Impressions of the U K Subs Show
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 Charlie Harper |
The punkrock revival continues! Oldschool legends, the UK Subs, wound up
their 20th anniversary U.S. tour with a triumphant return to San Francisco and
a fiery performance at the Great American Music Hall. Started by
singer Charlie Harper as a London R&B combo, the band evolved into one of
the original great British punk bands. Charlie solidified the lineup with
bassist
Alvin Gibbs and guitarist Nicky Garratt, but they parted ways after the epic
Polish blitz of 1983, and finally reunited this year for recording and the tour,
along with ex-Samiam drummer Dave Ayer.
This summer, Nicky's San Francisco-based record label, New Red Archives,
released the 17th UK Subs album "Quintessentials" in conjunction with
Cleopatra Records' release of the 18th title, "Riot" (all their records are
alphabetical, y'see). Both records feature the "classic" (plus Dave) lineup. XXX
subsidiary Amsterdamned recently issued the domestic version of the 15th Subs
record "Occupied" with Charlie and his "Euro-Subs", the guys he's been
playing with in Europe (including original drummer Pete Davies). European
label Fallout/Jungle is putting out the 16th record, the live Peel Sessions,
three
classic recordings with Charlie, Nicky, Pete, and another early member, Paul
Slack. So there's a bumper crop of UK Subs material out there folks! |
 Nick Garratt | The Great American gig was a blast, despite the absence of those who chose
to attend the Gwar extravaganza at the Warfield instead. Still, a decent crowd
showed up, ranging from teenage crusties to wizened geezers like myself. We
were disappointed to find that Alvin Gibbs had returned to England to take
care of some domestic matters, but merchandise gal Carly was filling in on the
last few dates of the tour, and doing a splendid job! Charlie was in fine form,
as good as ever, growling the vocals with his thick London accent. Nicky
performed his legendary stage acrobatics, leaping into the air, doing the
splits,
and at one point hurling his guitar a good twenty feet in the air: I saw it
coming down, I blinked, and there he was, strapped in and playing! We heard
plenty of songs from the Q/R releases, and just about all the classics we could
hope for, including my dance faves "Stranglehold" and "Tomorrow's Girls".
Nicky threw some of his label's bands on the bill: Bay Area punkers
Accustomed To Nothing opened the show with a hellacious set for the handful
of onlookers, minus the kids who were outside drinking malt liquor on
O'Farrell; and Pittsburgh anarchy-punks
Anti-Flag won the crowd over with their political diatribes and their own not-
too-shabby aerobatic guitar playing mayhem. All in all a great night to be a
punker in Frisco, oi oi.
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Check out the new album from U.K. Subs (samples below).
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