After Brian James effectively helped birth punk-rock as a founding member of The Damned, a few years later he found himself handling guitar duties for the somewhat obscure supergroup known as The Lords of the New Church, which launched in 1981. Granted, “supergroup” might be a slightly generous term, but the band nonetheless consisted of former members from pioneering 70s punk bands like Sham 69 and The Barracudas for example.
Featuring a generally more glossy and melodic sound that incorporated elements of goth and glam, The Lords of the New Church were an inherently weird beast, despite having produced plenty of surprisingly good songs during their 80s heyday (their cover of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” notwithstanding). And although Brian James continued to deliver plenty of tasty licks as the band’s guitarist, that was often overshadowed by lead singer Stiv Bator’s (of Dead Boys fame) notoriously campy and decadent onstage persona. A case in point is this unhinged performance of “Little Boys Play with Dolls” (an ode to The New York Dolls) live from the Marquee Club in London back in 1984. Overall, this is a pretty raucously punky performance, largely thanks to James’s characteristically gnarly guitar playing leading the way. You almost want to dust off your Lords of New Church records (assuming you have them). Whatever the case, this is a fun one. R.I.P. Brian James.
