At the ripe old age of 70, legendary guitarist Brian James has shuffled off this mortal coil, but the embers he struck still burn, still smolder, still spit sparks onto the gasoline-soaked remains of what came before him. He wasn’t polished, wasn’t precise: his guitar was a switchblade drawn in a back alley, a live wire ripped straight from the wall. The Damned kicked down the door, and James was the one who struck the first blow.
Born in London in February 1955, Brian James found salvation in the sweat and static of The Stooges, New York Dolls and MC5, bands that throttled rock n’ roll into sweating submission. In 1976, James pulled together The Damned, comprising Dave Vanian’s croon, Captain Sensible’s chaos, Rat Scabies’ relentless drumming…and led them straight into history. New Rose hit the airwaves first, before The Sex Pistols, before The Clash, before the movement even had a name. Their debut, Damned Damned Damned, was a car crash of velocity and venom, and James was the driver as the principal songwriter of the album, released in February 1977.
Brian James, however, never tread lightly, never played it safe, never bent to time or tide. He left The Damned after a single record, collaborating with others: Tanz Der Youth, Iggy Pop, The Lords of the New Church: bands that burned bright, burned fast, left scars.
“People get fed up hearing Jack loves Jill all the time,” James said in a 1983 interview. “It’s nice to make people aware of the different sides of things.”
With Stiv Bators, he built something new, something darker, something that slithered where punk once sprinted. The Lords of the New Church shouted, sneered, seduced; they dragged punk’s jagged edges into the glow of something dangerous. Three albums followed, each slick with menace and wrapped in ceremony: Open Your Eyes, Dance With Me, Method to My Madness.
But James was never a man to stand still. He built, broke, and built again. He formed Dripping Lips, played hired gun for others, and let loose with the Brian James Gang. His guitar was a declaration of war, a wrecking ball, a fist swung at silence. Every chord was a warning shot, every song a siren screaming against the dull hum of ordinary life.
In 2013, Brian James returned to his roots, breathing new life into his Damned-era material. He re-recorded nine tracks for his third solo album, Damned If I Do, stripping them down and reshaping them with the same raw energy that first defined them. Teaming up with former Damned bandmate Christopher ‘Rat Scabies’ Millar, he took the songs back on the road in the UK.
Brian James reunited with Rat Scabies, Captain Sensible, and Dave Vanian in October 2022 for a long-awaited run of five UK shows. Originally announced in 2020, the tour was set for the following year but faced delays due to the pandemic, eventually rescheduled for late 2022.
On March 6, 2025, with his wife Minna, his son Charlie, and daughter-in-law Alicia by his side, Brian James took his final bow. A cause of death was not revealed. The hands that once wrenched sound from steel may have stilled, but the noise he made still stomps, still snarls, still sneers in the face of time. Turn the volume up: his spirit remains: still playing, still tearing through the quiet like a switchblade through silk.
“We’re shocked to hear that creator of The Damned, our great chum Brian James has sadly gone,” reflected former Damned bandmate Captain Sensible. “A lovely bloke that I feel so lucky to have met all those years ago and for some reason chose me to help in his quest for the music revolution that became known as punk.”
Plans for a full original Damned lineup reunion were in motion, but with James’s passing, that chapter remains unwritten. The Damned will honor his legacy with a tribute at their São Paulo show on March 7, 2025.
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