Name: Uk Subs
Start: 2025-06-20T18:00:00+00:00
End: 2025-06-20T22:00:00+00:00
Location: The Grove

2024 marks the U.K. Subs’ 47th anniversary of the band & will see Charlie Harper reach his
80 th birthday on 25 th May ! This legendary punk band continues to represent the true spirit of
punk rock. Inspired by the Damned at the birth of British Punk, the now equally legendary
Charlie Harper formed the Subs out of his then R&B outfit The Marauders, circa summer
1977.
Starting out as The Subversives, the name was shortened to The Subs and then changed to
U.K. Subs, whilst early line-ups merged their high-speed R&B sound into punk.
October 1977 saw Charlie joined by Nicky Garratt on guitar, and it was the Harper/Garratt
song writing partnership that would go on to collaborate on the band's most successful record
releases. Through 1977 and 1978 the band played shows all over London including the
infamous Roxy punk club, building up a fiercely loyal and sizeable following. Their first
‘recorded’ output was on the ‘Farewell To The Roxy’ LP.
This bought them to the attention of John Peel who was obviously impressed enough to offer
to finance their first single. However, City Records ended up releasing their first brilliant
single, C.I.D, in September 1978. It became a huge indie number 1 hit. In 1979, they signed
to Gem Records and surprised everyone by becoming one of the most consistently and
visibly successful punk bands, with seven consecutive UK Top 30 hits between 1979-81 -
Stranglehold, Tomorrows Girls, She's Not There, Warhead, Teenage, Party In Paris and Keep
On Running. They also scored two UK top ten albums - Brand New Age and Crash Course -
establishing themselves throughout the world with a heavy touring schedule that still
continues to this day.
Led by the indefatigable 72 years young Charlie Harper - now venerated as the godfather of
UK punk - the band has continued to improve through various line-ups and record companies.
Still touring worldwide, they maintain that true spirit of punk rock continuing to inspire each
subsequent generation of fans. There has never been any division of fan and band with the
Subs, and Charlie’s unrelenting love of his audience and music shines through. This is
something that galvanized listeners of Steve Lamacq’s BBC 6music show to vote them as the
most respected of Punk ‘icons’, to win the 2010 Punk World Cup.
2016 saw the eagerly anticipated final album ‘Ziezo’ released as they completed their quest to
be the first band to release their official albums alphabetically A to Z!. In 2023 the band
announced it would be their final year of touring,but not the end of playing live shows &
Festivals
With a fabulous line up in place of Charlie, Steve Straughan on guitar, Alvin Gibbs on bass
and Stefan Haublein on drums, the U.K. Subs continue to entertain, enlighten and enthuse
with blistering recordings as well as their ever-popular enthralling live shows.
Like a vintage wine – the U.K. Subs just get better and better.
Disclaimer:
The event listed here is purely for informational purposes. All the details such as venue, date/time, artist information, etc., are subject to change.
This event is not associated with or sponsored by AllEvents, but it may be of interest to you. You can explore more such events with us at AllEvents.