Brian James, founding guitarist with The Damned, has died aged 70.
The information was damaged yesterday (March 6, 2025) by way of Jones’ official Fb web page.
Jones’ wrote the UK’s first punk single, “New Rose“, for The Damned, occurring to be principal songwriter on their debut album Damned Damned Damned and its observe up, Music for Pleasure.
After leaving The Damned, Jones shaped the short-lived Tanz Der Youth, earlier than teaming up with Stiv Bators from The Useless Boys for The Lords Of The New Church.
Following three studio albums with Lords Of The New Church, Jones went on to kind The Dripping Lips and the Brian James Gang. He additionally performed with Iggy Pop, the Saints and in the Racketeers alongside Wayne Kramer, Clem Burke, Stewart Copeland and Duff McKagen.
James returned to his Damned materials in 2013, touring the UK with former bandmate Rat Scabies and re-recording Damned songs for his album, Damned If I Do.
In 2022, James reunited with Scabies, Captain Smart and Dave Vanian for stay dates within the UK.
Chatting with Uncut in January this 12 months, Captain Smart and Rat Scabies mirrored on James’ time with the Damned.
“It was evident that the geezer [Brian] had a complete imaginative and prescient, and he may see one thing superb coming,” stated Smart. “He didn’t use the P phrase. No person thought we have been placing a punk group collectively, no matter that was.
“He performed me two or three songs, together with ‘New Rose’ on acoustic guitar. Even then, it sounded radically totally different to what was occurring on the time – all that shit that used to drive me nuts on the Whistle Check. Whispering Bob, Emmylou Harris, Little Feat. I couldn’t stand nation music. After which what? Glam had run its course, and all you had left was that turgid stadium prog, Genesis and Sure. What Brian had, I needed to go for. It was radical.”
“Brian would run his hand alongside all of the controls on the amp, flip every little thing up full and, you already know, it’s in his fingers,” stated Scabies. “It doesn’t matter what guitar you give him, he’ll nonetheless sound like Brian. Most of my sound is about utilizing an affordable, nasty drum package, as a result of that was all I may afford.”
“We have been the final era of guitarist/drummer combos. Every thing we’d been listening to had been about that. It’d been Keith Moon and Pete Townshend, Mitch Mitchell and Jimi Hendrix, John Bonham and Led Zeppelin. They have been all drummer/guitarist combos. Don’t know who the bass participant is. These are the blokes which are actually locked in and dealing collectively and making this thrilling sound. That’s the way it must be. That’s what it grew to become. It was solely in a while, individuals would say, ‘You’re out of time with the bass, aren’t you?’’
