The Damned Tribute Brian James With 'Not Like Everybody Else' Covers Album

By Hired Gun Media | Published: October 27, 2025

The Damned announce the release of 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 earlier this year on March 6th.

Due out on January 23rd via earMUSIC, distributed by BFD/The Orchard in North America, the album was 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. NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE marks the first time in 40 years that Rat Scabies has returned to the studio with the band.

The first single from the forthcoming album, "There's A Ghost In My House", reimagines R. Dean Taylor's classic with The Damned's unmistakable energy and dark charm. Driven by Captain Sensible's urgent guitar and Dave Vanian's atmospheric vocal delivery, the track perfectly blends Northern soul spirit and gothic rock swagger. It's both a nod to Brian James's love of raw, melodic power and a reminder of The Damned's gift for turning familiar songs into something entirely their own. The single will be accompanied by a music video directed by Gilbert Trejo and filmed during the band's recent US tour. Both will be released this Thursday, October 30th.

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.

The Damned Not Like Everybody Else track listing:
There's A Ghost In My House (R. Dean Taylor)
Summer In The City (Joe Cocker)
Making Time (The Creation)
Gimme Danger (Iggy & The Stooges)
See Emily Play (Pink Floyd)
I'm Not Like Everybody Else (The Kinks)
Heart Full Of Soul (The Yardbirds)
You Must Be A Witch (The Lollipop Shoppe)
When I Was Young (The Animals)
The Last Time (The Rolling Stones)