Alvin Gibbs "Diminished Responsibility: My Life as a U.K. Sub and Other Strange Stories Vol. 2”

Here’s another rollicking, rip-roaring Rock ‘n’ Roll memoir from U.K. Subs bassist Alvin Gibbs courtesy of the always excellent Time & Matter Recordings publishing wing Tome and Metre. “Diminished Responsibility: My Life as a U.K. Sub and Other Strange Stories Vol. 2” picks up the tale from the aftermath of Alvin’s sudden and unexpected dismissal from the Subs in 1983 and ends some 11 years later with a cliff-hanger phone call from Charlie Harper and a tantalising offer. First of all, I was pleasantly surprised to read in the foreword that Alvin and T&M have decided to expand this thoroughly entertaining autobiography series to a trilogy of books with Volume 3 hopefully due to be published at the end of the year. This will continue with Alvin’s adventures following that fateful phone call from Charlie right up to the present day. 

Cheap And Nasty in Berlin, 1991 by Mark Plummer

Anyway, back to Volume 2 which starts up with Alvin going through a bit of a musically quiet patch following his departure from the U.K. Subs and the realisation dawns that he might have to get some real work to make ends meet. So he gets a job as a Hospital Porter! This is where Alvin’s writing comes into its own and the descriptions of his day job are shot through with a hilarious, if occasionally morbid humour, when it comes to unexpected autopsies and navigating corpses on trolleys through the Hospital car parks. It’s like a cross between Carry on Doctor and the best of Dave Allen’s sketch show. In fact, near death experiences loom large throughout Volume 2 – whether its narrowly avoiding drug overdoses, being hit by an earthquake of magnitude 5.9 on the Richter Scale or getting his parachute cords twisted during a sky dive, Alvin certainly does get into some scrapes. A lot of the danger and the drama however, does seem to stem from one person and that’s Hanoi Rocks guitarist Andy McCoy. On one hand, his - what can only be described as a love/hate - relationship with Andy does offer Alvin quite a lot of opportunities including the chance to join Iggy Pop’s band for his “Instinct” period world tour and the chance to replace Sami Yaffa in Hanoi Rocks. However, the hand that gives can also take away and Andy’s hedonistic lifestyle often scuppers the best opportunities that the pair find themselves in. 

Alvin on stage (centre) with Iggy Pop in 1988 by Paul McAlpine

Along with Andy, it’s also Alvin’s relationship with his American wife Mary that’s at the heart of Volume 2 and the strains on their marriage caused by a life in Rock ‘n’ Roll music are laid bare with a searing honesty. The couple move to San Francisco and L.A. where Alvin is immersed in the local music scenes. He tells us of his bands Revolver and Broken Glass and his relationships with Timo Kaltio and Nasty Suicide and mixing with Hollywood stars such as Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, James Russo and most impressively (to me at least…) George Wendt or Norm from “Cheers”.  There’s some funny tales of auditions including an offer from Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go’s to try out for her band World’s Cutest Killers and an infuriating encounter with John Lydon’s brother Martin.

Alvin in Revolver, 1986

Things do get better after that thankfully, Guns N Roses cover the Subs “Down on the Farm” on their “Spaghetti Incident” LP, there’s a reunion in New York with Charlie Harper and Nicky Garratt and then of course, Andy McCoy recommends Alvin to Iggy Pop. Although the “Instinct” tour is covered in Alvin’s excellent book “Neighbourhood Threat – On Tour with Iggy Pop” he does add quite a bit of extra background info and gossip to his time spent touring the world with Iggy, which makes for fascinating reading. The book ends in 1994 and his time with Cheap & Nasty, which sadly is beset by the usual music industry problems and hassles with management and record labels. It’s another thoroughly satisfying read and as I mentioned in my review of “Volume 1”, Alvin excels with his evocative reminiscing of travels and experiences in places such as India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Japan and this lifts his books far above any standard Rock ‘n’ Roll memoir. Although, don’t worry, there’s still plenty of on-the-road debauchery thrown in for good measure! I’m already looking forward to “Volume 3”.

Alvin with the U.K. Subs photo by Retro Man Blog

To order the book please check out Time & Matter here. For our feature on "Diminished Responsibility: My Life as a U.K. Sub and Other Strange Stories Vol. 1” please check out the Blog Archive here. Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants official page is here and more info on the U.K. Subs can be found here. Thanks to Mark & Rob at Time & Matter.

Alvin Gibbs "Diminished Responsibility: My Life as a U.K. Sub and Other Strange Stories" (Tome & Metre Publishing)

Diminished Responsibility cover

This excellent new book from U.K. Subs bassist Alvin Gibbs "Diminished Responsibility: My Life as a U.K. Sub and Other Strange Stories" (the first from those good folks at Time & Matter) works on all levels – whether it be as an evocative autobiography, travelogue and tour diary or a thoughtful take on the various machinations of the music industry over the years. Take your pick, Alvin has all bas(s)es superbly covered within these fast-turning pages. Starting off with a foreword by Henry Rollins, we are soon plunged into Alvin’s earliest childhood memories and his first love, surprisingly not music but football, both as a handy player and then as a passionate supporter of his local team Crystal Palace. He soon gets hooked by the music bug though and inspired by Glam Rock he forms various bands with school friends and ends up striking up an unlikely friendship with Guy Stevens, the inspired, if somewhat erratic, producer of Mott The Hoople and The Clash’s “London Calling”. Alvin then gets sucked into the burgeoning London Punk scene, seeing early bands in legendary venues like the Roxy but it’s experiencing the Ramones play at the Croydon Greyhound that really seals the deal and he joins Cambridge based Punks The Users. He then lands playing bass for Brian James who had just left The Damned to form his own band, The Brains, later to become The Hellions and there are some hilarious tales of Brian’s less than benevolent handling of the tour expenses. Alvin then recalls his audition with the U.K. Subs which would be the first encounter of an on-off relationship that endures to this very day and, as we are about to discover, would go on to provide so many experiences that he will soon be publishing Volume 2 of these memoirs.

Alvin Gibbs onstage with the U.K. Subs - Photo by Retro Man Blog

Alvin’s recollections are shot through with a conscience which may be one reason why he re-wrote his (initially rather discreet) first book about touring with Iggy Pop. He mentions that he struggled against expected social conventions of the time such as pressure from family versus becoming an all-out Rock ’n’ Roll monster. But therein lies the charm of the story. For example, this paradox leads him to get married at an early age because he felt it was the right thing to do but it only causes him sleepless nights, in more ways than one, when he can’t stop himself from succumbing to the pleasures of being on tour. It’s these frank, soul searching elements that elevate the book to another level and prevents it being much more than just another lurid Rock ’n’ Roll memoir. Don’t get me wrong, there are enough amusing, sometimes eye-opening vignettes of on-the-road bad behaviour, particularly when the Anti-Nowhere League and Hanoi Rocks are also involved. But despite his honest recollections of these wild adventures, Alvin comes across as a likeable and thoughtful person who manages to find the time to discover the joys of foreign travel amongst the hectic tour schedules and after-show carousing. For example, his vivid portrayal of New York and his evident passion for places as diverse as Florence in Italy and Austin in Texas are really evocative and you can understand why he now resides in France, seemingly someone totally at ease with different cultures thanks, I’m sure to his globe-trotting experiences as a touring musician. It’s not all seen through rose-tinted glasses though as is evident in the hair-raising encounters with right wing factions in Germany, a sobering visit to the Dachau concentration camp and even run-ins with Rednecks and Hell’s Angels in the States, which he compares to the movie Easy Rider. 

Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants "Ghost Train"

However, it’s in his description of the U.K. Subs ground-breaking but ultimately ill-fated tour of Poland in 1983 where his writing really hits its stride. The Subs were the first Punk band to play there and they experienced not only their largest crowds and biggest venues but the intense, claustrophobic atmosphere of life behind the Iron Curtain as the Solidarity movement gained momentum. But let’s rewind a bit and I’ll let you in on a selection of other goodies that you will encounter as we accompany Alvin on his literary tour bus. There are encounters with John Lydon, Billy Idol and Arturo Vega in New York, there’s The Cramps, The Police and Thin Lizzy and some less than pleasant experiences with Adam Ant and Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden. There’s loads of interesting snippets of information and gossip for U.K. Subs fans and various vignettes that could come straight from the movies “Almost Famous” and “Spinal Tap”, from death defying air journeys to Drummer Steve Roberts spectacular ego-driven meltdown. There are backstage punch-ups and the reasons for original rhythm section Paul Slack and Pete Davies leaving the band. We discover the secret behind the ‘live’ album “Crash Course” and how their stint at Jacobs studio in rural Farnham inspired the Guns n’ Roses favourite “Down on The Farm”. We learn how the Subs’ press photos for “Keep On Running” caused a furore amongst the Hardcore Year Zero Punk fraternity and find out how the band got scrubbed from Top of The Pops. It’s all here and more…! 

Alvin Gibbs onstage with the U.K. Subs - Photo by Retro Man Blog

Obviously, Alvin opens up on the relationships with his various band-mates but I was a bit surprised that guitarist Nicky Garratt remains an elusive figure throughout the book. Nicky, it seems generally preferred to do his own thing on tour, not partaking in the usual on the road chaos around him, and in fact even gets labelled a Boy Scout at one point. However, it’s not until the very last chapter where Alvin explains the unexpected twist regarding the band’s split in 1983 that he expands on the importance of Garratt’s role. Admitting that Garratt played a major part in bringing Charlie’s somewhat sketchy ideas for songs to life and how he tried his best in the studio to rescue the disappointing “Diminished Responsibility” LP, not forgetting his incendiary live performances. Yes, the way the band ended here comes as a bit of a surprise, not what I was expecting at all and I won’t go into the details here, you’ll just have to buy yourself a copy to find out! The book is the first to be published by Time & Matter Recordings new publishing wing Tome & Metre and can be ordered directly from here. Keep an eye on their site for news on the forthcoming Volume 2.

You can hear my colleague Paul Slattery's favourite Subs track and a song from Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants in Retrosonic Podcast Episode 32 (see below). Paul photographed the U.K. Subs for various single and album covers such as "Stranglehold" and "Original Punks, Original Hits".

Retrosonic Podcast · Episode 32 "Is It On - Is It Off"

Useful links - Please click on the highlighted links below for further information

Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants - Facebook page

Time & Matter Recordings - Official web-site

Time & Matter Recordings - Facebook page

Alvin Gibbs - Some Weird Sin: On Tour With Iggy Pop

U.K. Subs - Official web-site

Retrosonic Podcast - with Leigh Heggarty from the Disobedient Servants & Ruts DC
Retro Man Blog - Alvin Gibbs archive features

Alvin Gibbs - U.K. Subs Bassist to Release New Autobiography "Diminished Responsibility" & "History" E.P. with The Disobedient Servants

Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants

Time & Matter Recordings have announced their brand new venture "Tome & Metre Publishing" with news of the forthcoming release of the first-of-two-volumes of U.K. Subs bassist Alvin Gibbs memoirs entitled "Diminished Responsibility: My Life as a U.K. Sub and Other Strange Stories Vol. 1". In the book's foreward Henry Rollins writes "Alvin puts his experiences across with energy and excellent detail, cheerful, hilarious and armed with insight, you are immediately pulled in by this book’s contents. A mark of not only a great story teller, but of one who has truly lived in full and continues to do so". The book's tentative release date is July 1st, with pre-orders available sometime in May or June so please keep an eye on the T&M web-site here for further announcements. To help T&M with the funding of this new project, they are offering fans the chance to have their name printed in the book for only £5.00, for which your full name will be featured, alongside your town or city and your country, in what will be the world’s first ever book about your favourite band – the U.K. Subs. Please be aware that this payment doesn’t buy you a physical copy of the book, but when it goes to pre-order later this year (retailing at £15.00) you will have played your part in a bit of U.K. Subs book publishing history.

"Diminished Responsibility" book cover

"History" EP Cover by Gaye Black

Talking of History - Time & Matter will be releasing a fabulous new four song E.P. by Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants entitled "History". The record is limited to 500 hand numbered copies and comes as a double 7" Black & White vinyl single in a gatefold cover designed by Gaye Black, formerly Gaye Advert, the iconic bassist with The Adverts, now a succesful artist. The four new songs "Bad About You", "History", "If Only" and "Pavlovian" continue with the high standard set by the Disobedient Servants' excellent debut album. Alvin is backed by his Subs bandmate, drummer Jamie Oliver and Ruts DC guitarist Leigh Heggarty. The release date for the "History" EP is 30th June and it's now available to pre-order from the Time & Matter web-site here. Alvin has punctuated his stints with the U.K. Subs with spells in Urban Dogs, Cheap And Nasty and of course in one of Iggy Pop's most celebrated backing line-ups around the release of the "Instinct" album. I will never forget a superb show at the Brixton Academy on the "Instinct" tour in 1988, Iggy was in a back-to-basics mood after the commercial success of "Blah Blah Blah" and had assembled a suitably rocking line-up including Alvin and Hanoi Rocks guitarist Andy McCoy. In fact, you can read all about Alvin's experiences of working with Iggy in his thoroughly entertaining book "Neighbourhood Threat: On Tour with Iggy Pop". You can also read our review of Alvin's excellent debut album with The Disobedient Servants in the Blog archive here. 

Alvin Gibbs - Photo by Retro Man Blog

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.

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.

U.K. Subs "Time & Matter" Archive Web-site + Paul Slack Tour Blog

Great news...the U.K. Subs immense historical archive web-site "Time & Matter", run with admirable dedication by Mark Chadderton & Rob Cook, is now back up on line following it's re-launch today! It has beaten the unbelievable act of mindless hacking from some extremely sad Internet nerd, and is now back and running at full steam! Any fan of any band would crave a site like this, it really is a huge and impressive labour of love, so it's more reason to be thankful that Mark & Paul could recover their work. "Time & Matter" features a wealth of excellent archive material and memorabilia, ranging from photos, press releases and old fanzine features to a full discography and up to date news on the band and it's various ex-members and off-shoots. Anyway, best of luck to Mark and Rob. 

U.K. Subs - Photo by Steve Worrall

Whilst the site was down, original Subs' bassist Paul Slack, now with Monica & The Explosion, moved his fantastic Tour Blog/Travelogue to a different site. You can catch up with Paul and Monica's adventures on the new "Access All Areas" Blog. Paul said when he was on tour back in the day, he went to some amazing places but it was just venue/backstage/tour bus/venue...but now he really wants to savour and experience the various places he plays (and eats...!) at. He writes and photographs very well, and I recommend his Blog whether you like Food, Travel, or Music...or all three for that matter...it is a thoroughly entertaining read!  

Monica & The Explosion - Photo by Steve Worrall

You can see Paul Slack in action with Monica & The Explosion at The Half Moon, Putney on June 30th as Part 2 of Retro Man Blog's "Punk Legends" nights. Also on the bill will be the original "Sound of The Suburbs" - The Members - with Rat Scabies from The Damned on drums. Part 1 will be at The Railway in Southend-on-Sea on June 22nd with TV Smith from The Adverts, Andy J Gallagher with Roman Jugg (The Damned, Naz Nomad) and Dick York (Cryssis).