Punk with staying power (From This Is Wiltshire)

Punk with staying power

2:49pm Friday 27th August 2010 in

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A whole generation of those who defiantly spiked their hair, stuck safety pins through their noses and marched to the beat of a different drum are now soberly holding down jobs, raising families and paying taxes – but the sprit that fanned the flames of punk is still burning strong.

A case in point is West Wilts band The Subhumans, who celebrate 30 years this summer since they first thrashed a chord in anger.

Vocalist Dick, guitarist Bruce, bass player Phil and drummer Trotsky are still recording and gigging, playing a European tour most years as well as dates in the UK.

“We formed in the summer of 1980 with Andy Gale on drums but he left after a year,” said Dick, who now runs Bluurg Records as well as performing with Citizen Fish, who emerged from the wreckage of the Subhumans’ first break-up in 1985.

The band’s first gig was at the St Margaret’s Hall in Bradford on Avon, after they had honed their skills with rehearsals at the youth centre on The Close in Warminster. A string of EPs, tours of the UK, Europe and even America followed.

They were impressively successful, with record sales in the hundreds of thousands, an appearance on the front cover of breakaway 80s music paper Sounds and nationwide fame.

Their first LP The Day The Country Died, an Orwellian-influenced very typical punk offering, was distinguished by its wonderfully creative cartoon cover by Nick Lant, which became a popular image on T-shirts nationwide and is regarded as one of punk’s iconic images.

So has their music mellowed over the years? Not really, says Dick, better known these days as Dick Lucas.

“It’s still about politics, and life. It seems that in some circles we have got some sort of status, which is a bit embarrassing really. But it’s nice to think our music is still affecting people’s heads and hearts.”

The Subhumans are still playing live, with gigs in Southampton and Derby recently and regular tours abroad, visiting both Europe and America this year, although geography makes playing live more difficult these days.

Dick lives in Bath, Bruce Treasure, who with Dick still co-writes most of the songs, is in Warminster, where he has had a teaching career, Phil Bryant lives in Spain, where he has a young family, and Trotsky, who has hung on to his pseudonym all his life, is now based in Germany.

“If you had told me years ago we would still be together and playing live in 30 years I’d never have believed you,” Dick said.

Does he think young bands today can still find success and be as longlasting?

“Yes, but you’ve got to believe in your music,” he said. “Success comes by accident and not by design. There’s short-lived success, which can be manufactured, and then what I suppose I’d call longevity success, which no-one really notices – which is us, really.”