VETERAN rockers they may be, but when it comes to enjoying a bit of downtime in Dorset, the Damned like to do something traditional and quintessentially English.

“Where abouts is Bridport, is it near Swanage?” asks Captain Sensible aka Raymond Burns and co-founder of the band.

“I used to go on holiday in Swanage when I was a kid. It’s lovely round there and Corfe Castle. Is the steam railway still there? I’d like to go on that.

“We were in North Wales at a festival recently and went on the Llangollen Steam railway. It was great! They let me go on the cabin and shovel the coal. One of the perks of being famous. Wonder if I’ll get to do the same in Swanage?”

The Damned were in the vanguard of Punk and New Wave when it started to make headlines in the mid to late 1970s.

Unlike many of their contemporaries, they are still going strong despite countless different line-ups, shake-ups and bust-ups.

“I think we have the happiest Damned line-up that I can remember,” he said.

“I remember when Lemmy (the legendary founder member of British heavy metal band Motorhead) was our bass player in the late 1970s.

“He is such a trooper, these days he’s out in LA playing in about 12 bands. We toured with Motorhead last year and that was really good fun.

“Lemmy will never change, he is there with his illegal Marlboro Reds and Jack Daniels and the fruit machine he always takes with him on tour.

“We take a 20-year-old SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) machine with us and sit about playing Mario Karts. I much prefer the old retro games to the new-fangled ones with new-fangled graphics.”

The Damned’s unique brand of panto punk rock won them legions of devoted fans and they are still in huge demand – they were in the county earlier this month when they played at the Endorse it in Dorset festival.

“That was a fantastic festival,” endorsed the Captain.

“It was a bit more rock and roll than some of them, which have got a bit too corporate for my taste.

“Acts are driven to the stage and never see any mud. That’s not a proper festival. There was a great veggie café too.

“It’s nice to be touring in the summer for a change. We usually tour in the winter when it is cold and everyone has colds that go round the bus.

“I don’t think our gigs have changed a vast amount since we started,” he said. We were never spat at – that was the Sex Pistols, and they deserved it – but now if I start to do a bit of Happy Talk, I get booed a bit. It’s all a bit pantomime but good fun. In any case, we use a keyboard now and spit and electronics don’t mix too well.”

The Damned supported by the Boot Hill Allstars are that the Electric Palace in Bridport on Thursday, August 19. Tickets cost £16.50 from Bridport TIC on 01308 424901.