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David Lett, his real name and former singer of the Damned, was born in 1956 in Newcastle. At 68, the punk grandpa flirts with American rock, gothic of course!
When he was just a few months old, his family moved to north-west London. Ever the confidant, Dave Vanian likes to talk about discovering music with rock pioneers like Eddie Cochrane in a Hell’s Angels club not far from his home. He also claims that a concert by the New York Dolls, the band of David Johansen and Johnny Thunders, in 1973 simply changed his life. He was seventeen at the time.
After working for a while as a gravedigger (which explains some of his later inclinations), he took the pseudonym Vanian, borrowing two syllables from the word Transylvanian. Because, while being a champion of the English punk movement since 1977, notably with the emblematic album “Damned Damned Damned”, Dave already cultivated a look that was more gothic than punk. Safety pins and zips on skinny pants were not really his thing. It was probably he who led his companions to record “Phantasmagoria” in 1985.
If, like many artists of their generation (those who survived excesses of all kinds), the English group now likes to draw on its classics like “Neat Neat Neat”, “New Rose”, “Smash It Up” and even “Machine Gun Etiquette” often highlighted in their concerts. However, around the historical members Dave Vanian, guitarist Captain Sensible and drummer Rat Scabies (recently reinstated), the quintet still recorded “Darkadelic” in 2023, a record that puts the guitar forward and ultimately sounds very American. Captain Sensible will explain that “Leader Of The Gang” talks about the sexual escapades of Gary Glitter, the fallen star of glam rock, while “Wake The Dead” was written – hold on to your hats – to be played at the funerals of the band’s fans who are bowing out. And it’s amazing!
