======================================================================= An Interview with Rat and Roman Jugg for Radio 25M Australia originally broadcast 7th April 1986. ======================================================================= Interviewer: From The Damned, Rat Scabies and Roman Jugg. Hi guys. Rat: Hello. Interviewer: Welcome to Australia. Is this the first tour for you here? Rat: Yes. It's a bit difficult taking it all in, Sydney, I mean it's a pretty big place. Interviewer: 'Cause I notice you're doing two gigs in Sydney and one in Melbourne. Is that all you're doing? Rat: There's talk of doing a third next week when we come back from Melbourne, but I dunno yet... Interviewer: Yeah, just see how things go. Rat: Well it's just to let everybody know that we are a group and we sort of play, and we're there and there are people interested in us I suppose, the audience like. Interviewer: Yeah. One song that I really loved, that I first heard off the new album and that was Grimly Fiendish. Were you a little disapointed it didn't take off in a big way like it should've? Roman: It was a reasonable hit in England. Rat: I think really it was, that whole album was sort of first album for a new group 'cause Captain had just left, Roman started playing guitar and it was sort of, it was the first time we'd been into the studio for three years, so it was a bit like...y'know, everything had changed, technology and all that stuff so really we just sort of went in with a hand full of songs and tried to make the best album we could. So really, it's not, doesn't really come as a suprise that it wasn't a great hit because apart from the fact that we spent a long time making it because the producer wasn't actually very good. So it was kind of, it was sort of new ground for us in a lot of ways. So it doesn't really matter 'cause I know were gonna make a much better record. Interviewer: OK guys, well what we're gonna do is have a listen to Grimly Fiendish and then we'll come back and talk some more. This is 2SM, Ray Authur here with The Damned. [Grimly Fiendish Plays] Interviewer: I still feel that song should have been a mega hit. That's The Damned from the Phantasmagoria album and Grimly Fiendish. It's six past eleven, 2SM and Ray Authur, I have Rat and Roman in the studios from the band. Guys, you broke up for a while, when you put the band back together was it put back with the idea of having a brand new band rather than carrying on the old Damned and all that? Rat: No, it was to sort of carry on the Damned tradition which is one of the reasons Roman went from keyboards to guitar was because he's the right man to be a member of The Damned. It wasn't concious, it wasn't that we'd stopped working in that period or split up it was just that we didn't have any record company, any managers, any agents or anything...so it was just survival. Roman: There was no one individual that was bigger than the band, The Damned was the most important thing. We felt it was important to just carry on as The Damned. Interviewer: I've noticed like in the UK you're fairly big, in Australia you're still a...like everyone knows of The Damned but they're not quite sure what you do... Rat: What we do... Well one of the biggest problems we have is getting people to listen to us, 'cause a lot of people thing The Damned mainly think 'three chord punk thrash band', which is something that we never have been and we're not. So really it's, were here to sort try and draw as much attention to ourselves and get people to listen to what we do and say we are a group that plays music we're not this load of drunken poms that love smashing up hotel rooms... Interviewer: You produced or co-produced the album yourself was that a thing you just decieded 'right we're gonna do this time ourselves'? Rat: No, no, we did a lot of that before anyway, we've always sort of co-produced. I think it's a case of you know, we know what we want to a degree and the producers there to help us get it. Interviewer: You're doing a tour of Australia as I said at the moment. Is this part of a world tour? Roman: We've been on the road now, well since last May really. Rat: Was when it started, that was when we did 40 dates in England, then we went round Europe for about 9 or 10 weeks, then we went back, recorded Eloise and spent a couple of weeks in England with that. Then we did America for 6 weeks was it? Then a week in New Zealand and now we're here for 10 days and then it's on to Tokyo and then we go back and make the new album... Roman: In Denmark... Interviewer: Really, why Denmark? Rat: 'Cause it's a studio nobodys used yet and we want to sound different. I'm fed up with most commercial records that all have that drum sound that sounds like it's recorded in a cave and the standed sort of distorted guitar. We figure that Denmark is probably a good place, 'cause it's such a neutral place and there's not many distractions, we can probably come up with something that hopefully's a bit more imaginative. Interviewer: Now lets talk about Eloise. Why did you record Eloise? Rat: Oh, so we'd have a hit record and make millions...(laughs) Interviewer: Don't beat around the bush, just tell me! Roman: It's just a classic song and we wanted to do it sort of our way. Rat: One of the things I like most about it is all the different meanings you can get from the lyric. 'Cause my interpritation of the lyrics is of a schitzophenic drag artist. You know, if you play it and listen to it and think of that then you can actually apply that to it, or it could be a straight love song or it could be...it was actually written about a stripper. So Barry (Ryan) was telling us... Well we rub shoulders with that type... Interviewer: Well look guys thanks for coming in. Rat: Thanks for having us come in. Interviewer: And you're playing tonight and tommorrow night at Selina's. Roman: Yep, half-past-twelve we're on stage. Interviewer: So can I ask what we can expect, first time in Australia? Rat: (long pause) No. Interviewer: Right. Rat: Hey, hand over your twelve bucks and find our for yourself. Interviewer: Yeah, it's a trick or treat time. Roman: Some old, some borrowed, some new. That's what you can expect. Interviewer: Yeah, well Rat and Roman, thanks for coming in. Roman: Thank you. Rat: Cheers.