IF you’ve ever wondered how punk rock came alive, look no further than the pre-punk-band life of the Damned guitarist Captain Sensible.
“I was living in squats,” says Sensible, who brings his pioneering punk band to the Blender Theater on New Year’s Eve. “I was stealing milk off doorsteps. I was getting food that was past its sell-by date out of the dustbins of the local supermarket. That’s how I lived.”
As he tells it, this story explains the very roots of punk itself.
“We were destined to be cannon fodder,” he explains. “In Britain, if you’re working class, there’s no way out. You either become a footballer, a bank robber or a rock ‘n’ roll musician. We were desperately trying to break out.”
So when the Damned released what is widely credited as the first-ever UK punk record – their 1977 debut album, “Damned Damned Damned” – they not only helped ignite a movement, they nearly set England ablaze.
“It caused a furor,” says Sensible. “We would get chased by angry mobs. The newspapers were saying it was the end of civilization.”
As such, Sensible unsurprisingly fails to see the same fire and passion in bands today who adopt the “punk” label.
“When you get these punk groups coming offstage shaking hands with their accountants,” he says, “That’s not very punk.”
And while after 30 years, the band led by Sensible and vocalist Dave Vanian plays very different music – the spry new album “So, Who’s Paranoid?” combines elements of Goth, garage, punk and even cabaret – the attitude that has long driven it is still there.
“I don’t shake hands with vicars, and I don’t walk around wearing a suit,” says Sensible.