Charlie Harper was one of the older punk pioneers when he formed UK Subs in 1976 and as he nears his eightieth birthday the veteran frontman is back at Blackpool’s Rebellion punk festival.
Over the years at least 80 musicians have been members of this punk rock institution, but Charlie is no Mark E. Smith, and the turnover rate is just because they’ve been around for so long.
He may have announced his retirement from touring but he is still doing the punk festivals, and they don’t get any bigger than Rebellion as the Golden Mile is packed with fans sporting mohicans and vintage leather jackets. So what does Charlie make of playing to people of all ages who will always declare punk’s not dead?
“It’s a little bit frightening, because there’s so many people, we get about 4000 people in our room so we have to get it spot on,” says Charlie between rehearsals. “Last year wasn’t that hot, we didn’t have such a good drummer. We’ve got an amazing drummer this year, so we hope to have a 100% improvement.”
UK Subs were one of the first punk outfits to have hit singles with standards like Stranglehold, Warhead and Tomorrow’s Girls, which still feature in their sets over four decades on. Their first four albums also made the charts at a time when bands had to sell a lot of records, and Charlie thinks he knows why punk acts new and old are still pulling the crowds in.
“It’s all about the beat, punk rock has got a great backbeat and it just makes people want to dance. We just love that beat, and exploit that beat, and we’re into that special beat. We have to have a drummer who can set people’s hearts on fire. Take Stranglehold, for instance, it starts off with that jungle beat and then just rocks on.”
One of the things veteran punks often say is that when they look out over a crowd they see people who were there when punk first rocked the British establishment who are now pogoing with their middle aged kids and their grandkids. And that’s certainly Charlie’s experience after decades of live shows across the world.
“We just went to Spain a few weeks ago and in Madrid the audience were super young, they were around my grandchildren’s age,” laughs Charlie. “It was an amazing show, and then we went down to the South of Spain and it was an intermediate crowd with some of everything as it was kind of a festival.”
“Then we went to Barcelona and there were more English people than Europeans and it was almost like playing in England. It was weird and makes it interesting when every show is different.”
Rebellion is a chance for fans of one of the most enduring musical genres to gather to see their heroes from back in the day and the new bands who will carry the punk banner into the future.
“It’s a powerful music; blues has its thing, rock’n’roll is another powerful music. Punk has a serious message. The Beatles said ‘we don’t wanna change the world’, but they did. Punk said ‘we are going to try and change the world’.”
“The politicians are just completely fucked, the world’s going to the dogs and all the leaders are just gangsters. It’s quite a horrible world just now and punk wants to change it.”
Like many punks who grew up in seventies Britain, punk offered a platform to fight back against a society that was riddled with conformity and seemingly endless strikes resulting in regular energy blackouts. Punk represents an attitude and a way of life that Charlie thinks can help bring desperately needed social change across the globe.
“If you look at France today, there’s a big riot going on – the cops killed a kid and people aren’t standing for it. When we went over the last time there was a general strike on, and we’ve got songs like Public Servant and a few songs that are kind of disrespectful to the government. In France, in Paris, every time we sang those songs the audience sang along, every word, they knew what we were talking about. It is getting through, it might take a generation or two, and let’s hope it’s not too late.”
With 23 albums under their belt, UK Subs have tons of material to choose from, so what have the four piece got planned for their Thursday evening set in the historic Empress Ballroom.
“We try to get things in thirds. A third of classics, a third of new songs and a third of songs we think are important to play. We try to shuffle it and change it around a bit, so we have added some new songs and old songs we like. Warhead, for instance – you cannot get away without dropping that, it wouldn’t be right.”
Very few rockers make it past sixty, let alone 80, so is Charlie thinking about calling it a day?
“When I become 80 I’ll give it some serious thought,” says Charlie. “My health is kind of wobbly, you have your great days, and hanging around airports I’ve just found out is just as bad as sitting in a van, you can’t win. I’ll carry on as long as my health’s good, because we’re not pop musicians, we don’t care if we’re popular or not. We just carry on because we love what we’re doing.”
Charlie Harper has spent over 40 years on the road and when he gets up on stage at Rebellion with 4000 people going mad that unique adrenaline rush might just persuade him to carry on a bit longer.
“I don’t look at it that way. I’m just glad we’re pleasing 4000 people and they’re having a great time, which they do. We’re having a great time and this is a big part of being in a band. The audience give you the strength, and if they’re great then you perform great. Every thought goes out of the window, you are just concentrating on let’s do this as good as you can, or even better. And everyone has an amazing time.”
Rebellion Festival is at Blackpool Winter Gardens from Thursday 3rd August to Sunday 6th August. To book https://rebellion.keekmerch.com
You can follow Rebellion Festival on Facebook
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Words by Paul Clarke, you can see his author profile here.
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Charlie Harper is so full of shit. The UK Subs may have been in his head in 1976, but NO WAY did he form them then. They appeared on the scene late, after all the other band wagon jumpers. He was, like all the other fakes, in an R&B/Rock band and was already too old.