2001
2002
2003
2004 starts with yet another European tour, this time Alvin Gibbs, Nicky Garratt are back with Jason Willer on drums.
The tour starts in Dusseldorf, Germany on January 9th and ends in Roubaix, France on 23nd February.
They gig predominantly southern Europe - France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Austria before heading up
north to Germany, Poland, Denmark and Holland.
The 2005 European tour kicks off on 13th January in Dusseldorf, Germany and runs until 19th February in Lierop, Holland
The Subs start 2001 promoting
their new album Time Warp. The Greatest Hits
.
Garratt, Harper, Campbell and Pumpy venture out on the 'Time Warp tour'.
They played close to fifty dates on this tour which begun in Belgium on 12th January and
ended in Spain on the 11th March. They also played in Holland, Germany, Croatia, Italy, Sweden,
Slovenia, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Greece and France.
The tour featured their first live internet broadcast from Club Matrix in Bochum,
Germany on the 25th February.
They returned to the UK and played a few more dates before heading off at the end of March
on another UK tour, playing in Glasgow, Dundee, Manchester, Lincoln, Derby,
Rugby and at the 100 club in London amongst others.
In April, after years of pondering, I contacted the official UK Subs web site offering to
give my cuttings/articles/information to them. Paul (old webmaster) offered me a CD for it all,
so I started on the arduous task of collating my own 'tribute site',
which was put up 'on-line' in early May.
In September the UK Subs jet off to Argentina and Brazil for a short tour.
Pumpy resigns from the band during their tour, which he wasn't playing on.
He contacted me, and made his official statement on this site. .
Jason Willer, from the band The Enemies, is named as Pumpy's replacement. The Subs then
tour the US once more during October and early November.
They tour with Eight Bucks
Experience and play venues in Seattle, Portland, New York, Toledo and San Francisco.
Alvin is not well enough to appear on this gruelling tour and is replaced by Brian Barnes/Slutcher.
At the end of October Steve Harnett quits as the UK Subs booking agent,
this throws the scheduled November/December UK tour into chaos.
This chaos however is only short lived, as the shows take place and go down well.
The tour takes in places such as Derby, Camden, Wakefield, Crewe, Kilmarnock and Penicuik.
The Subs change line up nearly every gig. Simon and Tony share bass duties,
Tezz returns for a few shows, Campbell plays some as well.
The only constant two throughout are Harper and Jason.
At the end of 2001 this site had more than 1900 visits.
The most people surfing in from the UK, followed by the United States, Sweden,
Germany, Holland and Brazil
The year starts off slowly. The Subs play in Cambridge on 5 January.
They then head into the studio to record the "U" album,
which has the title of Universal. The line up is:
Charlie Harper - vocals, Jason Willer - drums, Simon Rankin - bass, Alan Campbell - guitar.
They play a few gigs in February where The Restarts drummer Darrah stands in for Jason,
who goes back to the US to honour his commitments with The Enemies.
Released at the end of last year the split single with National Razor fdic
starts to appear for sale. It is entitled The Gruesome Twosome. Vol:1
and features the same tracks as the Combat Rock CD 2001 release The Revolution's Here.
The European tour scheduled for Jan/Feb is delayed until May/June.
Charlie starts to answer questions on the official web site message board.
Nicky Garratt puts up an article on New Red Archives site. He
steps back from the Subs limelight and moves from the US to Germany.
Alvin Gibbs moves to France and concentrates on his writing and for the forseeable future "will not play
again with the UK Subs".... well at least not until July.
The Subs jet off to Belgrade, for a one off gig on 23rd February. They come back and play a
few scattered dates in the UK during February and March.
A UK tour is scheduled for April. Charlie records a World Cup song entitled
E Is For England, which also features Alvin Gibbs on bass.
This is recorded under the name of Charlie Harper and the Substitutes.
The Subs then set off on their belated European tour beginning on 30 april.
They play their first date in Germany they then play Denmark,
Norway, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Slovenia, Belgium,
Czech Republic and France before heading back to the UK on 9 June.
In late May The Subs release a version of The Drunken Sailor with B-side
Reclaim The Streets. It is released on the Captain Oi record label as is
the long awaited new album Universal.
The album has it's release party at Charlie's belated
birthday bash at the Standard in Walthamstow, London on 20 June and before this gig Jason decides to leave the Subs and return
to the States to concentrate on The Enemies who have an new album release and tour arranged.
In July the Subs continue their touring regime and play a one off festival in Macedonia.
Jay fills the vacant drummers stool, Brian Barnes plays bass
The Subs play a few festivals - Wickerman festival in Scotland, HITS in Blackpool
before heading across the Channel once more for gigs in Germany as well as festival
performances in Rostock (Force Attack) and Budapest (Sziget) in July.
The Subs play their 25th year anniversary gig at the Castle in Tooting, and a jolly
event was had by all.
The Unofficial site 'FANZINE' is released, and sells out in seven months. Not bad.
During July they play a couple more festivals including on the 10th an appearance in
Wales at 3PM, and an evening performance in Lichfield on the same day. Simon played bass
for the Welsh gig and Alvin Gibbs played bass at Lichfield.
On the 13th Alan, Charlie, Jay and Brian Barnes set off for another Subs tour of
the USA. Starting on the 15th in San Francisco, playing places such as Houston, Oklahoma
City, San Diego, New York and Atlanta. The tour stretched to around 38 gigs, joined by The Vibrators for a few in the middle. The last gig
being in Richmond CA on 1st October.
Charlie and Yuko got married on the 19th October,
in London. A small service with a close selection of friends, an evening event was arranged and
free guestlist places were given out on this site.
On 24th October the Subs played the Marquee.
This was billed as 'The classic line-up', and featured members from 1980 - 1982 .... Alvin Gibbs
on bass, Steve Roberts on drums, Nicky Garratt on guitar and Charlie. The whole event was filmed,
with the intention of releasing it on DVD.
In November the Subs embarked on their pre-Xmas tour
of the UK. Playing Boston and Newcastle with Tezz and Bones from Broken Bones,
Jay and Charlie.
The tour continued into December, and included a fifteen date tour with The Vibrators.
The line up frequently changed.
Alan was sick and was replaced by Tezz. Clara (Zero Tolerance/Intensive Care) played bass whilst Jay and Charlie battled through.
The official site (www.uksubs.co.uk) is layed down to rest after an ongoing problem which has dogged
it for the past year is er .... sorted.
As a result this site moves up a gear and finds a new server and averages 150+ hits a day.
The Subs play a couple of gigs as a warm up for the European tour.
(Lord Cecil - Hackney and Mr Smith's - Bournemouth).
The Subs then venture out on the European tour 2003.
Alan Campbell- guitar, Tezz Roberts- bass, Jason Willer - drums and Charlie - vocals.
They play gigs in Norway, Germany, France amongst others, during January and February.
They come back to the UK and take a bit of a rest, writing songs, going fishing etc...
Jason goes on an Enemies UK and US tour and won't play with the Subs for a while,
Tezz goes back to Discharge and prepares for their album and tour.
The Subs lie low until the end of March, when they begin their Spring UK tour, same old intense gigging and numerous
line-up changes prevail. Playing, Sheffield, Ipswich, Punk Aid in Brixham, 2 dates at The Royal Oak in
Poulton-Le-Fylde also including one gig in Clitheroe on June 18, with Brian Barnes playing his debut gig on drums
with support band Celebrity Bikini Waxer
. Over to Europe for a few festivals in July 2003, relatively
quite in August and September, before the UK Subs head off to the USA for a tour with Toxic Narcotic six
weeks and four days off in the schedule. They play all over the US - California, Georgia, Ohio, Utah, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, New York, Texas, etc. . . .
This site had over the last previous ten months had been
asking bands to send in UK Subs covers for a tribute CD. This is finally released by Austrian record label DSS records in November. And sells well. In December the Subs - Alan, Jay, Charlie and Bri - are out on the road again with The Vibrators, for the annual UK Xmas tour.
2004
They play Punk Aid
in March and in April they head off to Canada. Nicky/Charlie/Jason/Alvin play nine dates altogether -
Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Edmonton Saskatoon and Vancouver.
Back to the UK and more gigs in May - Winchester, Gateshead, Derby,
Charlie's 60th birthday party in Brixton, Blackburn, Portsmouth and Birmingham.
Alvin/Jason/Nicky/Charlie head out to Europe for a few festivals in June and a mini tour,
predominantly Germany in July. Back to the UK for two gigs with Sham 69 at Brighton and Hastings.
Rumoured to be the last EVER UK Subs USA tour takes place in September, when Nicky/Alvin/Charlie/Jason play the length and bredth of the continent. Starting in Alameda on September 30th and ending the tour in San Fransisco on November 24th.
Back to the UK with a Xmas tour with The Vibrators playing venues in Nottingham, Preston, Coventry, Hull and Wasted Festival at The Astoria in London.
2005