The Damned: “In those days, songs tended to spill out”
From Uncut’s March 2022 issue [Take 298]. The making of “Neat Neat Neat” by The Damned…
“It’s pretty simple, really,” explains Brian James, The Damned guitarist and composer of their classic 45 “Neat Neat Neat”. “It’s a rock’n’roll song.” Kicking off with a corrupted Eddie Cochran bass twang, The Damned’s second single throws together bursts of thrilling guitar riffage over an addictively stuttering rhythm, a coolly impenetrable lyric and a chorus that lands like three swift rabbit punches. The result is a supercharged blast of punked-up garage rock.
“Neat Neat Neat” was recorded live in a room once used by British fascist Oswald Mosley, squeezed between a terraced house and a garage, fuelled by cheap cider, copious ciggies and a surfeit of hostile energy. “There’s nothing posh about it,” says Captain Sensible, who played bass on the record. “It’s rough and raw. It was made in this dingy room with four fairly aggressive people shouting at each other! That’s why it sounds the way it does.”
The Damned had formed in 1976. In October, five weeks before the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy In The UK”, they released their debut, “New Rose”, the first British punk single. Shortly afterwards they joined the Pistols, The Clash and Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers on the infamous Anarchy Tour of the UK. “Everyone wanted to be the pre-eminent punk group, especially the managers,” says Captain Sensible. “They had this dreadful rivalry. The bands got on, but the managers were all sneering at each other. It was quite funny, really.”
They recorded “Neat Neat Neat” less than a month later, at Pathway Studios in north London, during sessions for their debut album, Damned Damned Damned. As with “New Rose”, the producer was Nick Lowe. “We all knew that something was going on and our time had come,” says Lowe. “It all seemed very natural. There was a distinct meeting of minds, which was really exciting.” “Neat Neat Neat” emerged as the obvious choice for the album’s opening statement, as well as the band’s next single. “That was the track where I thought we had something really different,” says drummer Rat Scabies. “I always thought it had a really good groove, with the snaky bassline. It’s kind of slippery. Dare I say it, it’s a proper piece of music!”
The original Damned lineup split within a year of the song coming out. Later in 2022, they will reunite for a series of UK dates. “Obviously ‘Neat Neat Neat’ has to be there and ‘New Rose’,” says James. “They’re always a pleasure to play. Do we play them as fast as the recordings? Faster!”
BRIAN JAMES [GUITAR]: “Neat Neat Neat” was written just before Christmas 1976. It would have been around the same time as the Anarchy Tour, maybe a little after. In those days, songs tended to spill out. I was sitting around playing my Gibson SG and the riff came out. I was a big Eddie Cochran fan. Forget Elvis, it was always Eddie for me, and to a lesser extent Jerry Lee Lewis. I bastardised it a little, and that twanging riff formed the basis of the song, and the bassline.
CAPTAIN SENSIBLE [BASS]: The bass is probably the most important instrument for the riff. I remember when Brian taught me the song. He sat me down and said, “It’s Eddie Cochran – with a twist!” The twist is that the third time you play it, there’s a little lurch, a kink, in the riff. I’ve seen bands playing Damned covers, and they manage not to play the twist. I have to tell them off! I walk into the dressing room afterwards and put them right.
JAMES: I was going out with a girl called Judy who lived at this guy’s place just off New King’s Road. Judy was American and she used a lot of colloquialisms. That had a little influence on the lyrics. Also, there was an old Doors album called Absolutely Live where Jim Morrison says something like, “Kinda good, kinda good, kinda neat, kinda neat…” Things like that stick out, you remember them. Really, the song wrote itself…
FIND THE FULL INTERVIEW FROM UNCUT MARCH 2022/TAKE 298 IN THE ARCHIVE
