U.K. Subs
@
The Catwalk
October 5, 2000
Seattle, WA
U.K. Subs

"Punk rock is not dead," but the turnout on this Thursday for veteran punk icons U.K. Subs left one wondering where all the punkers had gone exactly--which was a shame, to say the least, because the Subs gave it their all and certainly sounded just as potent and important as they did all those years ago when they first started raise their fists in defiance. After some warm conversation and cold Heinekens courtesy Charlie Harper and Nicky Garratt (thanks!) it was a wait through two opening bands in the hopes that the crowd would fill out in time for the headliners. Sadly, it didn't.
So what the fuck? When I saw them last a few years back at the RKCNDY (R.I.P.) it was crammed wall-to-wall. Tonight it felt like it was just the walls. Maybe it's because the aforementioned RKCNDY show was all ages and this night's was at the Catwalk, a twenty-one and over venue. So what then has become of all Seattle's aging punkers? Have you all been swallowed up into a brain-dead existence centered around the soulless blip of the current IKEA catalog? Too busy at home on the couch with a bag of chips watching Evening Magazine to show some respect? Maybe you're just getting too old for punk rock then, eh?
Well, try telling that to the Subs. Charlie "Gramps" Harper has got a generation, two grandkids and several bypass surgeries on most of you, and that didn't stop him from jumping up and down like a human pogo stick. The fact that two young vixens hung on his every smile should say a thing or two as well. And watching Nicky jump back and forth and back and forth off the monitors like some crazed aerobics instructor ("okay, one and two and one and two and..."), fire off windmills on his guitar that would put Pete Townsend to shame and then do the splits should prove once and for all the fact that punk is a state of mind, not a state of fashion.
The Subs paid no mind whether there were twenty or twenty-hundred people, they came on and gave it their all. Still working towards a goal of recording an album for every letter of the alphabet (their last was Sub Mission) they had plenty to choose from. "Police State," "Riot," "Another Cuba," "DF 118"--all represented in fine style and in top form. The only part of the night to be upset about was the overfed skinhead and his redneck sidekick who probably thought it was pretty funny acting like belligerent, violent assholes to anyone who came near them...if they could think at all, that is. The Subs closed off their set with a blistering version of Thee Headcoats' "Punk Rock ist Nicht Tot," the perfect endcap to their ongoing campaign.
Punk rock is not dead--and this aging punker, for one, is looking forward to being reminded of that through Subs' albums "T," "U," "V," "W," "X," "Y" and "Z." And next time, I expect to see all of you there.
Craig Young

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