The Subs

KEVIN KEY – Guitar, DEREK FORBES – Bass,
ALLI MACKENZIE – Drums and CALLUM CUTHBERTSON – Vocals

Having refused The Exiles’ offer of a single on their own Boring Records The Subs (originally called the Subhumans) opted for this one-off deal with Stiff Records. Unusually for a one-off deal it’s on yellow vinyl and my copy is a Belgian issue. Sadly the band folded soon after its release which is a shame because the record is a corker; driving melodic punk with catchy chorus. Allegedly a second single beckoned with Stiff but the band suddenly split up.

Derek Forbes: When I came back from Spain in June 1977, where I’d being playing lead guitar, I went on to play bass for a punk band called The Subversives, known as The Subs. We released a single called ‘Gimme Gimme Your Heart’ on 1 Off Records, a subsidiary of Stiff.

Jim Kerr was often in the audience at our concerts. When I first saw what he was doing with Simple Minds it was clear to me he was influenced by Howard Devoto of Magazine. Spitting & Screaming, Neil Saint

Derek would in fact go on to join Simple Minds as bassist.

The below comes from Fanzine Next Big Thing #7 from 1978

“It’s hard to believe that the eager young Punk I was introduced to one evening at Glasgow’s City Halls in the Spring of last year has succeeded beyond his wildest hopes with the band he was then persevering to get off the ground. He was Callum Cuthbertson vocalist, and they were the SUBHUMANS later to become just the SUBS (funny how Stiff in their infinite wisdom decided that the name had connotations of submarines rather than that of defective homo-sapiens – whatever, they still covered the sleeve of the band’s first single with silly little drawings of U-boats).

Eventually as history can now recall the SUBHUMANS debuted on October 20th last year [1977] in Stornoway of all places and proved to be such a great success with the punters that two more gigs in the same place were immediately confirmed. Their total commitment to their cause was and still is matched by that of manager Steve Cheyne who pushed and pushed a demo until after a Stiff audition they were finally given a one-off contract. Well known musical inebriate Larry Wallis was called in to push the ‘faders’ about and after only a day in the studios the aforementioned single was released.

Gimme Your Heart/Party Clothes sold more than expected and as a result it’s hoped to confirm soon that Stiff have done the decent thing and given the lads a long term contract. It also turned out to be about the best debut seven incher a Scottish band has made in yonks, completely eclipsing the CUBAN HEELS, debut released at a similar time in many music press reviewers opinions. Those two songs are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. I’ve seen the SUBS other goodies like ‘Two Timer’, ‘Heartache’ and ‘All the Girls’ have gotten the punters well and truly off their backsides. They also do a few covers like the SMALL FACES ‘Sha La La La Lee’ and Larry Wallis’ ‘Police Car’.

If they do have failings they probably lie a) with Callum’s continuing shyness/fear of throwing himself headlong into it and b) the rest of the bands over enthusiasm (if there is such a thing) that causes them to get so totally zonked on their own sound that mistakes, bum notes etc., go unnoticed.

Brian Guthrie.
STOP PRESS – I’ve just heard from a Record Co. Rep, that the second SUBS Single should be released by Stiff in mid-July but check with your Record Shops to confirm this.”



TalkPunk

Post comments, images & videos - Posts are checked and offensive or irrelevant ones will be removed

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *