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"Diminished Responsibility Vol. 3" starts off with the familiar tale of an unexpected phone call, this time from U.K. Subs frontman Charlie Harper. “Alvin, what are you
doing tomorrow?” and then we are off on another adventure in the company of genial
bassist Alvin Gibbs. Yes indeed, if you have read and enjoyed the first two
volumes of Alvin’s autobiographical trilogy then you will know it’s like the
roll of the dice when he picks up the phone. Who knows who will be on the other
end of the line with an offer to pack his bass and get moving. Volume 3 of this quite brilliant series of memoirs opens with Charlie asking Alvin to re-join the Subs
in 1994, and he duly obliges. What follows is an exhilarating roller coaster of
a ride through Alvin’s experiences travelling
the world and back with, what turns out to be one of the most disorganized,
chaotic but of course much loved bands in Punk Rock’s musical history. Yep, if
you thought being a touring and recording musician was a glamorous job, then
you might be in for a shock as Alvin tells all with his usual searing honesty
and superb descriptive prose. At the centre of the maelstrom of U.K. Subs
activity is of course legendary and loveable frontman Charlie Harper who, it
seems had a habit of saying “yes” to pretty much any suggestion of gigs, tours,
record releases from people who, sometimes don’t have the band’s best interests
at heart. These include reunion gigs with former line-ups (without telling the members
of the current line-up), playing gigs in far-flung locations without the proper
logistics in place, using fans and non-professional promoters and tour managers,
trying to keep it ‘Punk’. But the long list of jaw-dropping misadventures is frustrating
enough to us as a reader and you can easily imagine why the Subs have possibly had
more musicians pass through their ranks than The Fall and The Blue Aeroplanes
put together.
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| Alvin with U.K. Subs - photo by Retro Man Blog |
Alvin recounts tales of promoters running off with their gig
money, reneging on deals, support bands stealing their riders, band mates going
missing, issues with record labels and crazy tour van drivers. It gets so bad
that Alvin steps in, taking over the role of tour manager in order basically
just to ensure they all have Hotels and get paid their promised fees. Things
improve when Charlie’s Japanese wife Yuko takes on most of the unenviable managerial
tasks and they also find a settled line-up with Alvin and Charlie joined by powerhouse
drummer Jamie Oliver and super-cool guitarist Jet. This purple patch produced a
run of fantastic, well received albums (now packaged together as a great boxset
“The Jet Age 2006-2016” by Cherry Red Records) and the band’s profile skyrocketed. Along
the way, Alvin talks candidly about the various colleagues he has shared a
stage with since his return to the Subs line-up including their iconic guitarist
Nicky Garratt and drummers Steve Roberts and Jamie Oliver. A word of warning,
no spoilers, sometimes they are not painted in a very complimentary light, but
you think if Alvin can forgive them, then we should too and he is always fair
in his explanations on the various trials and tribulations he encounters.
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| Alvin with U.K. Subs - photo by Retro Man Blog |
Again,
as I found with Alvin’s previous books, I really enjoy his more personal thoughts away from the music, and in Volume 3 there’s certainly a hell of a lot to take in over the time
scale covered in the book. He muses on the negative aspects of Covid, 9/11 and
Brexit and on the scarily debilitating illness that hit him for six. He touches
on the perils of social media and does battle with keyboard warriors on
internet fan’s forums. Alvin does not shy away from on-the-road encounters of
the romantic kind, but he is never gratuitous, and this is a big plus in his
favour. He also documents his struggles with relationships, loss and divorce – often
caused by said Rock ‘n’ Roll lifestyle - with a refreshing honesty. It’s heartening
to read about his unbridled passion for karate (he has a black belt) and history
(he has a degree) and his love of France (he has a house near Bordeaux) not
forgetting his support of Crystal Palace football club, ah well…
But back to the musical adventures, and he tells us about the royalties lottery win of Guns ‘n’ Roses covering the Subs “Down on the Farm”, and there’s some welcome gossip on his encounters with some famous names - the surprisingly friendly (The Misfits) and the not so friendly (Marky Ramone if you must know…). He brings us up-to-date with the current Subs line-up and discusses his own side project Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants along with Leigh Heggarty of Ruts DC and that's it, the trilogy draws to a highly satisfactory close. I’m now just as interested to see what Alvin comes up with next in the literary world as I am about his next musical venture – I said before, his books are part travelogue and part tour diary and personally, I’d like to see him explore more of the travel and historical aspects of some of the amazing places he has visited, how about a three volume set of those writings?
The book has been published by Tome & Metre, the publishing wing of the brilliant Time & Matter Recordings, the go-to place for any self-respecting U.K. Subs fan. It features loads of fantastic previously unseen on-the-road and on stage photos mostly from Alvin’s own personal collection, there's a comprehensive discography and a foreword by Gaye (Advert) Black too. You can still listen and download our Retrosonic Podcast episodes with Gaye and two episodes with Leigh Heggarty, just subscribe for free at our SoundCloud site here and check out the archive, or subscribe at Spotify, Amazon Music or iTunes/Apple Podcasts.
You can read my reviews on Alvin’s two previous volumes at the highlighted links below:
Volume 1 - Childhood and early music up to his first stint
in the U.K. Subs 1980-83.
Volume 2 - Leaving the Subs, almost joining Hanoi Rocks,
moving to LA, touring with Iggy Pop, then joining the Hanoi Rocks spin-off Cheap
And Nasty.
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