Their first new album in 10 years, Evil Spirits was recorded in 9 days at Atomic Sound Studios, Brooklyn with legendary Bowie and T Rex producer Tony Visconti. It also marks the return to the band of Black Album and Strawberries period bassist Paul Gray.
“We deliberately recorded the album retro style,” explains Captain Sensible. “The same way our debut album was made, basically. There’s something wonderful about the seventies sounds; glam, rock and punk records, they all sound so great and Tony specialises in beautifully crafted old school production. He had us all playing live, bashing it out in the same room with a focus on getting the initial band version of each song as close as possible to the finished thing."
Evil Spirits is set for release on 13 April via Search and Destroy/Spinefarm. It's available to pre-order here.
The album is preceded by a single, 'Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow'.
“It’s supposed to be very optimistic, even though it’s about a dark subject,” says Dave Vanian. “As an artist, you can’t help but reflect the times, because that’s what art does. I think we always do it, but in a slightly different way. So a song like ‘Standing…’ may seem quite joyous and uplifting musically, but some of the lyrics might be about quite dark things. That’s what I’d like to think this album is – an uplifting album, not a moaning old album – not ‘this is terrible, and that’s terrible’, and then not offering any answers. It’s more a case of, ‘If we get it together, maybe we could change things a bit’."
As previously announced, The Damned kick off their UK tour this Friday 26 January in Newcastle, culminating in a pair of London shows on 16 and 17 February. Full dates are....
26th January - Newcastle, O2 Academy
27th January - Dundee, Caird Hall
28th January - Glasgow, O2 Academy
30th January - Leeds, O2 Academy Leeds
31st January - Manchester, Academy 1
1st February - Birmingham, O2 Academy
3rd February - Leicester, O2 Academy
4th February - Nottingham, Rock City
6th February - Folkestone, Leas Cliff Hall
7th February - Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
9th February - Cardiff, Great Hall
10th February - Bristol O2, Academy Bristol
11th February - Bournemouth, O2 Academy
13th February - Southampton, O2 Guildhall
14th February - Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion
16th February - Koko, London
17th February - London, O2 Forum
Tickets are available here.
The Damned answer your questions in the new edition of Vive Le Rock! Order it here!
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