I always wondered what happened to Criminal Damage as I discovered them on a No Future compilation called A Country Fit For Heroes Vol 2 back in the day! They were one of the better bands on the compilation and it was a shame I couldn’t track them down but in the 80’s it was hard working keeping track of bands. On discovering Criminal Damage had reformed I had to run an interview with them. Steve Damage the vocalist answers all the questions.

First off who’s survived in the band from the 1982 line-up?

Sadly Chris the original singer passed away a few years ago. Spud was/is reportedly in and out of prison, so initially Tez the drummer and Keef the guitarist were on board, after a few rehearsals though Tez just couldn’t commit, so our mate Brad joined , Brad previously played with South London loonies The Blood .

I always wondered what happened to you guys since the No Future compilation. So what happened to the band and have any of you played in bands since then?

No Future made all the right noises but some bad habits, prison and then Tez’s hand got severed and it all pretty much fell apart from there. By the time Tez could play drums again, the band and No Future records were over. UK Punk was in pretty poor shape by the late 80’s and like a lot of old punks and Skinheads they drifted into US hardcore, thrash metal and bad hair. They both played in Virus together for couple of years. Tez kept playing in numerous local bands until recently, Hateball were probably the best known .

I presume you’ve played the Skinhead Reunion, Rebellion and a Punk Festival in Scotland but are there any other shows planned?

We were due to play all those festivals last year but after Tez left we just weren’t ready in time. Thankfully all these festivals are run by brilliant people and we’ve been invited back to play all of them this year. It will be an absolute fucking honour to play those shows. We’ve had some exciting offers, we’re currently looking at Europe, West Coast America and possibly Canada too but we’ll see how that works out .

What has the feedback been regards you guys reforming?

Fuck me , just fucking unbelievable, utterly staggering . We honestly had no idea how far round the world, one track Criminal crew had travelled and how many people loved it . Our brothers The Chisel covered it and they weren’t even born when it was released !! As soon as we had a presence on social media and people could contact us it just came pouring in. Last October when we released, Punk fucking rock EP our first new material in 40 years the reaction was beyond anything we ever expected. The day it was released I sat up until 4 o’clock in the fucking morning replying to every single message, it brought a fucking lump to my throat, it was just so humbling .

You have an EP released so where can our readers pick up a copy?

Punk fucking rock EP is 5 brand new tracks of UK82 Punk/Oi and a reworking of Kicked to shit from the original 1982 demo. It’s available to download on all platforms and CD’s are available from Bandcamp and Subcultz .

Turn it off turn it down EP is 3 more new tracks and is released for download on all platforms on 1/3/2024. It’s like buses you wait 40 years and 2 turn up at once !!

Where do you get the inspiration / ideas for your songs?

Just life I guess, Blood in blood out is about fighting, Breed is about is football, 80’s terrace culture, Long live life I wrote about going to my mates funeral and listening to all the heartfelt speeches and peoples outpouring of grief. If they’d only shared those feelings with the deceased when she was alive it would have transformed her life. I learned a hard lesson that day, to value and love the people that matter to me, none of us here forever and it hurts when they’re gone. Women, life and liberty is about the injustice and inequality women suffer, Turn it off turn it down is about battering your neighbour for playing shit music too loud, No more is inspired by my old Skinhead mate Tim taking his own life, the figures for male suicide are fucking shocking .

How do the modern days compare to the eighties? My first thought is lack of violence at gigs and a better sound!

The music was fucking brilliant back then but venues were largely dark, violent, lawless places. For years football and music was senselessly violent, we thrived on the confrontation and the tense atmosphere, it was so exciting, proper loved it. It was a unique period in British history, a fucking brilliant time to be a teenager and I’m pleased I was part of it. Its hugely different these days and I guess it’s lost its edge at bit but I’m too fucking old for that shit now. I’ve taken my wife, daughter and even the fucking dog to the Skinhead reunion and that’s a nice thing . It would have been a fucking bloodbath back in the day .

So now you’ve released an EP are there any plans for a full album to be released?

Our second EP , Turn it off , turn it down is available to download on all platforms on 1/3/2024, CD’s will follow . We’re still proudly , completely DIY without a label for the moment . Our mates at Subcultz and their infrastructure have helped us enormously with shifting Punk Fucking Rock CD’s. We’re just flat out concentrating on rehearsing the set at the moment but yes we’re still actively writing and hopefully that will happen

So what does the future hold for Criminal Damage?

This is our last chance to give the band a fitting epitaph or a new beginning, we’re proper so fucking over excited about making music, our life wouldn’t be the same without it

Anything you’d like to add?

I’m dyslexic as fuck so this has been hard graft writing this but thank you for asking us for the interview, it’s been an honour and privilege to be included, thank you. Keep in touch with us on all our social media sites.

Thanks to Steve Damage for doing the interview. Please be sure to check out the new material as the new songs are brilliant with no compromise at all! Coming to a town/city near you!

Criminal Damage Website