Born on April 24th: Captain Sensible (The Damned), the guitarist who says "Wot?"

It's unclear if he was a hopeless romantic when he was born in the London suburbs in 1954, but officially he's still called Raymond Burns.

The dashing septuagenarian is an undeniable pillar of the English punk and new wave scene. While his musical destiny is tied to that of Dave Vanian, the singer of The Damned, he also played in a plethora of often short-lived bands. He learned his first rudiments of guitar with Johnny Moped, who, luckily for him, was not very demanding about the technical qualities of his accompanists. At that time, the still-nascent punk movement was developing in a sort of clan-like autarky. Everybody was mixing with everybody. And when he wasn't earning enough to live by working as a janitor, the man who would soon be nicknamed Captain Sensible flitted here and there. He mingled with the likes of Chrissie Hynde (future Pretenders), Brian James, and even the ineffable Malcolm McLaren.

In 1976, he found himself caught up in the Damned adventure with Dave Vanian and notably Rat Scabies on drums. At their beginnings, these turbulent competitors of the Sex Pistols considered that a song over two minutes was a true insult. Initially a bassist, Captain Sensible only picked up the guitar when Brian James left. Nearly half a century on, he still holds the same position. The Damned abandoned punk long ago but their iconic tracks remain "Neat Neat Neat" and "New Rose".

Parallel to this, with an undeniable sense of irony and humour, Captain Sensible embarked on a solo career during his vacations away from The Damned. This time it was not about three hastily struck chords but an improbable meeting between the Monty Python ("HappyTalk") and Chic ("Wot?"), at least on his first album "Women & Captain First" (1982). I remember seeing him at that time at the Futurama Festival in the UK in September 1982, sporting his eternal red beret and shorts. He took great pleasure in dodging the spittle of a few punks who considered him a traitor to the cause!

His only notable hit remains "Wot?" and his last album "Mad Cows & English Men", quite funny, was recorded in 1996. While he has lost none of his sense of humour, Captain Sensible also enjoys his role as a guru of English punk. In 2023, he thus accepted, without much convincing, to participate in Moby's documentary "Punk Rock Vegan".

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Captain Sensible on stage at the Futurama festival at the Desside Leisure Centre (UK) in September 1982