Brian James, founding guitarist and early principal songwriter for UK punk pioneers The Damned, has died. The news was shared in a statement on James’ official Facebook page, though a cause of death has not been revealed: “Goodbye to a pioneer & true gentleman,” it reads, in part. He was 70 years old.
Born in Hammersmith, London, England in 1955, James was in his early twenties when he began playing in the proto-punk band London SS, alongside future members of the Clash and Generation X. It was then that he met vocalist Dave Vanian, bassist Captain Sensible, and drummer Rat Scabies, who were then members of Masters of the Backside along with future Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde. The four musicians—minus Hynde—came together to form the Damned, and played their first show in June 1976, opening for Sex Pistols at London’s infamous 100 Club.
In October of that year—five weeks before Sex Pistols put out “Anarchy in the UK”—the Damned released their debut single “New Rose,” making them the first UK punk band to do so. This is one of several UK punk “firsts” that James and his bandmates laid claim to, along with being the first of those bands to release a studio album (1977’s Damned Damned Damned) and first to tour the United States—with author Ian Winwood crediting their love of fast tempos for kicking off the West Coast hardcore punk scene. By December, the Damned were accompanying Sex Pistols on tour, though the group was kicked off by Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren before the run of shows concluded.
James wrote almost all the songs on the Damned’s first two albums, but following a poor critical reception to their 1977 sophomore effort, Music for Pleasure, the band temporarily broke up. The following year, Vanian, Sensible, and Scabies would reform the Damned without James, who instead spent the rest of the decade on a variety of other projects, including playing in Iggy Pop’s touring band and recording his first two solo singles—1979’s “Ain’t That a Shame” and 1982’s “Why? Why? Why?”—which both featured The Police’s Stewart Copeland on drums. James also co-founded The Lords of the New Church with American punk rocker Stiv Bators, with whom he toured and released three studio albums from 1982 through 1989.
The Damned’s original lineup reunited for two performances in 1988, and James put out his self-titled solo debut album in 1990 on New Rose Records, the French record label named after the song he’d written almost a decade-and-a-half prior. He continued touring and releasing throughout the 2000s and 2010s, and played his final shows alongside Vanian, Sensible, and Scabies in 2022.
