UK Subs play intimate Brighton concert

UK SUBS + THE DINZ – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 7.4.22

Hailing from Pompey, The Dinz have played with the UK Subs before at the Con Club in Lewes. As Charlie Harper said during the Subs set “I remember them before, they’re good – but I can never remember their name” After a bit of prompting from the crowd, Charlie settled for “Denz”.

I mentioned to the drummer of The Dinz that he has a unique style. A Madchester sound from the 90’s, sort of ‘Groovy Train’ by The Farm drum breaks, then back into a frenetic punk sound – totally fresh and brilliant!

Vocalist Mark looks clean cut and smooth, but his vocals are sort of Sham 69 meets Cockney Rejects. Playing to a rather quiet venue early in the evening, they did the business and received a great reception – many of the punters knowing the songs. Great lyrics, good stage presence, fast paced and confident. Go see them.

The Dinz are:
Mark (vocals)
Turkee (drums)
Steve (bass)
Rob (guitar)

Find out more about The Dinz HERE.

So, here we are again kids. The UK Subs, and tonight’s performance is the first date on their 2022 tour. As a matter of fact, Patterns as a venue was played at by the band 43 years ago, when it was called the Buccaneer.

According to Charlie – and this is pretty common knowledge, this gig was barely/badly advertised, but, as usual, a die-hard crowd turn up to support; Peter Byewater (Peter and the Test Tube Babies), Timmy Derella (The Derellas), in the house, amongst many, Oh and Smelly, heading the hard-core Brighton contingent…

The Subs formed in 1976 as (The UK) Subversives and have released 26 A to Z titled albums from 1979 to 2016 as well as other miscellaneous albums and singles during their 40 year career history. With such a huge back catalogue, the band are always spoiled for choice, but of course the recent tours are concentrating on playing their albums in order. This tour takes in 2 albums of songs from their alphabetised albums – ‘Diminished Responsibility’ and ‘Endangered Species’. Many of these songs have apparently not been played for 30 years.

Nice of the band to be honest as they begin the set – they haven’t rehearsed it together – this should be good! …. But as you can imagine, there’s no need to worry as the songs come fast and furious, as you would expect. But there is lots of humour from the band (and the crowd) between songs – mainly about if they can remember either the lyrics or the music. Let’s face it though: one, a band like this, having been together for so long, can easily polish over any mistakes, two, you can forgive them with a pandemic still raging and rehearsals at premium. And finally three, they don’t care!

As usual, the crowd knows all the words to all the songs, and pretty soon a mini (well, 3 or 4 people) mosh pit starts. But really, I think people just wanna watch this band do their stuff. They are still at the top of their game, even with Charlie being 77 years young. I could see certain other musicians in the crowd gazing enviously at both the way the band gel together personally, and the way they play together.

Second to last song of the night (‘C.I.D’), and Charlie notices someone in the crowd wearing a tee, bearing an image of punk icon, Jordan Mooney, who sadly passed away at the beginning of this week. She will be sorely missed by everyone. Always chatty, approachable and a friend to everyone.

Throughout the night, Charlie referred to his Grand-daughter Mia, who was in the crowd, obviously so proud. I asked her if she was embarrassed at all by her Grandad – of course she said no. Think she may have been more embarrassed by Smelly flaunting his bare chest!

My fave tunes of the night were ‘Ice Age’ and ‘Down On The Farm’.

By my estimations, Charlie should be about 100 years old by the time the band have toured their alphabetised albums…
‘Another Kind Of Blues’ (1979)
‘Brand New Age’ (1980)
‘Crash Course’ (1980)
‘Diminished Responsibility’ (1981)
‘Endangered Species’ (1982)
‘Flood Of Lies’ (1983)
‘Gross Out USA’ (1984)
‘Huntington Beach’ (1985)
‘In Action (10th Anniversary)’ (1986)
‘Japan Today’ (1987)
‘Killing Time’ (1988)
‘Live In Paris’ (1989)
‘Mad Cow Fever’ (1991)
‘Normal Service Resumed’ (1993)
‘Occupied’ (1996)
‘Peel Sessions 1978-79’ (1997)
‘Quintessentials’ (1997)
‘Riot’ (1997)
‘Sub Mission: The Best Of The U.K. Subs 1982-1998’ (1999)
‘Time Warp: Greatest Hits’ (2001)
‘Universal’ (2002)
‘Violent State’ (2005)
‘Work In Progress’ (2011)
‘XXIV’ (2013)
‘Yellow Leader’ (2015)
‘Ziezo‘ (2016)

The current UK Subs line-up features:
Charlie Harper – vocals
Alvin Gibbs – bass
Steve Straughan – guitar
Dave Humphries – drums

For more data on the band visit www.uksubs.co.uk