Subway Sect
Subway Sect were without doubt one of the earliest and finest punk bands of the era but you’ll never know because they released just two singles over a 2 year period and one John Peel Radio session. Recordings were made for an album, but were lost, leaving the tantalising thought that what was lost was probably as ground breaking as The Scream, Unknown Pleasures or Pink Flag.
Vic Goddard and guitarist Rob Simmons started out playing the blues at college in South London before busking in tube stations as makeshift rehearsal venues. Hence their name supposedly after a Hammersmith Subway (they were nearly called the Numb Hearts). Like many others their outlook changed after seeing the Sex Pistols at the Marquee. They loved the image if not the music.
“I thought the Pistols were the end of rock’n’roll ..but…they weren’t. Nor were the Clash…We never used ordinary guitars, a Gibson or a Strat: we used Fender Mustangs because they have a trebly, scratchy sound. We became quite purist. Our guitarist refused to allow any macho, rock’n’roll attitude on stage.” England’s Dreaming Jon Savage
“They (Pistols etc) just want to revitalize rock’n’roll whereas we just wanna get rid of it.” Zigzag.
The band originally comprised Paul Myers on bass, Robert Simmons and Vic Goddard on Guitar, Paul Packham on Vocals. A reshuffle saw Paul move onto drums and Vic to Vocals. Having been forced to rehearse for 12 hours a day for a week by Malcolm McClaren at Manos in Chelsea they were ready to gig. Their first appearance was the 100 Club Punk Festival with The Clash, Pistols and Damned, to name but a few, on 20.9.76 appearing in stark black as opposed to the sartorial punk finery of the main protagonists.
Early participants in the punk purge they had no overt controversy for the nationals, weeklies or fans to pick on so steadily evolved with no fuss transforming into a fuller, more coherent sound.
How would you describe their sound? At their best a heady mix of the Velvet Underground, 13th Floor Elevators, Jonathan Richman and Magazine. Subway Sect were THE true punk band. Non conformists to rock and non conformists to punk. They baffled, confused and passed through the times. Scratchy sound, compared to the heavy metal tinged assault of Sex Pistols and followers, but as groovy and catchy as any of their sonic heroes.
We oppose all rock’n’roll
as going down the chute
We oppose the rock’n’roll
That’s held you down for so long you can’t refuse.…melodies immersed in a beautiful monotonous dirge. They were different – a sign that punk could be a lot more than the fast sonic assaults of the Pistols, the Damned and the Clash. Mark P – ‘And God Created Punk’
Clash manager Bernie Rhodes, appreciative of Subway Sect’s angles of subversion, took them under wing with a resultantly strained relationship. Their evolution however, was not matched by any record releases. They lost their first drummer and got Mark Laff. They lost him to Generation X and lost impetus before gaining Robert Ward. Scratchy sounds and drab image, made audiences and critics unsure what to make of them:
Subway Sect: What do you think of our songs -what do the audiences think of us?
Steve Walsh: I dunno – they usually seem a bit confused – well I’ve not seen many people pogoing to you but that’s good…Zigzag“Subway Sect nauseated me. Visually they’re about as entertaining as a fly paper; musically they are as much fun as sitting inside a cement mixer with cotton wool in your mouth.” Jane Suck – Music Machine Review, Sounds 1978
Lyrics full of muddy images of alienation, reflected the denseness of their sound. Songs like Nobody’s Scared and Eastern European blurred into one. Subway Sect was a unique experience. Mark P
Their songs were about ‘subjects, ideas and theories’ Zigzag quote
I don’t write any words you get in rock songs…I like those words – that seem out of place in a rock song. Vic Goddard
Where did it all go wrong?
Naive idealism in punk ..They thought punk would change music…
“We wanted to change the reasons for playing rock music. We didn’t want it to be rock for rocks sake. we wanted it to be a medium for ideas rather than a release from boredom” and the belief they could short circuit the rock’n’roll circus refusing to dress like punks:
Onstage their very normalcy of dress and uncompromising rejection of establishment rock techniques provoke reactions of, at first, alienation then stimulation.” Jon Savage, Sounds 1978
We used to dye all our clothes grey in those days..in a big bath. We liked the colour.” England’s Dreaming, Jon Savage
As their two singles fizzled out due to lack of publicity and gigs, the band folded in late 78 before Ambition was even released. While Ambition may have sold 20,000 copies, it didn’t stop Bernie Rhodes sacking the whole band and retaining Vic Goddard as a songwriter on a weekly wage of £15 which the latter seemed to be ok about. It was Bernie who rejected a first album by them and released their first single 6 months after it was recorded. Its almost as if he managed them the exact opposite to The Clash. My personal opinion is that Bernie Rhodes screwed up Subway Sect.
Vic in NME 7.10.78 says it was he himself who “… decided to reshape Sect to reflect his new ideas in writing.” Interestingly he gives a different reason in our Punk77 interview.
Subway Sect finished because of Bernie Rhodes decision to stop paying the rest of the band and my decision to stay with him. Rather then leaving the name was resurrected with new members Punk77 Interview, Sep 2001
A third line up with a blend of AOR/ jazz inflection was put together by Vic straight away but again without success and saw him doing stuff with the Black Arabs who did the disco medley on the Sex Pistols Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle album.
And that was the end of Subway Sect who could have delivered one of the great punk albums to rival Television.
It is a major tragedy that no Subway Sect recordings exist from their 77-78 period other than Nobody’s Scared. Without doubt an album from these boys would have been as ground breaking as The Scream or Unknown Pleasures (only a couple of years earlier) and would have guaranteed them status in the history of rock for ever as ground breakers and innovators. Sadly all that remains from this superb band is two very different singles and a John Peel session.
When the group first started, I was heavily influenced by three writers and singers more than anyone else – Johnny Rotten, Francoise Hardy and Jonathan Richman. I’d say that between them they contributed more than most to what became the Subway Sect. With Hell it was the lyrics, with Hardy it was the melody and song construction. With Bowie and Rotten it was the idea that you could become someone other than oneself to make music and prance about generally. Jonathan had a naive quality that matched us to a tee. Jerk Of All Trades
Bernie Rhodes explained about his label Braik Records in the NME 25.3.78. “It will deal only in extremes. The scene is getting predictable.” The first single is Nobody’s Scared. Upcoming are tracks by a Pakistani blues band and an all girl group of “teenage prostitutes”. Yeah right Bernie! First and only release was a Subway Sect single that was 6 months old. As for the rest what you can say? Touch of the McLaren’s there.
Nobody’s Scared / Don’t Split It (1978 Braik Records)
A fine single that is not standard punk fare…. a sort of white noise with melody (predating Jesus & Mary Chain’s sonic antics) and some heaveeeee lyrics. Recorded 6 months prior to release (October 77) the band had already moved on. On Don’t Split It Vic wails ‘Don’t wanna sing rock’n’roll’ over a primal VU /Jonathan Richman riff and harmonica.
Ambition / A Different Story (Rough Trade 1978)
So what did our dysfunctional punk heroes come up with for their second single? Well to start with by the time of the release only Vic Goddard remained as the rest had been sacked/left. The single? A curiously poppy toon featuring the usual impenetrable lyric of a musicians angst complete with electronic beeps , 60’s keyboard and sound effects courtesy of an arcade games machine!
I keep thinking of Van Halen’s Jump for some reason. According to Mojo ( October 2001) Vic Goddard hated the keyboard riff and on bootlegs the song can be found stripped of it. With or without, it’s a cracking song. Great cover version by The Jesus And Mary Chain on the back of their 12″ of Never Understand.
The Album That Never Was
“You’ve recorded an album which is coming out soon. Are you happier with it than the 45…?”
Vic: “I hope its going to be…one of my favourite albums of all time, but I know that Television’s first album is better” Sounds interview by John Savage 1.7.78
Somebody please find those mixes and release the f***ing album!!
Likely songs:
Chain Smoking
Birth & Death
De-Railed Sense
The Ambition
You Stand Back
Rock & Roll Even
I, Change
Parallel Lines
Staying (Out Of Touch)
Inbalance
Eastern Europe
The Exit Of No Return
Forgotten Weakness
Enclave
The Idiot Of All
One excellent John Peel session broadcast 24.10.77
Chain Smoking
Parallel Lines
I Don’t Split It
Nobody’s Scared
Brief appearance on Don Lett’s Punk Rock Movie singing Birth & Death and longer on in Wolfgang Büld “Punk In London” documentary 1977
How did the band start and why the name?
We already existed as a group of people who looked different from the norm at the time. Not all of these were in the group, but some of these people went and formed their own groups in the local area (Richmond on Thames). We started trying to play the simplest things we could after buying cheap guitars on the Sex Pistols gigs. The final thing that started it as a group was the £85 drum kit from a Lewisham music store which we paid for on H.P. This defined who was in the band because the 4 of us were committed to paying monthly for it.
Rob Simmons already had a guitar at this point and had already mastered the major chords, but he was the only one who could play. Paul Packham the original singer of the group was coerced into being drummer when he let it slip that he had played once (when he was in the boy scouts) on the snare drum.
Subway Sect was the best name we could think of. It was either that or Numb Hearts, so I am glad S.S won.’
What were the bands influences?
Expressionism, Dada, Goddard/Demy, Lou Reed, Jimmy Reed, Tom Verlaine+R.Hell, Debussy+Satie, Sinatra+Bennett
How did you come involved in punk and why?
Rob Simmons was into English 60s bands like the Who (who the rest of us hated) Paul Myers and Paul Packham were soul boys who went to the same soul clubs (like Hunters and Crackers, Lacy Lady…Ilford etc). This is where they first saw the people who hung round with the Banshees-The Bromley conspiracy or whatever they called themselves. I was into Rod Stewart +The Faces, N.Y Dolls, Frank Sinatra and songs from musicals (which Packham and Myers also liked) We were a real mixture, but we all stood apart from the current hippie derived clothes style of the time.
We’d grown up through the skinhead eras and all been into the brogues, levis, crombies, 2 tone, jungle greens, suedeheads, D.Ms etc. Just before punk started we were frequenting Lloyd Johnsons stall in Kensington Market, where we could buy original 2nd World War demob suits for a £5 a time. I remember wearing spats, detachable collars and white silk scarf to go out in. We all formed bands who saw the Sex Pistols in 1976 You had to. McLaren picked us because we must have looked like a group already at their gigs, but we weren’t really outgoing. We’d never been able to get into music through any other era than then.
You had a very Velvet Underground sound.
Yes. We (or me+Rob) were and still are Velvet Underground fans and there was a big buzz about Jonathan Richman in 1976.When Road Runner came out that was the sound we aimed for because with our awful equipment you couldn’t get that lead rock sound.
Was ‘Ambition’ successful and why did Subway Sect end before its release?
Ambition sold 20,000 very quickly, so it was very big for us. It enabled Bernie Rhodes to pay us £15 a week for a year. Then he sacked the group and kept me on as a song writer for his stable of artists supposedly but that never really came off. Still I drew £50 a week wages so I wasn’t moaning.
What was Malcolm McClaren’s and Bernie Rhodes influence on the band?
Malcolm paid for us to rehearse because he needed support acts for the punk festival of 76.Then he arranged for us to use Bernie Rhodes free (as long as The Clash weren’t using it) He didn’t put anything into the bands musically, but did once buy us all red jumpers and he did some good art work for the sleeves. As for producer, he did work very closely with Mickey Foote on all our tracks during that time, so I always credit them jointly as producer.
Did Bernie Rhodes try to influence your image? You were not very punky in style and dress?
Our image was nothing to do with Bernie Rhodes. We went on stage in the clothes we wore every day. We could only afford Oxfam (when Oxfam was affordable) Grey was our colour but it came from Eastern Europe in the postwar era not Bernie Rhodes. No we’d never got a look in any other era other than 76. It is impossible to be too innovative-the punk scene was very exciting. In 76 and maybe even 77. After that there wasn’t one-it had more to do with status quo and heavy metal. My favourite punk bands are still the same as they were then-Seeds, Shadows elevators television talking heads heartbreakers vu modern lovers (but they were never called punk-why is that?) I suppose this is because we never really looked like punks; we took punk to mean yourself not read in the sun about dog collars and go and buy one. So punk couldn’t be made to look threatening very easily through showing photos of us.
You did not like publicity?
Yes I still very consciously shy away from that aspect.
What was it like playing? Reaction?
We were bottled in Le Mans by Hells Angels, but still carried on through the set with no nut holding the strings in place on the bass. I think one of the Clash even jumped up and tried to hold it there while played. We were spat at incessantly in England and the Scots went wild. Most audiences were there for the Clash and Barely tolerated us, but on some nights it all gelled and we went down really good. Every time we played through something different or unexpected happened because of our total inexperience and naivety.
How did you get on with other bands?
We got on great with The Slits and The Clash looked after us like real gentlemen. We never liked a lot of their stuff and they must of hated ours but they never showed it and actually kept us alive. We’d die of malnutrition without them.
You seem to have a similar world view to Devoto?
Subject matter-we tried to get stranger, but although we saw Devoto’s lyrics when we supported the Buzzcocks and got to meet them. We’d already done most of our early stuff by then.
What punk bands did you rate?
Of all the punk groups our stuff would have been closest to the Buzzcocks. We greatly admired Richard Hell and Television, so apart from Lou Reed they have been our inspiration along with the books we used to read back in that era.
Why did you rework some of the old songs?
Reworking old material happens constantly because records take so long to come out that by the time a recorded piece comes out (usually 2 years at least after it is recorded) it has evolved into something quite different.We only reworked the old tunes that never been released. I just thought some of them too good to waste. Nowadays I’ve come to learn that a song isn’t wasted even if it never gets released. Only 10% of anybody’s songs ever come out, so there are bound to be some gems in the other 90% that you never hear.
Why the crooning?
The crooning was my reaction to how punk turned into the Status Quo orgy. I mentioned earlier-I wanted to get as far away as possible with a bit of razzmatazz. On our first tour( without support) we went round in Barry Bakers old transit van and had control of the music we played. This had lots of pre and past(??) crooning stuff-so it wasn’t something new. Even Paul Simenon had gone to see Frank Sinatra at the Albert Hall in the punk era. dressed in tuxedo and D.Ms and until a couple of years ago was doing pub gigs with Pete Saunders band doing old Ellington and other classic croony tunes. We did a gig, just the 2 of us, doing Cole Porter songs at the Scala which was the last gig I did in London-so I’m still at the crooning now and then.
How did Subway Sect end?
Subway Sect finished because of Bernie Rhodes decision to stop paying the rest of the band and my decision to stay with him. Rather then leaving the name was resurrected with new members but the new album I’ve just finished has input from Rob Simmons and Nick Brown…one of our early cohorts, and will be billed as Subway Sect.
Subway’s Sect contribution to punk?
We seem to get more recognised retrospectively as time goes on-I can tell by the consistency of the re-issues of Ambition among others.
Faithfully recorded from the pen of Vic Goddard by Keith Rillington September 2001
TalkPunk
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