Pinch

Their fast-driven punk rock has been cited for influencing and shaping the emergence of hardcore punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Damned are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1976 by lead vocalist Dave Vanian, guitarist Brian James, bassist (and later guitarist) Captain Sensible and drummer Rat Scabies.

They were the first punk band from the United Kingdom to release a single, "New Rose" (1976), release a studio album, Damned Damned Damned (1977) and tour the United States.

Nine of the band's singles charted on the UK Singles Chart Top 40.

The Damned played their first show on 6 July 1976, supporting the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club.

The band briefly dissolved after Music for Pleasure (1977), the follow-up to their debut studio album, was critically dismissed.

The Damned released their debut studio album Damned Damned Damned on 18 February 1977.

Produced by Nick Lowe, it was the first studio album released by a British punk band and included a new single, "Neat Neat Neat".

The band toured to promote the album, in March opening for T. Rex on their final tour before Marc Bolan's death that September.

Later that spring, they became the first British punk band to tour the United States.

According to Brendan Mullen, founder of the Los Angeles club the Masque, their first tour of the U.S. found them favouring very fast tempos, helping to inspire the first wave of West Coast hardcore punk.

That August, Lu Edmonds was added as a second guitarist.

Although not yet obvious in their music, the band were heavily inspired by psychedelic rock.

They unsuccessfully tried to recruit the reclusive Syd Barrett to produce their second studio album.

They settled for his former Pink Floyd bandmate Nick Mason.

In November 1977, the album was released as Music for Pleasure and was quickly dismissed by critics.

They quickly reformed without Brian James and released Machine Gun Etiquette (1979).

In the 1980s, they released four studio albums: The Black Album (1980), Strawberries (1982), Phantasmagoria (1985) and Anything (1986), which saw the band moving toward a gothic rock style.

The latter two albums did not feature Sensible, who had left the band in 1984.

In 1988, James and Sensible rejoined to play a series of reunion gigs, one of which was released the next year as the live album Final Damnation (1989).

The Damned again reformed for a tour in 1991.

In 1995, they released a new studio album, Not of This Earth, which was Scabies's last with the band.

This was followed by Grave Disorder (2001), So, Who's Paranoid? (2008) and Evil Spirits (2018), their first studio album in the Official Charts top-10 list, landing at No. 7. Their most recent album, Darkadelic, was released in 2023.

Despite experiencing numerous lineup changes, the formation of Vanian, Sensible, keyboardist Monty Oxymoron, drummer Pinch and bassist Stu West had been together from 2004 until 2017, when West left the band and former bassist Paul Gray rejoined.

A lo-fi recording of the show was later released as Live at the 100 Club (2007).

As part of London's burgeoning punk scene, the Damned again played the club on 20 September for the 100 Club Punk Festival.

On 22 October, five weeks before the release of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K.", Stiff Records released the Damned's first single "New Rose", thus making them the first UK punk band to release a single.

The single's B-side was a fast-paced cover of the Beatles' "Help!".

"New Rose" was described by critic Ned Raggett as a "deathless anthem of nuclear-strength romantic angst."

When the Sex Pistols released their single, they took the Damned, along with the Clash and Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, as openers for their December "Anarchy Tour of the UK".

Many of the tour dates were cancelled by organizers or local authorities, with only seven of approximately 20 scheduled shows taking place.

The Damned were expelled from the tour before its end by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren.

In 2019, drummer Pinch left the band, and in February 2022 he was replaced by Will Taylor, who left in November 2023, when Scabies rejoined.

As one of the first gothic rock bands, the Damned, featuring lead singer Vanian's baritone singing, dark lyrics and vampire-themed costume, were a major influence on the goth subculture.

Dave Vanian (David Lett), Captain Sensible (Raymond Burns) and Rat Scabies (Chris Millar) had been members of the band Masters of the Backside, which also included future Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde.

Brian James (Brian Robertson) had been a member of London SS, a band that never played live but also included musicians who later found fame in the Clash and Generation X.

Scabies knew James through a failed audition as the drummer for London SS. When they decided to start their own band, with James on guitar and Scabies on drums, they invited Sid Vicious, later of the Sex Pistols, and Dave Vanian to audition to be the singer.

However, only Vanian appeared, and he was added to the band.

Sensible became the band's bassist, and the four called themselves the Damned.

Chrissie Hynde would later write: "Without me, they were probably the most musically accomplished punk outfit in town."