Words @killer.solo.music
From punk revolution to UFO, home studios and four-track cassette recorders, Paul Gray proves that after 50 years, the only thing that really matters is the music.
There are musicians.
Then there are lifers.
The ones who’d still be writing songs if nobody was listening. The ones who don’t need social media validation, Spotify algorithms or million-dollar studios to justify picking up an instrument.
Paul Gray is one of those people.
His résumé alone reads like a history lesson in British rock. Eddie and the Hot Rods. The Damned. UFO. Three bands. Three completely different worlds. Yet after spending time talking with him ahead of The Damned’s Final Damnation Australian tour, one thing became crystal clear…
He doesn’t see any difference.
“It’s all rock and roll at the end of the day.”
That sentence pretty much sums up Paul Gray.
For decades fans have argued over genres. Punk versus metal. New Wave versus hard rock. Underground versus mainstream.
Paul couldn’t care less.
“It’s all the same four chords,” he laughs. Different melodies. Different tempos. Different singers. That’s about it.
It’s refreshing.
Because while everyone else spent forty years building walls between scenes, Paul simply kept making music.
Joining The Damned in 1980 wasn’t about preserving punk history. It was about joining a band that refused to stand still.
The Black Album wasn’t interested in repeating New Rose.
Strawberries wasn’t trying to recreate 1977.
The Damned were already mutating into something darker, stranger and infinitely more adventurous.
Paul’s melodic bass playing became part of that evolution, inspired by players like Geezer Butler, Felix Pappalardi and John Entwistle. Instead of simply locking into the kick drum, his bass lines became another melody weaving between guitars and vocals.
It’s the kind of musicianship you don’t always notice until somebody points it out.
Then you can’t unhear it.
His move to UFO happened almost by accident.
One phone call.
Learn the songs.
World tour.
No rehearsal.
Just jump on stage and survive.
Only Paul Gray could tell that story like it was perfectly normal.
But perhaps the most fascinating part of our conversation had nothing to do with famous bands.
It was about home recording.
Long before everyone had DAWs and plugin folders the size of small countries, Paul was experimenting with home studios.
Today his room still revolves around making music.
Bass guitars within arm’s reach.
Ideas captured on an iPhone before they disappear forever.
Songs constantly evolving.
Some become albums.
Most don’t.
And that’s perfectly okay.
“I record everything,” he told me.
Every musician reading this knows exactly what he means.
Voice memos.
Half-finished riffs.
Chord progressions.
Random melodies at two in the morning that somehow become your favorite song six months later.
Paul still loves his old Tascam Portastudio more than modern software.
Tape.
Cassette.
Real knobs.
Real faders.
Real imperfections.
While the rest of us obsess over sample rates and plugin chains, Paul is still smiling over a forty-year-old four-track cassette machine that somehow refuses to die.
There’s something wonderfully punk about that.
As our conversation drifted toward Australia, you could hear the excitement.
Touring isn’t easy anymore.
Long-haul flights hurt.
Schedules are brutal.
Everything costs more.
But Australia still matters.
“We love Australia… we thought, well, fuck it… let’s do it.”
That attitude explains why The Damned are still here fifty years later.
Not because they had a master plan.
Not because they chased trends.
Because they still genuinely enjoy making noise together.
After five decades, countless lineup changes and enough stories to fill several books, Paul Gray still talks about music with exactly the same enthusiasm as someone discovering their first bass guitar.
Maybe that’s the real secret.
Not punk.
Not fame.
Not legacy.
Just never losing the excitement of writing the next song.
After all…
“It’s all rock and roll at the end of the day.”
THE DAMNEDAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND SEPTEMBER 2026 TOUR DATES
Tuesday 8th September AUCKLAND, Powerstation
Thursday 10th September SYDNEY, The Opera House
Friday 11th September BRISBANE, The Tivoli
Sunday 13th September MELBOURNE, The Forum
This is the gospel.
I bite crowd surfers.
Killer.
