We had last caught up with the UK Subs back in summer at the Rebellion punk festival in Blackpool, where the band were playing to a packed house at the Empress Ballroom. They went down an absolute storm!
There’s not many bands that have the respect of everyone on the punk scene. But Charlie Harper’s UK Subs is the exception! I have witnessed the UK Subs many times over the decades and they honestly still have that essential 1977 sound!
They formed in London in 1976 as Subversives and have been the mainstay of the punk scene ever since. Charlie is venerated as the godfather of UK punk and yet there seems to be no slowing down for him. It must be the fine Sussex sea air near his house.
He’s been continually flying the punk and R’n’B flag, now for 46 years – that’s commitment! No wonder the UK Subs are widely recognised as one of the most consistently and visibly successful punk bands – they maintain and pioneer the true spirit of punk rock, without the compromise and watering-down that has affected so many of their contemporaries.
The band has released an album for every letter of the alphabet from 1979’s ‘Another Kind Of Blues’ through to 2016’s ‘Ziezo’ and having done that there is no sign of stopping, as ‘Subversions’ (2018), ‘Subversions II’ (2019) and ‘Reverse Engineering’ (2022) albums have followed.
There’s always something on the go with Charlie, whether it be playing with his beloved Subs or going it alone as a blues artist or simply turning up to support other punk acts. I have even seen him help out on merch stands for other acts whilst they are performing on stage. Legend!
The brand new 2023 UK Subs lineup features Charlie Harper on lead vocals (who has been there from the bands inception back in 1976), accompanying him is Alvin Gibbs on Fender Jazz bass who initially joined the band back in 1980 until 1983 and then kept popping back again in 1988, 1996, 1999 to 2002, and now he has been a solid member for 20 years since 2003. On Gibson Classic Les Paul guitar we have Steve Straughan, who came on board back in 2016 and finally brand new shared drummer Stefan Häublein. On 3rd January 2023 the UK Subs made an official announcement regarding his appointment as the band’s new drummer. It read thus:
“The U.K. Subs are delighted to announce that joining Charlie, Alvin and Steve for next week’s Lewes and London gigs, and for the subsequent January/February European tour dates will be the multi talented drummer Stefan Häublein, who is also the sticksman for TV Smith and the Bored Teenagers.
Stefan previously played drums with Ava Adore from 2015 to 2020, the band of TV Smith’s guitarist Marc Carrey, with his other current projects being drummer for Dexist, who are a post-punk band from Barcelona, where Stefan currently lives.
Stefan, who at present has committed to fill the Subs drum stool for all Subs gigs up to and including May 2023, had these few words for the Subs faithful when asked:
“I’m really looking forward to meeting all the U.K. Subs fanatics, I can’t wait to start as this is so fucking exciting!”
Welcome to the Subs family Stefan”
The Brighton & Hove News had actually already witnessed Stefan in action, when we saw him bashing away on his kit at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith on 28th October 2022 when his other band TV Smith & The Bored Teenagers were one of the support acts for the original lineup of the Damned – Read the review of that special gig HERE.
The UK Subs are now heading out on a 21-date tour around Europe, taking in gigs in the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria and Belgium. They want to ensure that they are still at the top of their game and so they announced a couple of special ‘European Tour Warm Up Concerts’. The first of which is tonight at The Con Club at 139 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1XS and the other will be tomorrow at the 100 Club in London.
Tonight was set up just fine as whilst I was driving to the venue, I was listening to Radio Reverb. They played ‘God Save The Queen’ by the Sex Pistols which certainly set the mood for the night.
The car was parked and after a brisk walk to the venue, I was greeted by a number of decent like-minded folk and banter was exchanged. I noted that the support was an outfit called The Mistakes, who to be perfectly honest, I hadn’t heard of before. Would it be a ‘mistake’ getting to the gig early to see them or not? Let’s find out…
The Mistakes were tonight playing in Lewes for the first time and they are a varying age quintet that are based in Poole in Dorset. Their ranks tonight are made up of Ross Sutcliffe (vocals/harmonica), James Gould (Jackson guitar), Shane Creech (Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro guitar), Lewis Willoughby aka ‘Squid Boy’ (drums) and Angus Simpson aka ‘Gus’ (Squier Jaguar bass).
No doubt they secured tonight’s support slot on the account of the UK Subs frontman, Charlie Harper, having contributed to The Mistakes 2021 ‘A Headful Of Damage’ album via some vocals and harmonica work. Interestingly, one of those tracks is called ‘Don’t Push Me’ and that also saw the light of day last September as a split single with a track called ‘Tearaway’ which is performed by The Ramonas, who I will be seeing live tomorrow night in Brighton at The Prince Albert….small world!
Tonight’s set from The Mistakes consisted of 14 tunes that ran across 46 minutes, from 8:15pm to 9:01pm, although their intro tape of I think ‘Sharpe’s Theme’ Music Of The Rifles) began at 8:13pm.
From the very first notes of their opener, ‘Chaos Theory’, from their unnamed forthcoming 2023 album I knew that I was going to be enjoying the next three-quarters of an hour in their company. Other tracks played that can be expected on this release were ‘Heathens’, ‘I, Savage’ and set highlight ‘Life In Standard Definition’. It is encouraging to note that an unreleased number is the best in their set as it is a solid indicator that this street punk outfit with catchy guitar riffs are on the correct trajectory.
They also performed a trio of tunes from their debut long player, titled ‘Anti-Social Media’ which dropped in 2018, those songs being ‘Dead’, ‘That’s What You Get’ (which was delivered at breakneck speed) and ‘Quitters Get Nothing’. Their follow-up, 2019’s ‘Upstarts And Heretics’ is possibly a mixed bag as it has a yee-haw cowpunk ska ditty titled ‘Together’, which is the weakest in their set, but on the other hand, it has an anthem called ‘Never Be Quiet’, which has a very catchy repetitive chorus, as well as having ‘Walk Tall’ which set off at Warp Factor 10, and it was easy to see why the lads chose this as their final number.
But no….the punters lapped it up and the quintet were gratefully encouraged to give us “one more tune”!. They dutifully obliged with ‘Form Square’ from their 2021 platter ‘A Headful Of Damage’. This was an opportunity missed as Charlie Harper plays harmonica on the record and maybe they could have got him up early to join them. Oh well, never mind.
The Mistakes are a decent outfit that I would like to see again. They reminded me of the heady second wave of punk days (1981-82), when I used to go to The Lyceum in London on Sunday’s to enjoy the many punk bands on the bill such as Anti Pasti and Chron Gen.
Clearly the band were happy with their performance this evening as afterwards they posted a comment on social media. This read “Last night in Lewes Con Club was brilliant, great crowd and thanks to the guys at Death or Glory Promotions for having us”. The Mistakes will be playing live in Brighton on Sunday 4th June 2023, when they rock on up at The Prince Albert for an afternoon concert along with Menace and the unusually named London Sewage Company. Doors for that event open at 1:45pm and the first band will be on at 2pm. The session ends at 5pm. For more information and tickets, click HERE.
The Mistakes:
Ross Sutcliffe – vocals/harmonica
Angus Simpson aka ‘Gus’ – bass
Shane Creech – guitar
James Gould – lead guitar
Lewis Willoughby aka ‘Squid Boy’ – drums
The Mistakes setlist:
‘Intro tape’ (possibly ‘Sharpe’s Theme’ Music Of The Rifles)
‘Chaos Theory’ (from forthcoming 2023 album)
‘Therapy’ (from 2021 ‘A Headful Of Damage’ album)
‘Brainstorm’ (from 2019 ‘Upstarts And Heretics’ album)
‘Heathens’ (from forthcoming 2023 album)
‘Black Widow’ (from 2021 ‘A Headful Of Damage’ album)
‘Together’ (from 2019 ‘Upstarts And Heretics’ album)
‘Dead’ (from 2018 ‘Anti-Social Media’ album)
‘I, Savage’ (from forthcoming 2023 album)
‘Life In Standard Definition’ (from forthcoming 2023 album)
‘Never Be Quiet’ (from 2019 ‘Upstarts And Heretics’ album)
‘That’s What You Get’ (from 2018 ‘Anti-Social Media’ album)
‘Quitters Get Nothing’ (from 2018 ‘Anti-Social Media’ album)
‘Walk Tall’ (from 2019 ‘Upstarts And Heretics’ album)
(encore)
‘Form Square’ (from 2021 ‘A Headful Of Damage’ album)
After a 21 minute break in live music proceedings, it was time for the UK Subs to grace The Con Club stage, with Stefan Häublein for the very first time. Has he learned the songs in time? Will he keep to the beat? Will he lead the lads astray? Will he fit in? And most importantly…..Is he any good?
Stefan sits behind the kit on the highrise to the rear, the two axemen flank Sir Charles (as he should be known, or maybe King Charles is a better fit?) and at 9:22pm they are off with ‘Emotional Blackmail’ (from the 1980 ‘Brand New Age’ album), which is one of my faves! ‘You Don’t Belong’, ‘Endangered Species’, ‘Rockers’ and ‘New York State Police’ followed in quick succession. I was casting a beady eye on Stefan when Charlie wasn’t holding my attention immediately in front of me, yes I was at the very front lapping it up and being knocked about by the ever increasing moshpit. It was unbelievable as it honestly appeared that Stefan had been the band’s drummer for a decade, he was absolutely nailing it. The sound of all the three instruments (drums, guitar, bass) was crystal clear and the listing was perfect for our two photographers to happily snap away.
I have a confession, it is that I was enjoying myself so much that I somehow failed to make copious notes about their set. I write them onto my phone as the action happens and not with pen and paper and it’s likely that my phone might have been unknowingly sent flying by the jolly fellows in the moshpit. Another four tunes passed by before I made a note regarding the quartet performing ‘Ice Age’ from the 1982 ‘Endangered Species’ album. I was racking my brain trying to recall if I had ever heard them play this before. Surely I must have done, but it certainly was a rare outing for this slower bass and drums heavy PiL style corker. It literally came out of nowhere and was arguably my choice tune of the night. Stunned or what, especially as anthemic ‘Tomorrow’s Girls’ and ‘Warhead’ singles followed.
One of the two youngest tracks was next, that being the title track from their 1997 ‘Riot’ album. So there was no material played for the past 25 years. Some punk outfits do this as they haven’t released any, but the UK Subs have continually released material since their inception. So I guess the plan for this warm up gig was to give the Europeans many old classics interspersed with the occasional rarity. It worked….worked a gem I’d say.
‘Stranglehold’ was next, which always gets one of two hilarious souls throttling their mates in a mocking style. ‘Disease’ from their debut ‘Another Kind Of Blues’ album was up next and they particularly nailed that. Then they left the stage earlier than indicated on the setlist that was positioned in front of Stefan.
Of course they returned and played two more tunes from the debut long player, those being, ‘C.I.D’ and ‘I Live In A Car’. Prior to the commencement of the latter, Charlie addressed the glamorous lady next to me and asked her “Madam, where do I live?”. She correctly immediately piped up “Seaford”, which is the correct answer I would have given, but clearly neither of us truly had our proper UK Subs setlist hats on, as Charlie was looking for “I Live In A Car” as the reply so that they could launch straight into it. Oh how we laughed.
This track was followed by the 1981 ‘Keep On Running (Til You Burn)’ single and then sadly they again vacated the stage. According to the setlist, there should have been four more numbers in the form of ‘Kicks’, ‘Party In Paris’, ‘Organised Crime’ and ‘Teenage’, but unfortunately that was our lot and at 10:20pm it was all over. We had been given 18 joyous numbers across 58 minutes and maybe they were just pacing themselves. I mean how many other 78 year old singers do you know that stand there singing in front of you and still have the ability to hold your attention as if it was still 1976? Answer….NONE!
In conclusion, it was an amazing evening and ‘The Subs’ were totally brilliant with Stefan on fire. Definitely would not have wanted to miss this for the world. Thank you to Charlie and the Subs for an epic evening.
UK Subs:
Charlie Harper – lead vocals
Alvin Gibbs – bass
Steve Straughan – guitar
Stefan Häublein – drums
UK Subs setlist:
‘Emotional Blackmail’ (from 1980 ‘Brand New Age’ album)
‘You Don’t Belong’ (from 1981 ‘Diminished Responsibility’ album)
‘Endangered Species’ (from 1982 ‘Endangered Species’ album)
‘Rockers’ (from 1979 ‘Another Kind Of Blues’ album)
‘New York State Police’ (from 1980 ‘Crash Course – Live’ album & 1980 ‘Teenage’ single)
‘Bitter & Twisted’ (from 1997 ‘Quintessentials’ album)
‘Fear Of Girls’ (from 1982 ‘Endangered Species’ album)
‘Limo Life’ (from 1984 ‘Gross-Out USA’ album & 1984 ‘Demonstration Tapes’ album)
‘Down On The Farm’ (from 1982 ‘Endangered Species’ album)
‘Ice Age’ (from 1982 ‘Endangered Species’ album)
‘Tomorrow’s Girls’ (from 1979 ‘Another Kind Of Blues’ album)
‘Warhead’ (from 1980 ‘Brand New Age’ album)
‘Riot’ (from 1997 ‘Riot’ album)
‘Stranglehold’ (from 1979 ‘Another Kind Of Blues’ album)
‘Disease’ (from 1979 ‘Another Kind Of Blues’ album)
(encore)
‘C.I.D’ (from 1979 ‘Another Kind Of Blues’ album)
‘I Live In A Car’ (from 1979 ‘Another Kind Of Blues’ album)
‘Keep On Running (Til You Burn)’ (from 1981 ‘Keep On Running (Til You Burn)’ single)
