UK SUBS
0
Posted
November 20, 2007 in
Packages like the Fiend Fest are ultimately depressing; a Frankensteined-together load of marginal acts topped off by semi-ghost bands trying desperately to bolster the punk rock “legacy.”
But enough about the so-called Misfits.
Down toward the bottom of the heap, you’ve got Charlie Harper and his UK Subs. While the Subs themselves have undergone innumerable personnel changes, what it all comes down to is Harper himself, one of punk rock’s longest- running and most unlikely heroes ever.
Born in wartime London to an English mum and a Chicano U.S. airman from Arizona (who, come to find out, supplied a bloodline that made actor Cesar Romero Harper’s uncle), that mixed heritage did not make for an easy time growing up along the Thames. By his early 30s, Harper was a desperate rock & roll oddball, working as a hairdresser and wondering how the hell he would ever find a place to fit in—until he wandered into a Damned show circa 1976.
In no time at all, Harper had formed the UK Subs, a wonderfully boneheaded, hard-hitting street punk outfit that quickly won a fanatical following. Their set list was classic, with songs about corrupt fuzz (“CID”), huffing inhalants (“Lady Esquire”), the self-explanatory “I Live in a Car,” the pogo-romance anthem (“Stranglehold”) and Harper’s own self-prescribed epitaph: “Born a Rocker, Die a Rocker.” Their debut album Another Kind of Blues (referring to the indigo-hued amphetamine tablets that were a staple of the UK punk diet) was one of the best of the entire movement, and Harper has relentlessly toured, recorded, toured more, recorded further and even now, in his early 60s, just will not fucking quit. God bless one of the last, truest punk howlers of them all. (Jonny Whiteside)
The Fiend Fest with UK Subs, the Misfits, the Adicts, Osaka Popstar (featuring Marky Ramone), Juicehead and Orange play Fiendfest at the Key Club at Morongo, 49500 Seminole Dr., Cabazon, (888) 667-6646; www.keyclubmorongo.com. Thurs., Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m. $30. 18
Packages like the Fiend Fest are ultimately depressing; a Frankensteined-together load of marginal acts topped off by semi-ghost bands trying desperately to bolster the punk rock “legacy.”
But enough about the so-called Misfits.
Down toward the bottom of the heap, you’ve got Charlie Harper and his UK Subs. While the Subs themselves have undergone innumerable personnel changes, what it all comes down to is Harper himself, one of punk rock’s longest- running and most unlikely heroes ever.
Born in wartime London to an English mum and a Chicano U.S. airman from Arizona (who, come to find out, supplied a bloodline that made actor Cesar Romero Harper’s uncle), that mixed heritage did not make for an easy time growing up along the Thames. By his early 30s, Harper was a desperate rock & roll oddball, working as a hairdresser and wondering how the hell he would ever find a place to fit in—until he wandered into a Damned show circa 1976.
In no time at all, Harper had formed the UK Subs, a wonderfully boneheaded, hard-hitting street punk outfit that quickly won a fanatical following. Their set list was classic, with songs about corrupt fuzz (“CID”), huffing inhalants (“Lady Esquire”), the self-explanatory “I Live in a Car,” the pogo-romance anthem (“Stranglehold”) and Harper’s own self-prescribed epitaph: “Born a Rocker, Die a Rocker.” Their debut album Another Kind of Blues (referring to the indigo-hued amphetamine tablets that were a staple of the UK punk diet) was one of the best of the entire movement, and Harper has relentlessly toured, recorded, toured more, recorded further and even now, in his early 60s, just will not fucking quit. God bless one of the last, truest punk howlers of them all. (Jonny Whiteside)
The Fiend Fest with UK Subs, the Misfits, the Adicts, Osaka Popstar (featuring Marky Ramone), Juicehead and Orange play Fiendfest at the Key Club at Morongo, 49500 Seminole Dr., Cabazon, (888) 667-6646; www.keyclubmorongo.com. Thurs., Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m. $30. 18
