The vocalist talks make-up tips, getting hate on YouTube and pissing off his parents

Rat City Rockers TEE PEE

Forget the Cheeto-in-Chief – masked marvels President won the public vote as the buzz band of 2025

We might have lost metal’s founding fathers, but the next generation proved that the music lives on

Fifty years on from their explosive debut single “New Rose”, THE DAMNED have evolved from punk pioneers to national treasures. But as a new album pays tribute to Brian James, their fallen co-founder, bandmates Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies – along with sundry eyewitnesses and ne’erdo-wells – recall the volatile beginnings, creative vision and incorrigible spirit of The Damned’s groundbreaking first act. “It was CID, villains and the Captain in a nurse’s outfit,” hears Peter Watts

Mike Patton and the Avett Brothers join forces to create a work of immense beauty.