Fame in the family

Singer and guitarist Damian Dalton-Smith comes from a famous family.

Aside from being in one of the Gainsborough music scene’s hottest acts, he’s also the son of country and western duo The Daltons and the brother of comedy actress Sheridan Smith from Epworth - best known as the star of BBC’s Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps.

Not only are The Torn set to play at the switching on of Gainsborough’s Christmas Lights, but Damian has also landed himself a role alongside his sister in a new television special.

“I’ve just been in a short film with Sheridan,” said Damian, from Jubilee Crescent, Gainsborough. “It’s called Little Crackers and is on Sky One every year around Christmas time.”

“Each one is based on how famous people remember Christmas from their childhood, and people like Alan Davies, Harry Hill and Barbara Windsor have done one too.”

He coninued: “With our mum and dad being The Daltons, Sheridan and I spent a lot of time travelling around the country with them so the show is about that.” “The whole thing is set in 1980s club. Ralph Little plays my dad and Sheridan plays my mum.”

Damian said that seeing his childhood acted out before him by famous faces was a very bizarre experience.

“We had a brother called Julian who we lost to cancer, so seeing some child actors playing him and me was very surreal,” said Damian.

“Alan Davies plays a terrible stand-up comedian in this working men’s club, and then I come on dressed as a 1980s compere in a leather waistcoat and introduce Ralph and Sheridan.”

But that’s not all - The Torn also have songs coming out on iTunes in December and they’re in the process of filming a music video.

“Stuff with the band is going really well,” said Damian. “We’ve gone from playing to 12 people to 12,000 people and the Fake Festival was brilliant.”

“We’ve got a pretty massive following with over 16,000 fans on Myspace,” he said.

“It’s hard to get noticed around here, so we tend to play a lot of covers to get paid, to fund us touring the rest of the country.”

He added: “We’d love if more people came and checked us out.”

The Torn will be playing at the Market Place for the Gainsborough Christmas lights switch-on Friday 18th November at 5.45pm, supported by local singer Liz Goddard.

For more information or to listen to The Torn visit www.thetorn.co.uk