The Damage Manual

The Damage Manual is an industrial supergroup that originally formed in 2000. It featured Martin Atkins on drums and loops, Chris Connelly on vocals, Geordie Walker on guitar and Jah Wobble on bass. Originally stemming from discussions between Atkins and Wobble, Walker was brought aboard when Wobble expressed interest in working with him. After writing and arranging material through exchanging recordings from their own respective studios, the trio had put together a batch of instrumental ideas in need of a vocalist. It has been said that they originally approached John Lydon (Public Image Limited, Sex Pistols) for an amicable resurgence (both Atkins and Wobble did notable work in PiL) but he characteristically spurned the opportunity. Atkins and Walker had both done solid work with the talented vocalist/songwriter Chris Connelly in the early '90's with Murder, Inc. and the rest was history. They released two recordings in 2000, the One EP in April followed by a self-titled album that September, both on Atkins' own Invisible Records label. The group toured briefly with the original line-up, playing half a dozen shows in the UK. A US tour was booked and took place following an initial postponement, during which Jah Wobble left the band and was replaced by Charles Levi (ex Thrill Kill Kult). The band dissolved shortly after the American tour. Invisible Records later released a collected reissue of the first EP and full length album entitled Double Damage as well as a remix LP. In 2004, a resurrected Damage Manual without Walker and Wobble found Steven Seibold of the band Hate Dept. providing guitar and bass. The revised band released the full length record Limited Edition. It was followed by a subsequent tour with Pigface and Sheep on Drugs. Damage Manual have now disbanded.