A barely promoted gig in a small town by a band that people vaguely remember from 23 years before yet the venue is packed out by punks and people of all ages.There are no other bands in the entire world from the second punk wave in 1978 who still sound as exciting and look as enthusiastic as the UK Subs.This is one band definitely not just going through the motions.Consumed by the passion and energy of punk rock its hard to believe this band has been constantly playing for 22 years.Eternal punk rocker Charlie Harper has the enthusiasm of a novice.But things have not always been this way - for too many years the UK Subs were something of a joke - a past-it pub rock band playing sub heavy metal and bog standard rock versions of once incendiary bonafide punk classics.Now the old crew of old are back giving this band a new lease of life.

Hearing the Subs play their favourite songs with a classic original line-up blew me away and made me realise just how underrated they are - as far as fast,heavy and very catchy singalong songs go they are infinitely superior to any other band.The songs are often political in a basic punk way and always heartfelt - I always found this sort of stuff uplifting.They do sound better live than on record/cd but its probably the fact they've been going so long that makes the fashion conscious trend obsessed UK music media ignore them.Not that this matters as they seem to sell out most venues they play and they play almost constantly throughout the world.I had not known myself how great they still were until I saw them play Hitchin in December 2000.In the late 1970s/early 80s some punk fans including me felt the UK Subs were standing still musically and should have been more challenging by being less predictable.Now I realise that this is what makes them so great.

Rob
 
 
 
 

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