October 1976: I’ve bunked off college early and I’m at the Victoria Palace Theatre to see Graham Parker & The Rumour. But what excites me more is the support band – The Damned.

I’ve already seen The Ramones and Patti Smith and this will be my first experience of a home-grown punk group.

The Damned had only made their live debut a few weeks earlier in July and released their debut single New Rose – THE first UK punk single – four days before tonight’s gig.

The visceral rush of that song, with its spoken intro – “Is she really going out with him?” – still sends a tingle up my spine, with its tribal drumbeat and the monstrous guitar riff played by Brian James.

I had bought the single the day it came out and I was beyond excited to see them live. They didn’t disappoint.

The drummer, Rat Scabies, wore tartan trousers at half mast in the style of the Bay City Rollers. And a Hitler mask.

At the end of their brief, electrifying, and very very fast set, Scabies kicked the drum kit to pieces as the black-clad singer, Dave Vanian, carried on singing the words of the final song – Stab Yor Back – until he noticed no one else was on stage.

“I suppose that’s it then,” he said, glancing over his shoulder before making his exit, sweeping into the wings like Dracula fleeing the impending daybreak in his castle.

It really was the dawn of a new era for me, and for many others of my age. I loved Graham Parker, and still do, but my memory of that night is entirely of The Damned.

And now that original quartet, those pioneers of punk, are reduced to a trio of Vanian, Scabies and Burns (né Sensible).

RIP Brian James (1955-2025)