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...

Retro Man Blog & Retrosonic Podcast's Favourite Gigs of 2024 with Photos & Videos

All photos copyright Retro Man Blog

Welcome to this selection of some of our favourite gigs of 2024. There were some super shows this year, from intimate solo performances in churches to full-on orchestral shows and of course the usual raucous Rock 'n' Roll gigs in classic venues. Please click on the highlighted band name for links to access our videos from the relevant shows and I've added links to various corresponding reviews in our archive too.

1. Love Revisited with Johnny Echols - Shepherds Bush Empire

 For review with photos and videos check out our Retro Man Blog feature here

2. The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Camden Electric Ballroom

3. The Prisoners - The Roundhouse, Camden

For review with more photos from the show, check out the feature here

4. Bill Ryder-Jones - "Iechyd Da" Live at The Barbican

5. Lenny Kaye & Friends Play Nuggets - 100 Club, London

Check out the feature here for review and more photos and videos

6. The Woggles, The Len Price 3 & The Galileo 7 - 100 Club, London

See more photos and videos from the show at our Retro Man Blog feature here

7. The Blue Aeroplanes - Lafayette, London

For review with photos and videos from the show check out the Retro Man Blog feature here

8. Michael Head - St. Pancras Old Church, London

9. Love Revisited with Johnny Echols - The Stables, Milton Keynes

10. Indochine - Rough Trade East, London

See more photos and videos from the show at our Retro Man Blog feature here

11. Altin Gun - The Troxy, London

12. Elephant Stone & Karma Sheen - The Lexington, London

Check the feature here for review with photos and videos

13. The WitchDoktors, The Phobics & Damage - The Half Moon Putney

14. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - EartH Hackney

For review with photos and videos from the show, check out the feature here

15. The Damned - Waterside Theatre Aylesbury

16. Lalalar - The Garage, Islington

See photos and more videos from the show at the Retro Man Blog feature here

17. Michael Head - Rough Trade East, London

18. Ruts DC - ElectrAcoustic at 100 Club, London

For feature on ElectrAcoustic Vol. 3 check out the the Blog archive here

19. Bill Ryder-Jones - Islington Assembly Hall

20. Robyn Hitchcock - Foyles, London

For original videos from most of the shows above, please check out our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel, you can subscribe for free here. All photos and videos copyright Retro Man Blog.

Retro Man Blog & Retrosonic Podcast's Favourite Books of 2024

 

Here's a selection of twelve of our favourite books published this year, please click on the highlighted links throughout the feature below for more information.

1. "Street Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence" by Will Hodgkinson

Jarvis Cocker interviews Author Will Hodgkinson and Lawrence (Felt, Denim, Go-Kart Mozart, Mozart Estate about the book at Foyles, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

2. "Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story" by Daniel Rachel

Author Daniel Rachel (centre) with Pauline Black of The Selecter and Bedders of Madness at the book launch event, South Bank Centre London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

3. "A Taste of Ink, The Prisoners Sentenced By Their Fans" Edited by Elinor Crockford, Jeremy Stride, Thomas Buch & Michael Langer

Editors Jeremy Stride, Elinor Crockford, Michael Langer and Thomas Buch with their book before The Prioners reunion show at The Roundhouse - Photo by Retro Man Blog. You can check out a review of the gig and see more information on the book at our Retro Man Blog feature here.

4. "Forever Changes: The Authorised Biography of Arthur Lee and Love" by John Einarson

You can see our review with photos and videos of the Love Revisited with Johnny Echols "Forever Changes" gig at Shepherds Bush Empire here. Photo by Retro Man Blog

5. "Diminished Responsibility: My Life As a U.K. Sub and Other Strange Stories, Vol. 3" by Alvin Gibbs

Check out our review of "Diminished Responsibility Vol. 3 at Retro Man Blog here.

6. "In The Jingle Jangle Jungle: Keeping Time with The Brian Jonestown Massacre" by Joel Gion

7. "Sixteen Again: How Pete Shelley and Buzzcocks Changed Manchester Music (and Me)" by Paul Hanley

8. "Under A Rock: A Memoir" by Chris Stein of Blondie

9. "Folklore Rising: An Artist's Journey Through The British Ritual Year" by Ben Edge

Ben Edge at the screening of his documentary "Frontline Folklore" at the Garden Cinema, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

10. "1967 - How I Got There and Why I Never Left" by Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn performing during the Q&A to promote "1967" at Foyles in London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

11. "Road Eyes 20:20 Vision, Photo Tales with The Clash & The Mescaleros" by Barry 'Scratchy Sounds' Myers

You can hear our Retrosonic Podcast special with Scratchy discussing the book and his time with The Clash and Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros below...

Retrosonic Podcast · DJ Scratchy Sounds: Photo Tales with The Clash & Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros

12. "Days In Europa" by Richard Jobson of The Skids

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.

Retro Man Blog & Retrosonic Podcast's Favourite LP's of 2024

Here's a selection of 24 of Retro Man Blog and Retrosonic Podcast's favourite albums released in 2024, we hope you like our choices and I'm sure you'll have your own favourites too. Please click on the highlighted band names below to access their official web-sites or social media pages for details and more information, please support the featured Bands, Artists and Record labels.

1. The Everlasting Yeah - "Staying Cool Free Staying Free" (Hear a track in Retrosonic 54)

2. The Prisoners - "Morning Star" (Hear a track in Retrosonic 54)

3. Bill Ryder-Jones - "Iechyd Da"

4. The Courettes - "The Soul of The Fabulous Courettes" (Hear a track in Retrosonic 54)

5. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - "Loophole"

6. Peter Perrett - "The Cleansing" (Hear a track in Retrosonic 54)

7. X - "Smoke & Fiction"

8. The Woggles - "Time Has Come" (Hear a track in Retrosonic 54)

9. Elephant Stone - "Back Into The Dream" (Hear a track in Retrosonic 53)

10. Kit Sebastian - "New Internationale"

11. Ruts DC - "ElectrAcoustic Vol. 3"

12. Julian Cope - "Friar Tuck"

13. The Galileo 7 - "You, Me & Reality"

14. BMX Bandits - "Dreamers On The Run"

15. The Jackets - "Intuition" (Hear a track in Retrosonic 54)

16. Pixies - "The Night The Zombies Came"

17. Deadly Spirits - "Shadows & Serenades of The Deadly Spirits" (Hear a track in Retrosonic 54)

18. Def.fo - "Music For Dinosaurs"

19. Indochine - "Babel Babel"

20. Wine Lips - "Super Mega Ultra"

Live Album of The Year: 

The Stranglers - "Fifty Years In Black, The Anniversary Tour 2024"

Reissue of The Year:  

Shack - "H.M.S. Fable"

Compilation Album of The Year: 

"Roots Rock Rebels, When Punk Met Reggae 1975-82"

From The Vaults (Previously Unreleased Album of The Year):  

Flesh For Lulu - "Cosmic Mind Fuck" (Hear a track in Retrosonic 54)

Thanks and seasonal greetings to all subscribers and supporters of Retro Man Blog and Retrosonic Podcast. Don't forget to check out our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel for all original videos of most of the gigs and events we've attended this year.