BRIAN JAMES

Ian Fortnam looks back at the life, times and music of the original Damned guitarist, who went from R&B and blues to being one of the architects of UK punk and took it to the masses.

- Paul Brannigan, Bill DeMain, Dave Everley, Jery Ewing, lan Fortnam, Damian Jones, Dave Ling, Julian Marszalek, Mick Wall, Henry Yates

Original Damned guitarist Brian James’s signature combination of brevity and brutality helped shape the sound of punk. Along with the two Jonesys (the Sex Pistols’ Steve and the Clash’s Mick), James reclaimed his instrument from a jaded generation of noodling virtuosos.

Trimming unnecessary fat to the bone, James deployed his cherry red Gibson SG like a weapon of war and returned rock'n'roll to the garage, where it always belonged. As the very first UK punk single to vinyl in October ‘76, The Damned’s New Rose (both written and riffed by James) defined the sound of the nascent scene. And it was a sound that James, notably older than the majority of his punk peers, had been percolating for some time.

Brian Robertson was born in Hammersmith, West London on February 18, 1951 (not 1955 as has been widely reported). He changed his name from Robertson in the mid-70s (due to the fact that the Mighty Robbo had already taken it with him into Thin Lizzy), and named himself James as a nod to James Williamson, Iggy and the Stooges’ guitarist during their pivotal Raw Power era.

Having moved to Crawley in ’59, James received a guitar as a Christmas present when just 13. Its arrival clearly shaped his subsequent school career at Hazelwick Comprehensive. At 15, the school’s headmaster summoned him to his office prior to dismissing him with the words: “You don’t want to be here, we don’t want you here. Why wait? Go now.”