Can you believe it’s been fifty years since London punk band The Damned burst onto the scene? To celebrate this major milestone, the original three-piece lineup has embarked on an anniversary tour, which will bring them to Prague’s Roxy club on July 8, 2026!

The Damned’s legendary history began in 1976, when Brian James, Dave Vanian (David Lett), Captain Sensible (Raymond Burns), and Rat Scabies (Chris Millar) got together and, in the same year, became the first punk band in London to release the single “New Rose.” They were thus at the birth of a genre that no one could even properly describe yet.

But a turbulent period followed, during which the band broke up three times—in the late 1970s, the late 1980s, and the early 1990s. Despite this, they have managed to release a total of 13 studio albums to date and change musical styles several times. The members admit that they will forever be known as “The Damned punks,” even though they haven’t been a punk band since 1978. Over time, they’ve also delved into the worlds of psychedelic pop and goth. Their seventeen-minute prog-psychedelic epic “Curtain Call” is definitely worth mentioning.

Their latest album, *Not Like Everybody Else* (2026)—on which the original trio of Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, and Rat Scabies play together for the first time since 1995—is dedicated to Brian James, who passed away in March 2025. The album consists entirely of cover versions of songs that brought all four of them together in the band’s early days. “One thing we all agree on musically is ’60s garage bands,” says Sensible. It is, therefore, a musical showcase of the influences that shaped The Damned.