UK Subs, Total Confusion, The Drastics + Petrol Bastard – Brudenell Social Club 13/9/12

For his birthday, Mike’s misses Sharon bought him a UK Subs ticket and asked me if I’d join him – “Of course I will!” and Boy-Lee came along for the ride.

As we entered we were met by a wall of electro noise of an almost happy house variety. ‘Petrol Bastard‘ are a 3 piece who were just extraordinary! They were dangerous, scarey, funny, joyous and repulsive all at the same time – the most foul mouthed band I’ve ever seen “Gerbil Fuck” a case in point. Shouting “2006!” with alarming regularity our bare chested hero eventually got his kit off…..which didn’t really suprise anyone. We’d enjoyed them so much we bought 2 copies of their CD (for a quid each). “You can download it for free from our facebook page” I was told with a nod & a wink and when we looked at the CD’s we realised why…..one of them had written on it “This isn’t a music disc but has 1096 of my photo’s on” – PUNK’s NOT DEAD!

I wouldn’t have wanted to follow that but someone had to and ‘The Drastics‘ from Bradford did a good job. The band were very tight and managed to squeeze in a T Rex and a Ramones cover in at high speed (even for the Ramones!). They were obviously enjoying themselves but the stage was a bit small for the lead singer who managed to accidentally bash the guitar player in the mush with his mike – PUNK’s NOT DEAD!

Barnsley’s ‘Total Confusion‘ looked like they’d been around the block once or twice. They had the best merchandice of the night. “This one’s about when Margaret Thatcher dies!” – PUNK’s NOT DEAD!

UK Subs main man Charlie Harper (now 68) is such a lovely bloke – you can just tell. He’s still up for a good time and breaks into the odd bit of pogoing from time to time. “I’m glad you’re all keeping to the rules cos there’s no dancing allowed y’know” which obviously starts the dancing off with something of a stage invasion by adoring females. His band were fantastic with the guitarist’s riffs reaching breakneck speed. “We’re practicing this one for Newcastle it’s called Worr Heeed”. ‘Warhead‘ and ‘Stranglehold‘ were great crowd pleasers and everyone left with big smiles on their faces……honestly folks…… PUNK’s NOT DEAD!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Bob the Chiropodist