U.K. Subs at Sub89 Reading, Friday January 10th 2025

Just before Xmas, the U.K. Subs announced that guitarist Steve Straughan was to leave the band after nine succesful years due to upcoming surgery, of course, we wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully, he'll be able to continue with Hi-Fi Spitfires in the very near future. Somewhat selfishly after reading the news I got a bit concerned as we had tickets for the Subs gig at Sub89 in Reading and I wasn't sure if the show would be going ahead. But, at short notice in stepped Abe Inglis, guitarist with Criminal Mind and any trepidation we felt of how such a late replacement would cope was soon put to rest as he put in a hugely impressive performance considering his first show with the band was only the night before at the 100 Club. I suppose I needn't have worried, as after the show I overheard frontman Charlie Harper talking to a fan about the latest line-up change, "I'm a football fan" he said "...and no matter who is in starting line-up, you still support the team and that's what it's like with the Subs". It was an amusing analogy and I had to smile as the band who have probably had more members pass through their ranks than The Fall and The Blue Aeroplanes put together have only gone and done it again. 

 

 

I asked Abe how many rehearsals he'd had before the 100 Club show and he said "none, the gig was it!" He told me he'd been a fan and friends with the band for some time now and knew most of the songs, although he had to check recent YouTube videos as often the live versions were different to the original recordings. He admitted to a brief attack of the nerves when he went to smash the opening chord to first number "Rockers" at the 100 Club, "I just looked down at my hands and suddenly realised I'm playing in the U.K.  Subs". When he hit that very same chord at Sub89 in Reading as the atomic explosion of intro music "World War" faded, nerves were certainly something that Abe didn't seem to be troubled by, in fact his supremely confident display was mightily impressive throughout the show. I don't think anyone would have guessed it was only his second ever gig with the band, he fitted in perfectly, not just with his playing but it was a superb visual performance too, reminding me of Mick Jones of The Clash. Funnily enough, he also reminded me of former Subs bassist Paul Slack from back in their heyday of Top of The Pops!

 

 

Of course, current bassist Alvin Gibbs is still one of the coolest bass players around and you can see why he fitted in so well with Iggy Pop's band in those great days around his "Instinct" tour. Clad all in black with a low slung black Fender bass, his meaty John Entwistle riffing during "Down on The Farm" and "You Don't Belong" in particular were a delight. Drummer Stefan also impressed and I loved the quick fire drum beat in the middle of "Endangered Species", very cool. The legend that is Charlie Harper continues to amaze, it's almost impossible to believe he celebrated his 80th birthday last year, he looks and sounds fantastic. The iconic and charismatic Punk Rock rabble-rouser is on fine form, leading us all in a singalong of "Warhead" and I feel 16 years old again, punching the air and humming along to the bassline that hundreds of young bass players (myself included) taught themselves to play back in the day. 

 

 

Talking of Subs basslines, the classic "Tomorrow's Girls" has always been one of my favourites, and of course it got an outing tonight. In fact, the riff was used in "Throw It To The Universe" by Swedish Psych Rockers, The Soundtrack of Our Lives. In our Retrosonic Podcast with frontman Ebbot Lundberg, he told me that they incorporated the riff into a track on their final album as an homage to the band as they actually formed their legendary pre-TSOOL band Union Carbide Productions after meeting at a Subs gig in Gothenburg back in 1981. It was a nice and heartfelt touch, paying such a tribute to one of their influences. Some personal highlights of the Subs' Reading show for me included "Barbie's Dead", "Limo Life", "Emotional Blackmail" and of course the classic "Stranglehold" but there was something for everyone in a brilliantly paced set-list. The appreciative and good-natured Reading crowd were treated to a triumph of a show that proved exactly why live music can be so very special and life-affirming. Long may the Subs continue to do what they do best. 

Check out our review here on Alvin's latest fantastic book "Diminished Responsibility - My Life as a U.K. Sub and Other Strange Stories Vol. 3" (published by Time & Matter) and the good news is that I hope to be speaking to Alvin about the book in our next Retrosonic Podcast, so please subscribe to make sure you don't miss out on further news. Charlie's memoirs are also completed and discussions with publishers will be taking place once he gets back from the "Tokyo Rock 'n' Swindle" JP Subs show in Japan. This looks like a great event organized by the wonderfully named Punk/vintage store More Tea Vicar and also features Gaye (Advert) Black, Tenpole Tudor and various other Japanese bands and DJ's.

You can subscribe to our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here for free to see more videos from the U.K. Subs Reading Sub89 show and loads more original live videos too...

Alvin Gibbs – Diminished Responsibility: My Life as a U.K. Sub and Other Strange Stories Volume 3

"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.

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. 

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.

Retrosonic Podcast Episode 43 "Kiss Me, I'm Vaccinated"

Welcome to Episode 43 of Retrosonic Podcast "Kiss Me, I'm Vaccinated" which is another non-retro show featuring 20 superb brand new International Garage Rock 'n' Soul, Punk, Indie, Psych and Power Pop releases from France, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland and the UK. Listen in and celebrate the creative talents and spirit of some of our favourite musicians, record companies and artists who are producing such great music in these difficult times. We kick off with the Garage Rock 'super-group' The Sanitizers, who provide us with this episode's title track and we spotlight Time & Matter Recordings with two new U.K. Subs related singles from Charlie Harper and Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants. There's The Limiñanas and their collaboration with the DJ and Producer Laurent Garnier and we play new releases from Jamie Perrett, Ian Kay and his former Missing Souls bandmate Elsa Capella. Then we have Mike Whittaker from The Baron Four's new project Paper Lips and some scorching Garage Punk Rock from The Jackets, Stupidity, Seeds of 77, The Routes, The Fadeaways and Las Aspiradoras. There's some classic Power Pop from Smiley's Friends and The Speedways and The Galileo 7's lockdown alter-ego Sounds Incarcerated offer up their take on a Punk Rock classic. Then there are new releases from two of our favourite labels - firstly Damaged Goods provide us with another immense wall of sound from The Courettes and there's a track from the highly rated Keeley's new EP which is out via Dimple Discs Records. We close the show with The Stranglers latest single, a beautiful and moving tribute to Dave Greenfield. I really hope you like this stunning collection of new music and I would kindly recommend clicking on the highlighted links below for more information on how you can buy the featured records and support these wonderful Bands, Artists and Record labels. Turn up the volume, sit back and enjoy!

 

Retrosonic Podcast · Episode 43 "Kiss Me, I'm Vaccinated"

Track-listing (please click on the highlighted links below for more info...)

The Sanitizers "Kiss Me, I'm Vaccinated"

Jamie Perrett "Masquerade of Love"

The Limiñanas & Laurent Garnier "Saul"

The Jackets "Steam Queen"

Ian Kay "Love Wasn't Built In A Year"

Elsa Capella "Good Woman"

Paper Lips "Up And Down"

The Courettes "Hop The Twig" (Damaged Goods Records)

Stupidity "Stupid Like Me" (featuring Keith Streng of The Fleshtones)

Las Aspiradoras "Chicoperro" (Hotel Records)

The Routes "Mesmerised"

The Fadeaways "Bad Dreams"

Seeds of 77 "Thief of Love" (Sounds of The Suburbs Records)

Smiley's Friends "Women Are From Venus"

The Speedways "Starry Eyes"

Charlie Harper And The Sub Machine "Post War Punks" (Time & Matter Records)

Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants "State of Grace" (Time & Matter Records)

Keeley "The Glitter And The Glue" (Dimple Discs Records)

Sounds Incarcerated "Gary Gilmore's Eyes"

The Stranglers "And If You Should See Dave..."

Retrosonic Podcast is available to listen/download from Soundcloud or you can subscribe and stream at Spotify and iTunes/Apple Podcasts - all for free! This episode's cover star Amy K-B.

Charlie Harper & Captain Sensible "Too Much Reality" E.P.

Time & Matter Records will release a brand new E.P. from legendary Punk Rockers - Charlie Harper from the U.K. Subs and The Damned's Captain Sensible - called "Too Much Reality" tomorrow, July 29th. The E.P. features seventeen minutes of mind-bending Space Rock and Psychedelic guitars, with four excellent new songs written by Charlie, "Too Much Reality", "Space Virgins", "Human Traffic" and "Kamera".

Recorded at Dean Van Jones' Oscillate Recordings on the South Downs and Charlie and The Captain explore the musical influences of their youth from The Pink Fairies to Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd via Hawkwind and beyond. The E.P. is released on CD single and 7" vinyl, with a suitably psychedelic splatter pattern and limited to 250 hand numbered copies.

You can buy "Too Much Reality" from Time and Matter, and when you're there don't forget to have a browse around their excellent web-site. Originally set up as an impressively comprehensive U.K. Subs resource it has expanded to include Time & Matter Recordings set up as a 'not for profit company' in February 2010, putting out previously un-released or no longer available U.K. Subs material with all the proceeds going to charity. These charitable causes are personally chosen by legendary Subs front man Charlie Harper, and have included individuals, the people directly affected by the Japanese Tsunami & Earthquake in March 2011 and at present the RNLI. Upwards of £5,000 has been raised so far...In May 2012 they launched a subsidiary label called Time & Matter Records to deal with commercial ventures, the first of which was the Urban Dogs' fabulous acoustic album ‘Bonefield’, released in August 2012 and already featured in the Blog here.

Thanks to Rob Cook and Mark Chadderton from Time and Matter.

The Ruts "A Tribute to Paul Fox" new fund-raising album - Plus a look back at The Ruts 2007 reunion concert

The Paul Fox Social Club have announced the November 16th release of "A Tribute to Paul Fox", the legendary guitarist with The Ruts, who sadly passed away due to cancer in 2007. The twenty four track compilation boasts some of the biggest names in Punk Rock, it's available from Foxy's web-site and hopefully at gigs by the featured Artists. The album features a mixture of previously released material along with exclusive live and studio recordings from Bands and Artists including Ruts DC, UK Subs, Chelsea, The Priscillas, TV Smith, Duncan Reid of The Boys, Texas Terri, Menace, The Phobics, The Urban Voodoo Machine and Laurel Aitken amongst others. The album was mastered by Chris Kimsey at Olympic Studios and the cover art has been designed by Gaye Advert. The idea behind this charity compilation came from the simple desire to help raise more funds and continued support for the Michael Sobell Hospice who made Paul's life more comfortable during his terminal illness. Profits will be added to those raised by The Paul Fox Social Club, which is an annual fund raising event for the Hospice. The Club was originally set up a few weeks after Paul passed away by family and friends to celebrate the life and career of one of the most energetic, versatile and influential guitarists of his generation. Every year since 2007, on or around October 21st, an annual gig is arranged to raise funds for the Hospice to say thank you for the palliative care received by Paul during the final months of his life.  

Paul Fox at The Ruts reunion 2007 - Photo by Steve Worrall

Michael Sobell Hospice is a specialist centre at Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, Middlesex. The hospice is a 16 bed In-Patient Unit, Day Therapy Centre and Outreach Service as well as providing a wide range of complementary therapies. There is no charge for the care they provide but Michael Sobell Hospice relies heavily on charitable donations. It costs £6,000 a day to maintain their current levels of care, £2,500 of which is provided by fund raising. For more info please check out the Michael Sobell Hospice web-site or the Paul Fox "Foxy's" web-site. 

For me, The Ruts were always one of the best of the second wave of Punk Rock bands, and their appeal was mainly down to Paul Fox's guitar work. Their debut, "The Crack", was certainly one of the most diverse and exciting of all the Punk albums, and probably only America's Bad Brains could play such great reggae one minute and then such visceral aggressive rock the next. A hugely exciting future was so tragically cut short when vocalist Malcolm Owen died of a drug overdose in 1980 and the band decided to continue as Ruts D.C. playing mainly dub reggae. Unfortunately they never reached the heights of the original Ruts but the band, and Paul Fox in particular, remained hugely influential and popular. In 2007 it was announced that The Ruts, Paul Fox on guitars, bassist Segs and drummer Dave Ruffy would reform for the first time in 27 years, with Black Flag legend and huge Ruts fan, Henry Rollins taking over the vocal duties.

Henry Rollins - Photo by Steve Worrall

I remember there was a moment of euphoria when I first heard the news, the chance to hear those classic songs again, and as a big fan of Black Flag I thought that Rollins was the perfect choice to do justice to the legacy and memory of Malcolm Owen. The euphoria dissipated quickly when I found out that the reunion gig, to be held at the Islington Academy on July 16th 2007, was a benefit for the Ruts very own Paul Fox, who had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. It was terrible news but the gig was a huge success, a joyous yet highly emotional celebration. It must have been very daunting for Rollins to try and fill the Dr. Martens of Malcolm Owen, but he took to the task extremely well. Showing the perfect balance of respect for Malcolm, the band and the audience along with an impressive knowledge of the material and compassion for Paul. Yet you could feel the unbridled honour and joy of a fan's dream come true, the rare opportunity to actually perform with their heroes. A stellar line-up compered by John Robb, including the UK Subs, The Damned, Tom Robinson, TV Smith, Tenpole Tudor, Splodgenessabounds, John Otway and fittingly, Southall's Misty In Roots, all played short sets and paid tribute to Paul Fox and The Ruts. Then it was the moment we had all been waiting for and Rollins, Segs, Ruffy and a frail looking Fox took to the stage to an amazing reception and tore into "Something That I Said", closely followed by "Staring at The Rude Boys".

Henry Rollins - Photo by Steve Worrall

What a start, and what a sound! Paul Fox's guitar was a joy to behold and Segs and Ruffy locked into their Rhythm, propelling those two classic singles along at breakneck speed. Rollins' guttural voice was perfectly suited to the material, and with his shaved head and barely controlled aggression, he certainly looked the part too. He self effacingly asked the crowd to sing along to help him and the audience responded enthusiastically. Next up was the menacing intro to "S.U.S." with that ominous bass line building to the slashing chords of the chorus which then fades into reggae to allow Fox's superb guitar lines to shine. "West One (Shine On Me)" was always a very underrated single, and tonight it gets a well deserved play and it sounds amazing. Vocalist Molara joins the band to sing The Ruts own reggae classic "Jah War", and you get the surreal sight of Rollins skanking away in the background covering on backing vocals. "Babylon's Burning", one of the classic Punk Rock singles, and one of my favourite Top Of The Pops moments, sees the crowd going crazy and as the song fades they start up a football terrace style chant of "Foxy, Foxy"...Paul is visibly moved. The full on onslaught of "Society" gives way to the singalong "In A Rut", which sees all the bands who appeared invade the stage to join in on the chorus. It's a chaotic but fun ending which gradually dissolves to leave Rollins, Segs, Ruffy and Paul Fox to take a well deserved bow and lap up the applause. There are mixed emotions of course but to see Paul Fox's huge smile, despite the pain he must have been in, as he stood in front of the crowd, was hugely inspiring. So, please buy the new compilation album and get out all those great Ruts records, they are a wonderful legacy for us to celebrate the unique talents of both Malcolm Owen and Paul Fox. Here's a few more of my photographs of some of the great bands who appeared at the July 16th 2007 gig.

TV Smith with Tony Barber - Photo by Steve Worrall

Charlie Harper from the UK Subs - Photo by Steve Worrall

John Otway - Photo by Steve Worrall

Misty In Roots - Photo by Steve Worrall

The Damned - Photo by Steve Worrall

Urban Dogs "Bonefield" - New acoustic album from Charlie Harper & Knox + Charlie's Harbour Rats

Back in November last year, at Gaye Advert's excellent "Punk & Beyond" Art Exhibition, I watched Charlie Harper from the UK Subs and Knox, the ex-Vibrators front-man, play a rousing Acoustic Set to a packed out Signal gallery.  Little did I realise back then that this interesting concept would later materialise as the superb new album entitled "Bonefield".  So, back together as The Urban Dogs, this brand new release features a mix of new songs, cover versions and old UK Subs, Vibrators and Urban Dogs classics.  Recorded over a two year period, Charlie jokes that it's a "...bare bones production", but one that betrays a lightness of touch and intricate musicianship that shines through on this selection of classic material.

The CD features a cover painting by Knox himself, and Charlie Harper adds exclusive liner notes on each of the album's songs in the 8 page full colour booklet. Retro Man Blog contributor and world famous Rock Photographer, Paul Slattery, also has lots of excellent pictures of Knox and Charlie included in the booklet. This is especially pleasing, as Paul took many of the UK Subs very early photographs, including the individual portraits of the band that can be seen on the back of the iconic "Warhead" single cover. One of Paul's classic early live photos was also used on the mammoth 1996 Double CD 46-track compilation "Original Punks Original Hits".

Charlie & Knox at Signal Gallery - Photo Paul Slattery

Talking of "Warhead", that's the track that kicks off "Bonefield", and at first it's pretty strange not to hear Paul Slack's iconic bass-line. However, it's very refreshing to hear their acoustic version of a familiar and much-loved classic. This works extremeley well throughout with their takes of their own back-catalogue. For example The Urban Dogs' "New Barbarians", The Vibrators' "Dragnet" and the Subs' "Tomorrow's Girls", which Charlie admits in his liner notes was originally written and played acoustically. There are superb covers of Arlo Guthrie's "Hobo Lullaby", Hank Williams "Move It On Over" and The Reverend Gary Davies' "Cocaine" along with Gershwin's American classic, "Summertime". The protest songs, "War Baby" and "Not In My Name", which was written during the recording of the album, add a air of gravitas to the material with their strong Anti-War sentiments. But overall there is an uplifting and positive theme throughout "Bonefield", which you don't often find on acoustic albums. Not forgetting the nice sense of humour too, which is apparent on Knox's spoken word "Swamp Dog Blues", on which bass and drums make an appearance to drive along a potted history of the duo, from the Queen's Coronation in 1953, when "Charlie and Knox are still wearing short trousers", to the beginning of the Punk Rock explosion. Along the way, we learn that at Xmas 1959 Knox had a choice between a guitar or a crossbow, and well, the rest is history! So, an excellent album indeed, and I can thoroughly recommended "Bonefield". Considering they pull this off using acoustic guitars, with only the odd burst of harmonica and electric guitar, drums and bass here and there, it's testament to their song-writing and respect and feel for the songs they chose to cover.

It's also great to see that the album has been released on Time & Matter Records, which is an offspring of the immense UK Subs official archive web-site, Time & Matter. In fact, the web-site was almost destroyed by a computer virus, but luckily Mark Chadderton, Rob Cook and their team, managed to salvage the archive and it is thankfully back on-line and certainly well worth checking out. I'm sure any fan of the UK Subs will find it a remarkable collection of memorabilia, reviews, photos, news and there are even Blogs and Tour Diaries by current and ex-members of the band. In fact it should be held up as the benchmark for all band's web-sites in general, a labour of love run by real fans for other fans.

Charlie also has another acoustic side-project called "Charlie's Harbour Rats". This is a folky line-up featuring original UK Subs Drummer, Pete Davies, who always sticks in my mind for his brightly dyed hair on those early Subs' Top Of The Pops appearances back in my youth. They've released a single on Punkerama Records, available as limited edition Vinyl Picture Disc only, featuring "Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms" and "The Cuckoo". The full line-up of the band is Charlie on vocals and acoustic guitar, Pete Davies on drums and vocals, Sally Hunter on violin, Bernie Elliott on mandolin, Chris Tombs on upright bass and Jewls Ashton on pennywhistle. The single may have sold out already, but keep and eye-out for more news.

Punk Rock Cartoons by David Worth

Adam Ant - by David Worth

David Worth is from Blackpool. He started drawing caricature cartoons in April 2010 and is self-taught. He has no art school background and his day job isn’t in design or illustration. The first cartoons he drew were of Public Image Limited and these were published on johnlydon.com and also on pilofficial.com.

This encouraged David to draw more cartoons and develop his own unique style.  Since then, David has drawn hundreds of cartoons of musicians, bands, movie subjects and TV personalities. He is quickly working his way through people and bands from the world of Punk, Alternative and metal. These include The Clash, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Motorhead, Henry Rollins, Beastie Boys, etc. He has also created cartoons of more mainstream musicians such as Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera, Fleetwood Mac and others. There is also a set of Hollywood Film Legends in progress.  



The Stranglers 1977 - by David Worth



The cartoons can be seen at his website, Punk Rock Toons and also on Facebook. They have raised a lot of interest on Facebook and some great feedback has been received from Killing Joke, Mike Joyce of The Smiths and Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols. Glen even uses a cartoon of himself as his profile picture.

Ramones outside CBGBs - by David Worth

Exhibitions

David has shown his work at various exhibitions in the UK, including the Rebellion Punk Festival in his home town of Blackpool, which plays host to hundreds of punk bands and thousands of fans from all over the world every August. A cartoon of famous musicians born, raised or based in the local area has been displayed at the Blackpool Art Fair. 



Captain Sensible

He has also recently exhibited in Manchester and the sale of the prints from the various artists raised lots of money for a charity for children living in poverty in the city. He will also be displaying his artwork at the Punk Rock Museum at Ghettogloss Gallery in Downtown Los Angeles from 14th January 2012.

A cartoon of the Country Life Butter Advert was published in John Lydon's recent limited edtion book, “Mr. Rotten’s Scrapbook” and was the only cartoon featured in the book not drawn by John himself. It was given a full page, accompanied by John’s scribblings above and below the picture. The cartoons have also been published in Digital Arts and Front magazines and various newspapers. 

More of David's cartoons can be seen on the following sites:



Dave Vanian



Punk Rock Toons

  

Facebook/Punk Rock Cartoons 

  

John Lydon.com  

- Under 26th July 2010 heading

Public Image Ltd Official  

- Find in show reports

John Lydon's "Mr. Rotten's Scrapbook"  

- Country Life Cartoon used on Page 180

David would like to thank John ‘Rambo’ Stevens, John Lydon and Scotty Murphy, for initially publishing the cartoons and also to Taquila Mockingbird for giving David the opportunity to exhibit them in the U.S.A. 

Thanks to David for permission to use some examples of his excellent artwork, I'd like to wish him good luck with the Exhibition in Los Angeles and will certainly keep an eye out for future news and update here accordingly. In the meantime, please enjoy some more great Punk Rock Cartoons...

The Clash on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show 1981

Lemmy

The Damned - Black Album era

Don Letts and Mick Jones of Big Audio Dynamite

Charlie Harper with his Punk Rock Cartoon

John Lydon liked his cartoon so much he used one in his special limited edition book "Mr. Rotten's Scrapbook"

All cartoons and photographs Copyright David Worth

UK Subs live at Relentless Garage London December 17th - Review by Paul Mileman

UK Subs live at Relentless Garage - Photo by Steve Worrall

One more Xmas comes around. Time for a UK Subs gig. I have tried to do this each year since 1981. Not always got it together, but when I do, it´s always fun. Never two gigs the same. Early Friday morning flight from Oslo, Norway. The first thing that struck me when arriving in London is how bloody cold it was. The second thing was that I saw a poster "celebrating 40 years of Queen", the band that is, not the monarch (she´s winning that one..). Anyway, it made me think about the Subs. Only 5 years to go, and they may actually get to album "Z" in that time!  

Photo by Paul Slattery

The Saturday started out alright actually (West Ham winning at home 1-0), despite it actually getting colder. Then a swift trip over to the Relentless Garage. We missed the Charred Hearts supporting as we went for the pizza/pasta option in the restaurant over the road, got in to the venue mid-way through The Defects set. Never seen The Defects before, and they surprised me. OK sound. Would see them again. Then they played several Clash songs and went off stage.  

UK Subs time. Swift turn around on stage, and then The Subs appeared, Charlie looking like Kurt Cobain (my mate observed). "Emotional Blackmail" for starters, then all the expected songs…and…"Hey Santa" (wouldn´t be Xmas without it), "Riot", "Bitter and Twisted", "This Chaos", "Creation", "Hell Is Other People", "Strychnine"...Can´t remember all the songs, but they came back for 3 encores, or was it 4? Too much Red Stripe… 

A lot of familiar faces at the front, nice to see the punk rock aerobics is still going strong, but I notice that it´s starting to get difficult for the longer songs…Note: Please shorten all the new songs to 1 minute.  

UK Subs live at Relentless Garage - Photo by Paul Slattery

 You cannot knock the UK Subs for this gig at all. Great sound, great songs, great musicians, great venue, great friendly crowd and Red Stripe on tap. Really looking forward to the "X" album, with this line-up, which does seem to really get better each time I see them. And it was really good to see the newer songs creeping into the set, and not just a "best of" gig. Get down and see them now!

UK Subs Guitarist Jet live at Relentless Garage - Photo by Paul Slattery

Charlie Harper live at Relentless Garage - Photo by Paul Slattery

- Review by Paul Mileman, Oslo, Norway

Check out Paul's band RIOTS at their official web-site or Facebook page. 

Paul also runs the official UK Subs web-site.

There is an excellent UK Subs historical archive/resource site called called Time and Matter which is well worth delving into. It features a huge archive of memorabilia, photographs, news, reviews and interviews. There are also contributions from current and ex-members of the band, including tour Blogs, information on various side-projects and charity appeals.

Paul Slattery photographing the UK Subs - Photo by Steve Worrall

A packed Garage enjoying UK Subs - Photo by Steve Worrall

Charlie Harper - Photo by Paul Slattery

UK Subs - Photo by Paul Slattery

Drummer Jamie Oliver - Photo by Steve Worrall

Bassist Alvin Gibbs - Photo by Steve Worrall

Many thanks to Paul Mileman for contributing the review and to Paul Slattery for photographs.

For more "bonus" photographs of the show please visit the Retro Man Blog Facebook page.