The Damned have released NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE

— OUT NOW — 

THE DAMNED CELEBRATING 50 YEARS IN 2026; MARKING 50 YEARS OF UK PUNK

THE DAMNED have released NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE, a deeply personal and celebratory covers album, dedicated to the memory of Brian James, the band’s legendary founding guitarist, who passed away on March 6th, 2025 at the age of 74. Recorded in a blistering five days of emotion and creative fire at Revolver Studio in Los Angeles, NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE finds The Damned – Dave Vanian on vocals, Captain Sensible on guitar, Rat Scabies on drums, Paul Gray on bass and joined by longtime keyboardist Monty Oxymoron – reconnecting with the raw energy that started it all.  The album marks the first time in 40 years that Rat Scabies has returned to the studio with the band.

“That the redux Damned are on thunderous form is evident from gnarly, Farfisa-speckled renditions of the familiar – Ghost In My House, Summer In The City, See Emily Play  and Gimme Danger” 
– Mojo

“an absurdly enjoyable affair….Always a band with great taste, The Damaned play these songs as if they were all in their repertoire already. ” –
Blabbermouth

“Dave Vanian’s beamingly cinematic emo-goth croon and Captain Sensible’s swashbuckling garage-punk guitar lend the whole project and infectiously joyful dad-rock jukebox feel.”
– Uncut

In other news, 2026 marks 50 years of The Damned.  50 years of The Damned also means 50 years of punk, with the 1976 explosion hitting a half century ago. The band jump-started the revolution, releasing the first UK punk single, “New Rose,” and album, DAMNED DAMNED DAMNED.  Brian James wrote that debut single and was lead songwriter on the album. He left the group after the release of their second album, MUSIC FOR PLEASURE, in 1977.

Ground-breaking rock band The Damned exploded on to the British music scene more than forty-five years ago.  Following their formation in 1976, The Damned became the first UK band in the punk rock genre to release a single (“New Rose”) and then an album (DAMNED, DAMNED, DAMNED).  Initially associated with the British punk rock movement and then gothic rock, the band went on to release ten studio albums and several UK-charting singles which ran the gamut from punk rock to gothic to even the pop genre.  They have legions of hardcore fans worldwide and have firmly established themselves as one of most powerful and theatrical live bands in the world.