DAMNED DOCUMENTARY TO
WORLD PREMIERE AT SXSW
The Damned Will Attend, Perform Afterward
Poster Photo Credit: Ian Dickson // [email protected]
Trailer Premieres on Pitchfork
Chrissie Hynde, Mick Jones, Lemmy, Members of Sex Pistols, Pink Floyd, Guns ‘N’ Roses All Appear in Film
THE DAMNED: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead is filmmaker Wes Orshoski’s long-awaited documentary of British punk pioneers The Damned. The film will world premiere Wednesday March 18th at The Paramount Theatre in Austin as part of the 2015 South by Southwest Film & Music Festival. The Damned will attend the premiere and perform later that night at an official SXSW showcase at Mohawk.
Shot around the world over the past four years, the authorized film features appearances by Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders), Mick Jones (The Clash), Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead), Duff McKagan (Guns ‘N’ Roses), Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), actor/comedian Fred Armisen, and more.
The world premiere is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. on March 18, and will be attended by the current line-up of the Damned, including founding members David Vanian and Captain Sensible.
The third prong in the holy trinity of English punk—alongside the Sex Pistols and The Clash—The Damned beat both in the race to be the first to put punk on wax: The Damned were the first U.K. punk band to release a single (1976’s essential “New Rose”) and album (1977’s iconic Damned Damned Damned) and they were the first to bring British punk to America, including a stop at New York’s hallowed CBGBs.
Weathering near fatal line-changes, The Damned went on to record hits in the new wave era (“Love Song” & “Smash It Up”) and registered a massive impact on the 1980s goth scene. The Damned is one of the only surviving band’s from punk’s first wave.
THE DAMNED: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead charts the band’s unique history and bitter infighting; it captures the band in the midst of a 35th anniversary tour in 2011 which estranged former members Rat Scabies and Brian James answered with their own anniversary tour. Meanwhile other former members reunite in the unlikeliest of places—a Welsh cancer ward; elsewhere, members of Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Melvins, T.S.O.L., Buzzcocks, Adverts and the Offspring detail the Damned’s role in setting fire to the dinosaur rock of the 1970s while sparking the punk movement in America.
THE DAMNED: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead is longtime journalist/ photographer Wes Orshoski’s follow-up to 2011’s Lemmy, the award-winning portrait of Motörhead legend Kilmister (which Orshoski co-directed/produced).
The Damned’s current line-up of Vanian, Sensible, keyboardist Monty Oxymoron, drummer Pinch and bassist Stu West will launch the film by appearing at the world premiere and with a performance at 11 p.m. that night (Weds. March 18) at Mohawak, on the first night of the SXSW Music Festival.
THE DAMNED: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead
Screening Times and Locations at SXSW:
Wednesday, March 18, 2:15 p.m.
(World Premiere to be attended by The Damned)
Paramount Theatre
713 N Congress Ave., Austin
Thursday, March 19, 11 a.m.
Stateside Theatre
719 Congress Ave., Austin
Friday, March 20, 4 p.m.
Marchesa Theatre
6226 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin
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