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| Photo - Sacha Lecca |
The Damned have released 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 on March 6th, 2025 at the age of 74. 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. The album marks the first time in 40 years that Rat Scabies has returned to the studio with the band.
2026 marks 50 years of The Damned. 50 years of The Damned also means 50 years of punk, with the 1976 explosion hitting a half century ago. The band jump-started the revolution, releasing the first UK punk single, “New Rose,” and album, Damned Damned Damned. Brian James wrote that debut single and was lead songwriter on the album. He left the group after the release of their second album, Music For Pleasure, in 1977.
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.
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| Photo - Joelle Grace Taylor |
Evocative and empowering, drowning sees Mia Nicolai choose self acceptance. Exquisite vocals and raw lyricism touch on a life of swimming against the tide and the power and relief that come with changing direction. Confronting and emotive, drowning is born from the emotional weight of finally facing your true self. Sharing more, Mia explained: Drowning is about the emotional crash that happens when you stop running from yourself. It’s that moment when you let your feelings rise to the surface after holding them in for so long - and it completely floods you.
I wrote it from a place of deep overwhelm, where facing reality felt like drowning. But it’s also about honesty to yourself. I was diagnosed with ADHD at age 15, but at that time I didn't take it as seriously as I should have. For years I tried to outrun my diagnosis thinking I could fix it myself, if I just keep healing my past or if I kept outrunning it. I was living nomadically on people's couches and I was actually exhausted, as thrilling as the nomadic jumping around life was, it was starting to catch up on me. Drowning is about finally giving in to who you really are, even if that means feeling everything all at once.
Today’s new single sees Mia Nicolai put her best foot forward into 2026, as she champions authenticity with her infectious energy. The Dutch-Russian singer-songwriter released her debut EP at the end of 2025; Sharing Space Among The Stars (Superglue Records). Produced by Vetle Junker and executive-produced by Ella Vos and Tommy English, it marked her first true statement as an artist. The record took shape as a dreamy, cinematic body of work that fuses her indie-pop instincts with the theatrical spirit of her heroes Bowie and Queen. Written across London, Los Angeles, and Bergen, Norway, the project finds Mia rediscovering her own voice after a whirlwind of experiences throughout her 20’s.
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Alexandra John the brother-and-sister duo who are not only real-life twins born on the same day, but musical soulmates as well—have shared a bond since birth that naturally evolved into music. Raised in a deeply musical household in San Francisco, Liza and Weston Cain grew up with music woven into their DNA, shaping both their sound and their connection as artists.
Kicking off the new year, Alexandra John delivers a heartfelt ballad made for hopeless romantics this Valentine’s season. Their new single, “Crazy Stupid Love,” out today Tuesday, January 27, is a hopeful anthem for anyone who has loved purely, been hurt, and questioned whether it was worth it. The song serves as a reminder not to punish yourself for falling in love—and to never give up on the possibility of finding it again.
“Someone we love close to us recently went through a really horrible breakup,” the band shares. “This song is inspired by them—to not give up on love or themselves. You can’t beat yourself up for falling in love, because that’s crazy. We all lead with the best intentions, and sometimes it doesn’t work out the way we hope, but that doesn’t mean you stop putting your heart out there. Everyone deserves a crazy, stupid kind of love.”
"I was influenced by the space rock of the 80’s," says Weston. Liza adds, “When we wrote and recorded this song, I knew exactly who I was singing for. It’s a love letter to those who are willing to be loved and can get unfortunately hurt in the end. We all look for that hope of a happy ending and a life partner."
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Bluegrass band Big Richard makes music for the 21st century’s twisted cultural unease. Pet, their sophomore album and debut for Signature Sounds is a fierce, provocative, rejoinder to what troubles them and the world right now and was recorded live to tape in order to capture the fervor of their live shows.
“Big Richard is so much about our energetic delivery, and so I think it's been really important for us as a group to figure out how to do that for a record,” says mandolin and guitar player Bonnie Sims. And figure it out they did. Pet delivers, successfully translating the supergroup’s live kinetic harmonies and string virtuosity.
Unapologetically outrageous and provocative, the band’s name is a wink to the ‘big dick’ energy Big Richard is reclaiming from male bluegrass bands. Since exploding onto the Colorado scene in 2021, the four women have been on a wild ride, slapping as hard as possible on the festival circuit, working up their stamina on nationwide headlining tours, and leaving a wake of die-hard Big Richard Heads across the country swooning for their honest songwriting, chilling vocals, and fiddle-driven barn-burners.
“Our live performances are so raw and so gritty, and I think that our sound never really flourished in that digital landscape.” GRAMMY and Emmy Award-winning cellist Joy Adams says. “[Recording live to tape] we were all in the same room together, very close together, with a lot of mic bleed, etc. And the energy was insane. It felt so good to record this way. Even on the first day, we were like ‘wow, this sounds like our band.’ And to do something that's very real and gritty and has little mistakes in it just feels alive and human.”
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