Punk rock pioneer Brian James dies at age 70

Brian James, who sparked the British punk rock revolution in the 1970s, passed away on March 6th, as the lead guitarist and chief songwriter of the British band The Damned, bringing rare musicality to the genre known for its chainsaw attacks.

His death was announced on his Facebook page. The announcement did not cite the cause or say where he died.

James formed Damned in London in 1976, and formed the original cemetery, Dave Vanian, as the lead vocalist. Captain Sensible on bass, rat cab on drums. The band was part of the British original Punk Vanguard.

The Damned never rocked British society or the entire Rock World, like the Sex Pistols who sneered at the Queen. They also did not play the role of conflict-like political revolutionaries, called “the only important band.”

Nevertheless, terrible history has made history. They were the first British punk band to release a single “New Rose,” written by James in October 1976 (followed by the Sex Pistols anthemic “British Anarchy”). In 1977, he first released his album “Damned Damned Damned.” And first toured the US.

Mr. James was the cornerstone of the early sounds of the Damned. He wrote most of the songs on the band's first two albums (the second, “Music for Pleasure”). His guitar playing won the admiration of one of the most sacred guitar gods in rock, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.

“We called Brian a Rifmeister,” Captain Sensable (born Raymond Ian Burns) recalled in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone. “That's why Jimmy Page was a fan of the band at the time.”

Writing “New Roses” was a remarkable achievement in itself. On the surface, it was a traditional, decent, ominous song that was a good enough traditional love song. (“I felt inside me/it's strange like a stormy sea.”)

But the song was “an absolute redefine of all things rock and roll,” delivered with the strength of a flamethrower, written in 1992 by British music journalist Dave Thompson.

Brian Robertson was born on February 18, 1955 in the Hammersmith district of west London. (He adopted the James surname in 1976, avoiding the confusion of guitarist Brian Robertson's Thin Lizzie.)

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 masters like Peter Green, the founder of Fleetwood Mac.

In the middle of him he left Crawley's Hazel Wick School, doubled his music and started a band called Train, which released his single “Witchi Tai to” in 1969.

“I wanted them to match the music we were playing with the music of my face,” he said in a 2007 interview with music website Penny Black Music.

The band achieved some success after moving to Belgium, but they split when they returned to England, and Mr James joined the London SS. Other members included Mick Jones, including bassist Tony James, who found Billy Idol and band generation X, and bassist Tony James.

The London SS was unable to take off, but set the stage for the next step that defined Mr. James' career. “There's no choice here,” James told Penny Black Music. “I'm going out with this guy to do my thing.”

The Damned joined the Sex Pistols on an infamous tour of the UK in late 1976, but many of these shows were cancelled due to their favour of the Pistols' chaos.

The band's second album was Rush's job, James later said, and there were unlikely producers: Nick Mason, Pink Floyd's drummer, a band where the era's punks were routinely attacked as gorgeous corporate rock. (Nick Lowe, an independent Stiff Records labelmate, created the first record.)

The album was generally dismissed by critics, with Ratt's cab leaving shortly thereafter, followed by Mr. James. (Except for the former three-member James, we soon reunited with the new lineup.

James created a short-lived band called Tanz Del Youth, and in 1981 he teamed up with the Stib Beters, former lead singer of the Cleveland Punk Band, to form the new church lord. The group has been the singer for nearly a decade, earning airplay on MTV, achieving minor chart successes with songs such as “Open Your Eyes” (1982) and Grass Roots' 1967 hit “Live for Today” (1983).

James has been busy over the years and has released five solo albums. In 2001 he released an album featuring a supergroup called Racketeers. This featured Wayne Kramer (MC5), Clem Burke (Blondie), Stewart Copeland (The Police) and Duff McKagan (Guns n' Roses). He joined other original members of the Damned in 2022 for a series of British gigs.

James' survivors include his wife Minna and son Charlie.

“New Rose” was later covered in Depeche Mode and Guns N' Rose. So was James' legacy. In 2020, Punk Magazine's Vive Le Rock awarded him the Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement.

“They describe me as a pioneer,” he said about the award in an interview with the British newspaper The Observer. “Pioneer! Does that mean I have to wear a Davy Crockett hat at the ceremony?”