Brian James, founding guitarist of the pioneering UK punk band Damned, has died. His passing was confirmed in an announcement posted on his Fb web page, although no reason for loss of life has been shared. “It’s with nice unhappiness that we announce the loss of life of one of many true pioneers of music, guitarist, songwriter, and true gentleman, Brian James,” it reads. James was 70.
Born in Hammersmith, London, England in 1955, James lower his tooth taking part in in proto-punk bands like London SS and the Subterraneans – alongside future members of the Conflict and Era X – in addition to the glam rock outfit Bastard. He shaped the Damned in 1976 with lead vocalist Dave Vanian, bassist Captain Smart, and drummer Rat Scabies. The band performed their first present on July 6 of that 12 months, supporting the Intercourse Pistols on the 100 Membership. They have been the primary UK punk band to launch a single, placing out ‘New Rose’ 5 weeks earlier than the Intercourse Pistols got here by means of with ‘Anarchy within the UK’. Additionally they have been the to tour the US, inspiring the primary wave of West Coast hardcore punk.
James served as principal songwriter on the group’s first two albums, Damned Damned Damned and Music For Pleasure, earlier than leaving the group in 1977. He went on to kind Tanz Der Youth with Andy Colqhoun on bass, Hawkwind and Rooster Shack’s Alan Powell on drums, and former Iron Maiden member Tony Moore on keyboards. In 1981, he based the supergroup the Lords of the New Church with Stiv Bators (ex-the Lifeless Boys), bassist Dave Tregunna (ex-Sham 69), and drummer Nick Turner (ex-the Barracudas).
In June 1988, the Damned reunited for 3 stay reveals. His self-titled solo debut album got here out in 1990 by means of New Rose Information, the French document label named after the music he’d written nearly fifty years prior. He continued performing and releasing all through the previous twenty years, taking part in a sequence of reveals alongside Vanian, Smart, and Scabies in 2022.
