The UK Subs Middlesbrough Rock Garden 20th October 1979
“The U The U The UK Subs! The U The U The UK Subs!” The chant got louder and louder. The Rock Garden was packed. Completely. You couldn’t move and the crowd were hungry to see their heroes again. The UK Subs were big favourites as the Rock Garden and played there on several occasions. They were almost the house band there and big favourites with the Boro punk crowd. Charlie Harper bounded on to the stage and the Subs crashed straight into the set; fast, frantic, manic, loud. The punks went totally crazy, pushing, shoving, moshing, pogoing, and spitting. My mate Dave and I were lurking at the back of the dancefloor, trying to avoid the scuffles and stopping ourselves from being dragged into the moshpit. The Subs had just released their debut album Another Kind of Blues which reached No. 21 in the UK album charts and had been in the singles charts (and on Top of the Pops) with “Stranglehold” (reached No. 26) and “Tomorrow’s Girls” (No. 28). You could easily find reasons to knock the UK Subs. Their music was pretty basic punk thrash with a hint of pub rock, their songs had no particularly deep or political message, and (shock horror) singer and front man Charlie Harper was 35 years old! But there was a worth ethic and honesty to the Subs, that made them working class heroes to punks like the Rock Garden mob, and those in clubs up and down the country. And on a good night (and they we both good nights on the two occasions I saw them) the UK Subs were great fun.
The UK Subs returned to the Rock Garden again on 5th April 1980. This time they played two shows, we went to the late show, as the early gig was aimed at under 14s.
The Subs line-up at the time was Charlie Harper (vocals), Nicky Garratt (guitar), Paul Slack (bass), and Pete Davies (drums). The UK Subs continue to this day, still fronted by a 70 years young Charlie Harper. Respect!
Archive for the ‘UK Subs’ Category
27 Feb
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