UK Subs’ Charlie Harper (81) has served 50 years in the punk wars. Give this man a medal!

UK Subs’ Charlie Harper (81) has served 50 years in the punk wars. Give this man a medal!

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold December 8, 2025 Duration: 32:43

UK Subs formed in 1976 when Charlie Harper was 32. They’ve had over 80 members, some of whom he can’t remember. They never split up and are touring in 2026 to celebrate his 82nd birthday. “I vowed I’d keep playing as long at the Stones - which I’m now starting to regret!” After 50 years on the punk frontline, he’s the first to see the humour in going deaf and “having to have the occasional sit-down”. This fond and honest conversation looks back at …

 

… seeing the Stones at Ken Colyers’ jazz club and drinking with them in the Porcupine

 

… making £4 a day – “a fortune” – playing tube stations in 1964: “ex-buskers never get stagefright”

 

 … “dreadlocks, Afros, convoy cuts” – confessions of a teenage hairdresser

 

… what he learnt from Joe Strummer and the 101-ers

 

… his punk epiphany: seeing the Damned at the Roxy in 1976

 

… playing France’s Hellfest to 30,000 people and why the spirit of ‘77 still burns on the West Coast

 

… famous fans: Guns N’Roses, Hanoi Rocks, Dinosaur Jnr

 

… the UK Subs’ run-in with US Immigration

 

… skiffle, Jesse Fuller, Woody Guthrie, Big Bill Broonzy, Donovan and mid-‘70s R&B

 

…the onstage rigours of getting old: “I don’t get adrenaline anymore and have to have the occasional sit-down!”

 

… Where Did I Leave My Glasses? Why Did I Come Upstairs? – our fantasy tracks for the senior citizen!

 

Order UK Subs tickets here: https://ww.uksubstimeandmatter.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16899&Itemid=161


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There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Word In Your Ear
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