Not Like Everybody Else

A covers album can easily become a stopgap. Not Like Everybody Else has a much clearer reason to exist. The Damned recorded it as a tribute to founding guitarist Brian James, who died in March 2025, choosing songs that had been favourites of his and finishing the sessions in just five days. That sense of purpose stops the record feeling like a random trawl through influences; it plays instead like musicians remembering a friend through the records that helped shape him.

Producer Mikal Blue captured the album at Revolver Studios in Los Angeles after the US leg of a Damned tour. The selections move freely across eras and styles, with R. Dean Taylor’s “There’s a Ghost in My House”, Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play” and the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City” all appearing as singles before the album’s January 2026 release. The band do not treat the originals as untouchable objects. The point is to run them through the Damned’s own chemistry: brisk rhythm, theatrical vocals and enough roughness to keep the songs alive.

The most poignant moment is the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time”. James appears posthumously through guitar taken from his final live performances with the group at Hammersmith Apollo in 2022, allowing the tribute to contain the person being honoured rather than only memories of him. Not Like Everybody Else also marks Rat Scabies’ first studio appearance with the Damned since returning to the band in 2024, adding another piece of the group’s early history to the project.

Released on 23 January 2026 through earMusic, the album reached number 23 on the UK Albums Chart. Its real value, though, is emotional rather than statistical. The Damned have always carried irreverence as a survival mechanism, and here that instinct keeps remembrance from becoming solemn. These are songs played because somebody loved them, by a band that understands how musical taste becomes part of friendship. The result is affectionate, lively and appropriately unwilling to behave like a memorial service.