumous birthday bash.

“It’s a bloody shame,” he reflects. “If anyone was looking for somebody to blame for punk, his would have been one of the first doors to knock on. We met The Ramones when they played at Dingwalls in London in ’76 and got on well with them from the start – especially Joey who was a decent bloke and a great punk singer.”

Despite living on different continents, The Captain and Joey remained close friends.

“Recently we’d been emailing each other quite frequently due to the fact that he’d roped yours truly into singing a bit of backing vocals on his new solo album. There was no mention of his illness in his communication. Perhaps he didn’t want to bother anyone.”

Support at the TBMC is provided by newly reconvened Dublin punks Paranoid Visions (see story elsewhere in Music News).