Vintage Rock Pod spoke to one of the heroes of the UK's '70s punk scene, The Damned's original drummer Rat Scabies (real name: Chris Millar) in a revealing interview where he talks about:

- the origins of the punk scene
- how he approached Sid Vicious to be his lead singer
- his thoughts on the ill-fated Anarchy In The UK Tour
- their fanbase evolving as they went from punk to goth rock
- burying the hatchet so the original line-up can reunite
- plans for the 2022 tour
- ...and if could we get new music from the four of them

The Damned were pioneers of the punk movement, widely credited as being the first UK punk band to release a single, the first to release an album and the first UK punk band to tour in America. They were a part of the Anarchy In The UK Tour with the Sex Pistols and The Clash before being kicked off by Malcolm McLaren. They achieved nine Top 40 singles and seven Top 40 albums in the UK.

On October 21st, 2020 The Damned announced that in 2021 the original line up of Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Brian James and Rat Scabies would play a series of shows. Thise shows have been poushed to 2022 due to th eongoing pandemic. This marks the first time in over two decades that Brian James and Rat Scabies will play with Vanian and Sensible.

Following is an excerpt from the chat with Scabies.

VRP: Last year when the news broke that the original line-up were a reforming for a series of gigs, it was quite a surprise. How did that all come about then?

Rat: "Dave Vanian is the one who really wants to do it. I think it's funny, you know, you go through these sort of things with band members and stuff. What I didn't want was it to be too late, just because of some personal issues that really didn't seem that big a deal to me. And I didn't want three of us to be standing around a grave saying we should have done the reunion. Unless it was mine, of course!"

VRP:  What was it like when you all got back in the room for the first time? Was there any animosity lingering? Was it all "bury the hatchet?"

Rat: "It was grown up, really. The first five seconds were a bit uncertain, you know; Is he gonna hit me? Am I gonna hit him? But you know, we all know why we're there. What we want to do and what we want to achieve from it. So it was painfully obvious you just have to put all this away until this is done and try and let people know you, that you're not the person they think you are. We spent so many years touring and being mates and doing all of that kind of 'band thing' that you know, you got to jog your memory as to why that was. And why you thought Dave Vanian was funny or why the Captain had an interesting idea about where we’re going for lunch, or, the great songs that you wrote. All of those things you have to take back on board because you reject them when you fall out and there's animosity."

VRP:  In terms of looking at the music you're you’re going to play, it's going to be the first two albums on the live show. Is there going to be any surprises? A big stage show? Or is it just gonna be flat out music?

Rat: "Ooh. I’m, keeping quiet about what we're going to do. Me and the Captain were talking about the equipment we were going to use because that's quite a big part of it, it's the sound of the band from the time - today everything sounds very different! They found Captain this bass guitar that he wants to use, he said 'Oh yeah, that's perfect. How much is it?' And I said, 'Oh, it's about 200 quid.' And he said 'Yeah, get me six.' So I think I know what he's got in mind.  They said I could have a flame thrower if I wanted to set fire to the drums. It's kind of weird when you get to my age. Do I really want to act like that? Set fire to the drums again?"

VRP: And so when will you head back into the studio as a four-piece to rehearse properly? Have you got any plans of when that's going to happen?

Rat: "No, but we’re talking about it. We want it to be a longer process. You know, we don't want to just go in sort of three days before the first show and hope that everything's alright. I think we need to get used to feeling like a band. I think if we're going to do it well, I think we have to feel like a band does, you know, which means you spend time and drink beer and do all that fun stuff."

Check out the complete interview below.