Dave Gahan featured in a new ‘The Damned’ documentary

Last year in March, at the annual SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, a documentary about ’70s band The Damned was shown, called “The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead”. One year later, the documentary started being shown at selected movie theaters throughout the world, and yesterday on May 20th it came out on DVD/BluRay in the USA.

The documentary contains old and new interview footage of not only the band, but also of other artists on whom The Damned has had an impact. Names include Chrissie Hynde, Billy Idol, Lemmy, Duff McKagan, and… Dave Gahan.

Whenever Dave Gahan is asked about the artists or bands that impressed him the most when he was a teenager in the late ’70s, The Damned is one of the name that he drops. He told Smash Hits magazine in 1983, “The Damned were my favourite band at that time”. And not only that, but the first record he bought was by The Damned, he joined their fan club, and would attend one of their gigs at Chelmsford’s Chancellor Hall in 1977. He told BAM magazine in 1997: “What got me really inspired to want to be in a band was music like the Clash and the Damned. The idea that I could be on the microphone and show off for a couple of hours and get applauded for it, that really appealed to me.” Dave even covered their song “New Rose” at MusiCares in 2011. So he absolutely deserves to be in this documentary!

Dave Gahan performing at MusiCares in 2011

The documentary will have its UK release in October, and the VOD/digital release date is yet to be announced. So for now, you can only buy the USA release here on Amazon.