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Metro
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
70s rock icon granted his dying wish to be buried at sea
Brian James of The Damned has been buried at sea (Picture: Erica Echenberg/Redferns) Brian James, founding member of the iconic British band The Damned, has reportedly been granted his dying wish of being buried at sea. James passed away on March 6 at the age of 70. The news was announced in a post on his Facebook page, immediately receiving an outpouring of support from fans in the comments. A cause of death has not been revealed, although he died 'peacefully' with his family by his side, according to the post. The post read: 'It is with great sadness that we announce the death of one of the true pioneers of music, guitarist, songwriter, and true gentleman, Brian James.' According to The Sun, James was buried last week on the sea floor off the coast of Newhaven, East Sussex, England, in accordance with his final wishes. The Damned was comprised of Captain Sensible, Brian James, and Rat Scabies (Picture: Elisa Leonelli/REX/Shutterstock) James wrote many of the group's most iconic songs (Picture: Ian Dickson/REX/Shutterstock) His widow Minna, son, Charlie, and around 10 of his closest friends were in attendance at the unorthodox funeral ceremony. Minna told the publication: 'It was a beautiful day and the sea was calm. We've been together since I was 18, so it was very emotional. A burial at sea is pretty unusual, but it was in his will so we had to do it.' Another source told The Sun: 'Brian now sleeps with the fishes, which is what he wished for before he died. He was a true original in life and has carried that on in death. 'The spirit of punk never left him and he was adamant he wanted his final resting place to be at sea. A few loved ones went out on the boat for around three hours and watched as his coffin was dropped into the drink.' The initial 'burial' ceremony, which took place on a boat, was followed by an additional gathering at a church near James' home in Brighton. James' widow says one of his final wishes was to be buried at sea (Picture: Andre Csillag/REX/Shutterstock) James had a long and impressive career that included writing the iconic song New Rose. On 22 October 1977, five weeks before the release of the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the U.K., Stiff Records released the Damned's first single New Rose, making it the first-ever punk single in the UK. Released in February 1977, James was also the primary creative force behind the band's debut album, Damned Damned Damned. The Damned was founded in 1976 by lead vocalist Dave Vanian, guitarist Brian James, bassist (and later guitarist) Captain Sensible, and drummer Rat Scabies. Considered pioneers of the genre, nine of the band's singles charted on the UK Singles Chart Top 40. With a career that closely mirrored the Sex Pistols (they even planned to audition Sid Vicious as lead vocalist) The Damned played their first show on 6 July 1976, supporting the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club. The band was one of the biggest trailblazers of UK punk (Picture: by Jorgen Angel/Redferns) The guitarist also helmed other bands like The Dripping Lips and the Brian James Gang (Picture: PA) After the band's second album, James left the band to form the group Tanz Der Youth, which only lasted a short time before he founded The Lords of the New Church with Stiv Bators. The band was known for songs like Open Your Eyes, Dance with Me, and Method to My Madness. Other bands the talented guitarist helmed over the years included The Dripping Lips and the Brian James Gang. He was also a successful solo artist and worked with punk and rock icons like Iggy Pop (who he toured with as Iggy's guitarist in 1979), Wayne Kramer, Stewart Copeland, and Cheetah Chrome throughout his six-decade career. Back in March, Brian's ex-Damned bandmate Raymond 'Captain Sensible' Burns posted a tribute online, sharing a photo of himself with Brian on X. Burns wrote: 'We're shocked to hear that creator of The Damned, our great chum Brian James has sadly gone. 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.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. Arrow MORE: Gloria Gaynor: 'The biggest misconception about me? That I'm a feminist' Arrow MORE: The Sopranos star Charley Scalies dies aged 84 after Alzheimer's diagnosis
Boston Globe
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Brian James, pioneer of punk rock, is dead at 70
The Damned never shook British society, or the rock world at large, like the Sex Pistols, who sneered at the queen, hurled obscenities on television talk shows, and had pundits mulling the collapse of Western values. Nor did they play the part of political revolutionaries like the Clash, who were billed as 'the only band that matters.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Nevertheless, the Damned made history. They were the first British punk band to release a single: 'New Rose,' written by Mr. James, in October 1976 (the Sex Pistols' anthemic 'Anarchy in the U.K.,' soon followed); the first to release an album, 'Damned Damned Damned,' in 1977; and the first to tour the United States. Advertisement Mr. James was a cornerstone of the Damned's early sound. He wrote most of the songs on the band's first two albums — their second, 'Music for Pleasure,' was released in late 1977 — and his guitar playing earned the praise of one of rock's most hallowed guitar gods, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. "We used to call Brian the riff-meister," Captain Sensible (born Raymond Ian Burns) recalled in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone. "That's why Jimmy Page was such a fan of the band at the time." Writing "New Rose" was a marked achievement in itself. On the surface, it was a conventional enough love song, if a vaguely sinister one. ("I got a feeling inside of me/It's kind of strange like a stormy sea.") But that song, delivered with flamethrower intensity, "was the absolute redefinition of all that rock 'n' roll held dear," British music journalist Dave Thompson wrote in 1992, "a stunning return to basics which threw every last iota of expertise and experience to the winds." Advertisement Brian Robertson was born on Feb. 18, 1955, in the Hammersmith district of West London. (He adopted the surname James in 1976 to avoid confusion with guitarist Brian Robertson of the band Thin Lizzy.) Growing up in Crawley, about 30 miles south of London, he played in bands from an early age, drawing influences from the Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry and later from British blues guitar virtuosos like Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac. In his midteens, he left the Hazelwick School in Crawley and doubled down on music, starting a band called Train that released a single, "Witchi Tai To," in 1969. He later fell under the sway of American punk progenitors like the Stooges (he would gig with their lead singer, Iggy Pop, in the late 1970s) and formed a more hard-edged band called Bastard. "We wanted an in-your-face name to go with the in-your-face music that we were playing," he said in a 2007 interview with Penny Black Music, a music site, "but unfortunately not a lot of people in Britain understood that or wanted to try and get into us. It was the age of the glitter thing." The band found some success after moving to Belgium, but they split upon returning to England and Mr. James joined London SS, whose other members included Mick Jones, the future Clash guitarist, and bassist Tony James, who went on to found the band Generation X with Billy Idol. London SS failed to take off, but it did set the stage for Brian James' career-defining next step when Rat Scabies (born Christopher Millar) impressed him at an audition for the band. 'It was like 'I've got no choice here,'' Mr. James told Penny Black Music. ''I'm going off with this guy to do my thing.'' Advertisement The Damned rode high for a time, joining the Sex Pistols on their infamous tour of Britain in late 1976 — although many of those shows were canceled because of the Pistols' penchant for chaos. The band's second album was a rush job, Mr. James later said, and had an unlikely producer: Nick Mason, drummer of Pink Floyd, a band that punks of the era routinely assailed as pompous corporate rock. (Nick Lowe, a label mate at the independent Stiff Records, produced the first one.) The album was generally dismissed by critics, and Rat Scabies left shortly afterward, followed by Mr. James. (The original three members, minus Mr. James, soon reunited with a new lineup. The Damned continued to tour and release albums with various members for decades.) Mr. James created a short-lived band called Tanz der Youth and then, in 1981, teamed with Stiv Bators, former lead singer of Cleveland punk band the Dead Boys, to form the Lords of the New Church. The group, with Bators as its singer, lasted for nearly a decade, earning airplay on MTV and achieving minor chart success with songs like 'Open Your Eyes' (1982) and their cover of the Grass Roots' 1967 hit 'Live For Today' (1983). Mr. James stayed busy over the years, releasing five solo albums. In 2001, he released an album with a supergroup called Racketeers, which also featured Wayne Kramer (MC5), Clem Burke (Blondie), Stewart Copeland (the Police), and Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses). He joined the other original members of the Damned for a series of gigs in Britain in 2022. Advertisement Mr. James' survivors include his wife, Minna, and a son, Charlie. 'New Rose,' which was later covered by the likes of Depeche Mode and Guns N' Roses, lived on. So did Mr. James' legacy. In 2020, the punk magazine Vive Le Rock gave him its Pioneer Award for lifetime achievement. "They describe me as a pioneer," he said of the award in an interview with British newspaper The Observer. "A pioneer! Does that mean I have to wear a Davy Crockett hat to the ceremony?" This article originally appeared in
New York Times
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Brian James, Pioneer of Punk Rock, Is Dead at 70
Brian James, who helped spark the punk-rock revolution in Britain in the 1970s as the lead guitarist and chief songwriter of the British band the Damned, bringing a rare degree of musicality to a genre known for its chain-saw attack, died on March 6. He was 70. His death was announced on his Facebook page. The announcement did not cite a cause or say where he died. Mr. James formed the Damned in London in 1976 with Dave Vanian, a former gravedigger, on lead vocals; Captain Sensible on bass, and Rat Scabies on drums. The band was part of Britain's original punk vanguard. The Damned never shook British society, or the rock world at large, like the Sex Pistols, who sneered at the queen, hurled obscenities on television talk shows and had pundits mulling the collapse of Western values. Nor did they play the part of political revolutionaries like the Clash, who were billed as 'the only band that matters.' Nevertheless, the Damned made history. They were the first British punk band to release a single: 'New Rose,' written by Mr. James, in October 1976 (the Sex Pistols' anthemic 'Anarchy in the U.K.,' soon followed); the first to release an album, 'Damned Damned Damned,' in 1977; and the first to tour the United States. Mr. James was a cornerstone of the Damned's early sound. He wrote most of the songs on the band's first two albums — their second, 'Music for Pleasure,' was released in late 1977 — and his guitar playing earned the praise of one of rock's most hallowed guitar gods, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. 'We used to call Brian the riff-meister,' Captain Sensible (born Raymond Ian Burns) recalled in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone. 'That's why Jimmy Page was such a fan of the band at the time.' Writing 'New Rose' was a marked achievement in itself. On the surface, it was a conventional enough love song, if a vaguely sinister one. ('I got a feeling inside of me/It's kind of strange like a stormy sea.') But that song, delivered with flamethrower intensity, 'was the absolute redefinition of all that rock 'n' roll held dear,' the British music journalist Dave Thompson wrote in 1992, 'a stunning return to basics which threw every last iota of expertise and experience to the winds.' Brian Robertson was born on Feb. 18, 1955, in the Hammersmith district of West London. (He adopted the surname James in 1976 to avoid confusion with the guitarist Brian Robertson of the band Thin Lizzy.) Growing up in Crawley, about 30 miles south of London, he played in bands from an early age, drawing influences from the Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry and later from British blues guitar virtuosos like Peter Green, the founder of Fleetwood Mac. In his midteens, he left the Hazelwick School in Crawley and doubled down on music, starting a band called Train that released a single, 'Witchi Tai To,' in 1969. He later fell under the sway of American punk progenitors like the Stooges (he would gig with their lead singer, Iggy Pop, in the late 1970s) and formed a more hard-edged band called Bastard. 'We wanted an in-your-face name to go with the in-your-face music that we were playing,' he said in a 2007 interview with Penny Black Music, a music site, 'but unfortunately not a lot of people in Britain understood that or wanted to try and get into us. It was the age of the glitter thing.' The band found some success after moving to Belgium, but they split upon returning to England and Mr. James joined London SS, whose other members included Mick Jones, the future Clash guitarist, and the bassist Tony James, who went on to found the band Generation X with Billy Idol. London SS failed to take off, but it did set the stage for Mr. James's career-defining next step when Rat Scabies (born Christopher Millar) impressed him at an audition for the band. 'It was like 'I've got no choice here,'' Mr. James told Penny Black Music. ''I'm going off with this guy to do my thing.'' The Damned rode high for a time, joining the Sex Pistols on their infamous tour of Britain in late 1976 — although many of those shows were canceled because of the Pistols' penchant for chaos. The band's second album was a rush job, Mr. James later said, and had an unlikely producer: Nick Mason, the drummer of Pink Floyd, a band that punks of the era routinely assailed as pompous corporate rock. (Nick Lowe, a label mate at the independent Stiff Records, produced the first one.) The album was generally dismissed by critics, and Rat Scabies left shortly afterward, followed by Mr. James. (The original three members, minus Mr. James, soon reunited with a new lineup. The Damned continued to tour and release albums with various members for decades.) Mr. James created a short-lived band called Tanz der Youth and then, in 1981, teamed with Stiv Bators, the former lead singer of the Cleveland punk band the Dead Boys, to form the Lords of the New Church. The group, with Mr. Bators as its singer, lasted for nearly a decade, earning airplay on MTV and achieving minor chart success with songs like 'Open Your Eyes' (1982) and their cover of the Grass Roots' 1967 hit 'Live For Today' (1983). Mr. James stayed busy over the years, releasing five solo albums. In 2001, he released an album with a supergroup called Racketeers, which also featured Wayne Kramer (MC5), Clem Burke (Blondie), Stewart Copeland (the Police) and Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses). He joined the other original members of the Damned for a series of gigs in Britain in 2022. Mr. James's survivors include his wife, Minna, and a son, Charlie. 'New Rose,' which was later covered by the likes of Depeche Mode and Guns N' Roses, lived on. So did Mr. James's legacy. In 2020, the punk magazine Vive Le Rock gave him its Pioneer Award for lifetime achievement. 'They describe me as a pioneer,' he said of the award in an interview with the British newspaper The Observer. 'A pioneer! Does that mean I have to wear a Davy Crockett hat to the ceremony?'
The Guardian
09-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Brian James obituary
Though the Clash and the Sex Pistols tended to hog all the limelight when punk rock arrived in the mid-1970s, it was the Damned who could claim several memorable firsts. In October 1976 they were the first UK punk band to release a single, New Rose, and in February 1977 Damned Damned Damned was the first full-length album released by a British punk band (it reached 34 on the UK chart). The group's guitarist Brian James, who has died aged 74, wrote New Rose and most of the material on the album. In the spring of 1976 the Damned also became the first British punk act to tour the US, where they would be credited with inspiring the hardcore punk subculture that swept the US west coast. With members named Rat Scabies and Captain Sensible and a singer, Dave Vanian, who looked like Count Dracula, the Damned had a cartoon-like aura about them and never exuded the anarchic malevolence of the Pistols or the politicised rage of the Clash. James himself also defied the primitive, DIY ethos of punk by being an excellent guitarist who earned the praise of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, the kind of rock aristocrat the punks wanted to overthrow. Page even had the Damned's records on his home jukebox. James once again dominated the songwriting on their second album, Music for Pleasure (1977). It was produced by Pink Floyd's Nick Mason, a great musician but about as punk as the archbishop of Canterbury, and flopped commercially. This prompted the Damned to be dropped by their record label, Stiff, and James quit at the end of 1977. The group dissolved in early 1978, and James formed a new band, Tanz Der Youth, though they split up after releasing the single I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry. The Damned reformed without James in 1979, and despite numerous lineup changes are still active today. In 1988 James joined them for two shows at the Town and Country Club in London. He was born Brian Robertson in Hammersmith, London, and adopted the surname 'James' in 1976, to avoid being mistaken for Thin Lizzy's guitarist Brian Robertson. In 1959 his family moved to Crawley in West Sussex. As he grew into his teens Brian liked to divide his spare time between the local tribes of mods and hippies. 'I'd be hanging out with the mods scoring blues [amphetamines] and hanging out with the hippies scoring dope,' he told the biographer Kieron Tyler for his 2017 book Smashing It Up: A Decade of Chaos with the Damned. Brian attended Hazelwick comprehensive school until he was 15, but was then summoned to the headmaster's office. 'He said, 'You don't want to be here, we don't want you here, why wait? Go now.'' He was becoming increasingly fixated on music, and practised assiduously on the acoustic guitar his parents had bought him. He took some tips from the guitarist of a local blues-based band, Monty Cavan & The Kingbees, and with financial help from his father, Stan, he was able to buy an electric guitar. The first band he joined was Blues Crusade (the name borrowed from the album Crusade by the bluesman John Mayall), and he then assembled his own group, Train, which mixed some jazz influences with their blues-based music. In 1969 the group released a single, Witchi Tai To, with Speakin' My Mind on the B side, but it did not sell and Train's commercial prospects were clearly negligible. James formed a new band, Bastard, a quartet which took much of its inspiration from the raw power of the Detroit band the Stooges, in particular their 1970 album Fun House (in 1979, James would tour as a member of the Stooges vocalist Iggy Pop's band). However, Bastard found concert bookings hard to come by, and when their vocalist Alan Ward proposed to move to Brussels to work in a recording studio, the whole band moved with him. They were able to find enough gigs in Brussels to stay for a year and a half before returning to Britain. It was now 1975 and the first glimmerings of punk were stirring. James was briefly a member of London SS, along with the future Clash guitarist Mick Jones and Tony James (later of Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik), but the group never played any gigs. Brian James was also part of the Subterraneans, a band comprising the NME journalist Nick Kent, the drummer Rat Scabies (real name Chris Millar) and the bassist Ray Burns, who would become Captain Sensible. This foreshadowed the creation of the Damned in early 1976 with the line-up of James, Scabies, Sensible and Vanian (real name David Lett), and they made their performing debut on 6 July at the 100 Club in London, supporting the Sex Pistols. In 1980 James formed the Lords of the New Church with the former Dead Boys vocalist Stiv Bators, and their punk-glam sound brought some success on the UK indie chart with the singles New Church, Open Your Eyes, Russian Roulette and a version of Madonna's Like a Virgin. From 1992 until 1996, James played with the Dripping Lips (based in Brussels), with whom he recorded a brace of albums, including the soundtrack to the Belgian director Harry Cleven's film Abracadabra. In 2001 he was part of the supergroup Racketeers, alongside Clem Burke of Blondie, the Police's Stewart Copeland, Duff McKagan from Guns N' Roses and Wayne Kramer of MC5, and they recorded the album Mad for the Racket. Between 1990 and 2015, James also recorded five solo albums, including Damned If I Do (2013), for which he re-recorded a batch of Damned songs that he had also been playing live with Scabies. In 2022, he joined the three other original Damned members for some UK concerts. 'We did it! And nobody died!' exclaimed Captain Sensible after the opening show at the Eventim Apollo in London, harking back to a previous reunion effort in 1991, which ended abruptly in Washington DC following a row between James, Sensible and Scabies. James is survived by his wife, Minna, and son, Charlie.
Los Angeles Times
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Brian James, founding guitarist of punk's The Damned, dead at 70
Brian James, the founding guitarist for the visionary and influential U.K. punk band The Damned, has died. He was 70. James' death on March 6 was confirmed on his official Facebook page, though no cause was listed. 'It is with great sadness that we announce the death of one of the true pioneers of music, guitarist, songwriter, and true gentleman, Brian James,' the statement read. The Damned have an exceptionally important place in rock history, releasing 'New Rose,' arguably the first-ever punk single in the U.K., in 1976. The Damned also were the first band of their scene to release a studio album (1977's 'Damned Damned Damned') and to tour the United States. The London-born James began his music career in the proto-punk band London SS, which featured future members of the Clash and Generation X. He soon met another local band, Masters of the Backside, which featured future Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde, vocalist Dave Vanian, bassist Captain Sensible and drummer Rat Scabies. Minus Hynde, James formed The Damned with the other three members in 1976. The band made its debut that year, and opened for the Sex Pistols at 100 Club, a notorious London venue that helped codify the scene. Five weeks before the Sex Pistols released 'Anarchy in the U.K.,' the most famous early punk single, the Damned released 'New Rose.' The fast and frenetic single penned by James stripped down and supercharged the British rock of the era, smeared it with black eyeliner and lipstick, and announced a new sound and subculture to the world. The Damned soon would accompany the Pistols on a brief tour. After playing the U.S., the Damned arguably kicked off both the hardcore punk and goth-rock subcultures in Southern California — bands like Black Flag were inspired by their minimalism and ultra-fast tempos, while proto-goths like Christian Death and 45 Grave were captivated by their transgressive aesthetics. James was the primary songwriter on the Damned's first two albums, but after 1977's 'Music for Pleasure,' the Damned briefly broke up and re-formed without James. He went on to tour as a member of Iggy Pop's live band, recorded solo material with the Police's Stewart Copeland on drums, and co-founded the band Lords of the New Church with Stiv Bators. The original lineup of the Damned occasionally reunited for live shows, first in 1988 and most recently in 2022. 'Always looking for new challenges and keen to work with different musicians,' his family's statement read, James was 'incessantly creative and a musical tour de force, over a career which spanned more than six decades.' James is survived by his wife, Minna, son, Charlie, and daughter-in-law, Alicia.
