ANTI-PASTI & THE UK SUBS
(Click on Image for More Photos)
| Kevin Nixon - Anti Pasti drummer.Quote © Spit Records August 2021.
“We travelled up to Belfast through The Republic of Ireland after disembarking from the Dublin ferry. Just across the border, in N. Ireland, we pulled over, in the record company’s Toyota Hiace for a piss. In a what felt like a nano second an army helicopter appeared overhead and a troop carrier screeched to a halt in front of us with soldiers aiming M16 rifles in our direction. Not the welcoming committee a gang of teenage punks from Derby, England were expecting.
On arrival at the Ulster hall we immediately got into trouble again with the British Army, this time for leaving our vehicle unattended in the street. There was a soldier guarding the dressing room door, all of this was completely alien to us, and when quizzed, kids in the audience stated that their favourite pass time was throwing stones at soldiers!
After the gig we decamped to The Europa Hotel, entry was through a kind of armed pillbox, again very difficult to compute when you were 17, as I was”.
Nicky Garratt - UK Subs guitarist - Quote © Spit Records August 2021.
“Of the few who championed the UK Subs towards the end of the 70’s, the late DJ John Peel, the populist writer for Sounds magazine Gary Bushell, and the late Irish journalist Carol Clerk were among the most ardent. I knew none of them that well, although John Peel offered to pay for our first record out of his own pocket. As a non-drinker I was absent from the London pub scene where Carol often drank her Guinness with various members of the band and our crew. She was a pal. We wanted nothing from her journalistically nor did she want anything from us.
By 1981 we were by no means a small outfit. We were carrying a few full-time crew and due to our crazy tour schedule, an additional bunch of regular crew-for-hire characters from York manning the PA. With European tours including opening for the Ramones, and shows with the Police in the USA behind us, our debut in Ireland seemed somehow overdue. Carol managed to convince the Melody Maker that we were ripe for a full feature and that she was the one to do it. The upcoming Irish shows were the best opportunity.
The band had some Irish connections too. Stiff Little Fingers used our York crew when we were away or in the studio. Ali and Jim became friends with members of the Subs and Jim even got a shout-out on our single, “Party in Paris”. Again I was not part of that clique, rather I was enamoured with the single, “Just Another Teenage Rebel” by another Belfast band, The Outcasts. Instead of suburban white kids shouting about riots (I plead the 5th on our part in that), Teenage Rebel was the antithesis of all that. It was a song that could only have been written and recorded at that time and in such a place, yet it’s a timeless snapshot of youth. A real punk classic…
Carol did indeed accompany us first to Dublin where, despite a robust poster campaign, we were cancelled due to the Stardust disco inferno day of mourning. Still, we had Belfast and headed north by road. The Ulster Hall is a grand concert hall built in the mid 1800’s with an equally grand legacy of rock concerts. I recall though on this night the PA was hugely underpowered. The original equipment, on loan from the Undertones, failed to materialise. The legendary Terri Hooley kindly cobbled together the tiny replacement PA as best he could with the monitors arriving at the last minute. We struggled through the set for the most part only hearing the drums. Charlie was mobbed by over-enthusiastic fans during the set, and tumbled en masse through the stage-left hall emergency exit. In fact I think he’d passed out. We started the set again. It was the worst kind of chaos but we were received graciously.
In the bar across the road from the venue we had a chance to talk with fans and make friends. Most were unaware of how disastrous it went for us and instead showered us with gratitude for making the trip. All roads in the Belfast music scene seem to lead to Terri Hooley. Did he drop his glass eye into his beer or was that his party trick I heard about second hand? It’s forty years ago now so forgive me. I was left however, with the feeling of an unpretentious scene with honest, self-aware, and humble people.
I don’t think I met any of the Outcasts though…”
Nicky Garratt Feb 1st 2021
Charlie Harper - UK Subs. Quote © It Makes You Want To Spit! Book 2003.
“N. Ireland – great, my first time ferry – rough sea, Guinness – lots of it, can’t get enough. Hotel – Europa, barbed wire, most bombed hotel, police at gate. Go to town, barricades and more police, search – hands up – photos, all very jolly – this is normality. Go to pub, meet local band, 'Another Teenage Rebel’ – I still have it. Show is fine, I’m overwhelmed – what days they were! For my friend Guiney”.If you have any memories or photographs of this gig that you'd like to share, then please send to spit77to82@aol.com
|
|||||||
| ©
Spit Records 2023 |
|||||||