“It could hardly have been more in tune with the gothic scene’s aesthetic preferences if it had come with free bat wings”: The pioneering British punk band who embraced the darkness to make a classic 80s goth album

The Damned posing for a photograph in 1986.

As much as the music press of the day might’ve liked to have pigeonholed The Damned as British punk rock’s clown princes – all mohair jumpers, custard pies and foul-mouthed goofiness – there was always something darker and more sophisticated lurking in the shadows of their fizzing creativity.

Even as far back as the band’s 1977 debut album, Damned Damned Damned, songs like Fan Club and Feel The Pain showcased a penchant for back street menace and macabre shifting shadows, frontman Dave Vanian’s potent baritone suavely bringing a dash of Hammer Horror melodrama to the album’s trashy post-Stooges clatter.