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The Damned’s Captain Sensible On Touring With T. Rex, 2020 Rock Hall Inductee
(Photo by Freddie Reed/Mirrorpix / Getty Images) –
THE PUNK MEETS THE GODFATHER: Marc Bolan and Dave Vanian of The Damned photographed during T. Rex’s ‘Dandy In The Underworld’ tour on March 24, 1977.
It seems all but impossible now, but 43-years ago, in 1977, “the year that punk broke” (mostly), two phenomenal bands from different genres and generations rather unexpectedly toured together. The glam, iconic and hugely influential rock band T. Rex led by Marc Bolan brought along the younger, awesome and blistering punk band The Damned. “The Dandy In the Underworld Tour” began at Newcastle City Hall in March of that year and played eight U.K. dates including the Glasgow Apollo, the Rainbow in London and Portsmouth’s Locarno Ballroom, which would be T. Rex’s last ever U.K. concert. Tragically, six months later, T. Rex’s Marc Bolan died in a car crash at age 29. The Damned’s inimitable Captain Sensible, 66, here writes about traveling on Bolan’s tour bus, the link between punk and glam and how “Smash It Up Part 1” came to be.
By Captain Sensible
Unlike some of his fellow ’70s rock stars, Marc saw some worth in punk rock. He was certainly smart to hitch his ship to the coming new wave. Most of the punks dug T. Rex too – and glam rock in general for that matter. There were no 10-minute drum solos there to moan about, that’s for sure.
Erica Echenberg / Redferns –
GLAM SLAM: Marc Bolan on stage with The Damned during their U.K. tour in 1977. L-R Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Marc Bolan (front), Rat Scabies and Brian James.
So Marc decided to grab a slice of the growing punk scene by taking a band of that persuasion out on the road as a support act on his 1977 tour. We got the shot owing to the great man spotting a pic of myself – a confessed glam fan – wearing a Bolan T-shirt appearing in a music paper.
Being on a small label (Stiff Records virtually started the indie trend single handedly) The Damned were penniless. So Marc was kind enough to invite us to travel on his own tour bus, which, being 1977, was an old fashioned coach, the likes of which you can see carting the Beatles about the U.K. Magical Mystery style.
The later incarnation of T. Rex was all seasoned session players and Marc had obviously told them to ramp up the tempos for the punks in the audience. It was a fairly raunchy set they played and which I watched from the wings most nights.
Gus Stewart / Getty Images –
MACHINE GUN ETIQUETTE: Captain Sensible performing with The Damned in the U.K. circa 1977.
The Marc we toured with had been through his “arrogant superstar” phase and was surprisingly approachable. We tried to persuade him to release as a single the kick-ass version of “Deborah” he was performing on these gigs but he said the label weren’t keen.
In fact, on those long drives on the bus he would give the Damned regular pep talks in how to deal with studios, management, record labels, etc. I remember one thing he said: “Why not put two B sides on the flip of a single? The fans will love you for it.” Yes, I’d had a few T. Rex singles at home like that so I already knew what he was talking about.
With the end of the tour approaching, The Damned was invited onstage at Portsmouth to jam on “Get It On,” where I got a bit overexcited and shredded my hand somewhat while attempting to rip all the strings off the guitar. It was going well until I got to the thick ones. I didn’t get my stage name for no reason. Sensible … you knew it was ironic, no?
Daytime TV hadn’t been invented at the time of Marc’s sad passing. I found out when my mum came back from the shops where the Evening Standard had Marc’s demise splashed across the front page. “‘ere… your mate’s had a car crash… what’s his name… Roley… or Boley or summa?” “Not Marc Bolan was it?” “Yeah, I think that might have been it.” So I rushed ‘round and bought a newspaper and sure enough he’d gone.
I locked myself in my room the rest of the day. Marc had been really good to us and a sad little tune pretty much wrote itself as soon as I started fumbling with a guitar to take my mind off the dreadful news. By the time the album came out the melancholy instrumental I wrote had been given the title “Smash It Up Part 1,” which I suppose is appropriately macabre considering the way poor old Marc went.
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