Subhumans
Subhumans have been around since the early 1980´s and back in 2013 we saw the band perform at Kafé 44 in Stockholm. It was about time to find out what they have been up to since then...as well as focus on both the past and the present. Singer Dick Lucas answered the questions for us...please read on:
Punk greetings from Sweden. How are you doing friends?
Pretty good thanks! Just did a good if a bit crazy UK tour, and we're off to do 11 dates in Euroland next week!
Last time we saw you was at Kafé 44 in Stockholm back in 2013. You played together with our friends in Charta 77. What do you remember from that concert?
To be honest, very little that's specific to that gig... I have a jigsaw of pix in my head about that tour, and they're not very organised! Touring with Charta 77 was a treat, and so many years since we'd played with them, or in Sweden. Still some of the best beer there TICK and lots of trees TICK and a good punk scene generally TICK!
You formed Subhumans already back in the year of 1980 (I was born in May of that year actually). What recollections do you have from the humble beginnings of the band?
LOTS! meeting Bruce [guitarist] at a local Angelic Upstarts gig in 79, hanging out with his band the Stupid Humans in nearby Warminster, getting Subhumans songs worked out with him Grant and Andy in his bedroom, then weekly practices in the local Youth Centre...our first gig getting stopped by the cops...recording at Southern Studios, gigging with Flux of Pink Indians, vans breaking down, being really looked after when we played mainland Europe [food! beds!], quitting work when the first LP came out, silly word games in the back of the van, the surprise generated by drummer Trotsky having insanely long hair, all the punks in Trowbridge Park on a Saturday getting drunk together, Bruce's gran being an amazing piano player, playing our third ever gig with Discharge and the Mob, getting run over and lying in hospital convinced I was well enough to do gigs we had booked, when I couldn't even walk! and a heap more....
Around the time when you started… UK also had Margaret Thatcher as the Prime Minister. How was it to live during the Thatcher years if you compare with today?
There's one similarity, in the way that the same process is repeating- the right wing Tories in power for 2 or more elections in a row and laying waste to public services [bus services, libraries, swimming pools, care services], selling publicly owned businesses to private corporations [railways, water, gas etc etc], and generally making the rich richer and the rest of us poorer. And that repeating process has continued. Just as Tony Blair took the leftism out of the Labour party as soon as they took over, Kier Starmer has done the same. Trying to fix the social devastation left behind by the Tories? Needed and needs a massive de-coupling from the corporate world and its corrupting influence on politics, and a return to public ownership of services. But it didn't happen, and isn't now. That's the power of right-wing corporate dominance, the left start leaning right to keep the media onside.
It sounds weird to say this, but Thatcher's government was morally superior to that of Cameron/May/Johnson/Sunak: they had the air of conviction, despite their convictions been completely out of touch with normal people, and old-fashioned [flag-wearing racism, riddled with class-based snobbery...]. They seemed to actually believe the nonsense they were saying. The Tories over the recent too-many years have had no moral conscience at all, reliant on lies, avoidance, greed and- more lies. Not an ounce of duty, belief, courage or intelligence, they were in it for the power and especially the money, and all in the overhanging shadow of making the poor poorer and the rich richer, in a barely disguised longing for the days of slavery and subordination. Total SCUM.
As for what it was like living under Thatcher, there were a lot of gaps in the systems being set up, where rules could be bent or avoided, and there was no internet...we could be almost invisible when needed. Today we are all accounted for, filed, numbered, filmed and recorded: the culture of Me First that Thatcherism instilled has led to a cyber-world of social media that has, to various degrees, come to replace real-world interaction, where being online can supply notions of control and awareness, as the world spins round offline, piling up the days and nights spent indoors being digitally visible to prove an existence. It's not that the world is devoid of action and reaction cos 'we're all online', there are more demonstrations and protests then ever before: it's that the NEED for so much protest is a result of fascists getting political support and elected, largely by using mass disinformation and generating division through the media, of which the internet is the biggest part. Fascistic corporate millionaires run the net, and in the 80s they ran most of the TV and papers. The left have the numbers and the conscience, the right have the wealth and the channels of [dis]information. When do we get power without greed? When we take it back. When we use what we have to create better places to live based on community and giving a shit about other people.
On a brighter note…you were also around during the time of the 80´s and early 90´s when people were still buying audio cassettes and LP:s…what do you prefer yourselves…cassettes or LP:s?
Both are better than CDs, which had all the hype of being indestructible, what crap THAT was! Let's see...I always preferred LPs, they had more art, they felt more complete, they had to be treated with care, which made them more...precious than tapes. But they had limitations- tapes had all the music that wasn't on record, demos by bands, cheap copies of records you couldn't find or afford, they were cheap to buy, cheap to post, and the quality ones just didn't break or snap. Or jump or stick or get scratched. And you could play them on the road!
Can you tells us a bit about your EP, ”Religious Wars”…which event or events triggered you to write these songs? Are they as relevant today as there were back then?
Religious Wars...
I was cycling back from work with that chorus in my head, and wrote the verses when I got home. No particular event inspired it, just a general conpempt for religion and its hypocrisy, the vast gap between the stated aims of faith [be nice to each other- fair enough- and worship god - yeah but which one, and why?] and the realities of wars and divisions caused by it, the corruption and power of the church, the perversions of the Catholic church, the over-arching fiction of it all, that belief relies on...so much death in the name of god[s].
Love Is...
Too many happy love songs out there, one was needed to express the pain and confusion and almost madness that love or its absence can generate.
Its Gonna Get Worse...
An angry fired up thought train, pissed off at feeling helpless in a world of exploitation and reliance on politicians to run things.
Work Experience...
I learnt a lot working a few jobs, mostly that work required most of my brain to close down, that repetition and uniforms are mental slavery, connections earn more respect than ability and competition drives out any enjoyment.
Unfortunately they all still resonate 40 years later...
If we look at the present time…there´s somehow a new ”cold war era” in the world right now…Ukraine and Israel/Palestine wars going on…and a lot of less heard conflicts in Africa, just to mention but a few…what happend to this world? What´s your thoughts and reflections?
The world went online, everything became available. Knowledge, opinion, free space to say anything to the whole world at once...what could go wrong? Most people didn't give a damn about politics, they gave more attention to game shows, and then, given the chance, voted in a game show host as president of the USA. Used to be the US president met with a Russian leader once a decade or so, now Trump's on the phone with Putin and the Russian bots are mind-bending the screenheads in a digital war on senses and sense itself. Truth has become adaptable, opinions get more credence than facts, the storm of lies and shocks keeps the attention span short and the population divided....this has led to a world where responsibility, accountability and fear of punishment are reduced to zero for those who control the media or lead countries: where their version of truth - lies - lies down with all the other versions available. They can get away with anything as long as their interpretation of it is said often enough and loud enough. Genocide? 'Self defence'. War? 'Protecting freedom'. You see the white man wants to rule the world, so settles in as much of it as possible: Israel is the base for Western control of the Middle East, Afghanistan is a vital supply line for Russian oil and opium, there's them minerals under Ukraine and Greenland...grab the commodities, control economies, today's best friends are yesterday's enemies. It's '1984' coming to life...
What hopes and plans do you have for Subhumans in 2025?
Hoping to stay alive and healthy! we're all fkin 60 now and bits are starting to fall off... its More of the Same, that's the plan, do as many gigs as we can, and try to squeeze in time and space to get new songs together [living in different countries doesn't help- Trotsky's in Germany, we're in the Uk].
Thank you very much for the interview dear friends!
Have a great 2025 and see you down the road!
For more info about Subhumans, please check out:
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