Artist

Subhumans

Warminster, United Kingdom

Subhumans is a music group from Warminster, United Kingdom. Their discography on Gatefold includes 21 records.

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Biography

Dick Lucas didn't just sing; he barked out a frantic, high-speed philosophy class over the sound of a band that actually knew how to play their instruments. Most of the UK82 anarcho-punk scene was busy trying to sound as bleak as Crass, but Subhumans had Bruce Treasure throwing in actual guitar leads that didn't sound like a power drill. They tracked 'The Day the Country Died' in five days at Pickwick Studios, and it sounds exactly like what it is: four guys in a room who were sick of the Cold War and the local police, fueled by cheap cider and a complete lack of interest in the London fashion circuit. They weren't just another bunch of mohawks shouting about 'No Future.' They actually looked at the clock. While the rest of the scene fell apart into heroin or terrible goth-rock pivots, Dick took the band into increasingly weird, complex territory that culminated in the 16-minute track 'From the Cradle to the Grave.' It’s a fucking miracle that a band this fast and this loud managed to keep their integrity while moving from the basement to the US touring circuit without ever sounding like they were trying to land a deal with a major. They broke up when the momentum hit a wall, Dick started Citizen Fish, and the world got a lot quieter for a while.

Bio from The Clerk

The Arc of Subhumans

The pivots — what forced Subhumans to reinvent.

The Bluurg Records Sprint
Between 1981 and 1983, the band moved with a frantic urgency that defined the anarcho-punk aesthetic without the grayscale misery. They established their own label, Bluurg, to bypass the industry entirely, resulting in a series of EPs like 'Religious Wars' that showcased Dick Lucas’s verbose, rapid-fire lyrical delivery. The music in this period is characterized by short, sharp shocks of adrenaline that somehow managed to incorporate melodic bass lines from Phil Bryant that shouldn't have worked at that tempo. It’s the sound of a band perfecting the 'three chords and the truth' mantra while actually bothering to tune their guitars.
The Progressive Anarcho Stretch
The release of 'From the Cradle to the Grave' in 1985 saw the band abandon the two-minute punk template for a side-long suite that remains the most ambitious thing to come out of the UK scene. Working with engineer Pete Fender at Southern Studios, they leaned into complex structures and tempo shifts that pissed off the purists but solidified their legend. You can hear the band stretching their capabilities, moving away from the pogo-beat into something almost theatrical and far more cynical. It was a high-water mark that practically forced the breakup because there was nowhere left to go without becoming a prog-rock band.
The Long Burn Resurrection
After a decade-plus hiatus filled with Citizen Fish and various side projects, the band reconvened in the late 90s because the demand in the US was too loud to ignore. They didn't come back with a soft, legacy-act sound; records like 'Internal Riot' in 2007 proved they could still write tracks that sounded like a brick through a window. The production got cleaner, but the bite remained, with the lineup of Dick, Bruce, Phil, and Trotsky proving that a bunch of middle-aged punks could still outrun the kids. They settled into a groove of constant touring and sporadic recording that prioritized the live energy over studio trickery.

Influences

Crass — Dick Lucas has cited their DIY ethics and the template of 'Feeding of the 5000' as the spark for his own lyrical approach. You hear it in the relentless, machine-gun delivery and the refusal to stick to a standard verse-chorus-verse structure. It’s the blueprint for the entire Bluurg Records operation.
The Sex Pistols — The band’s first recordings were heavily informed by the raw, aggressive guitar work of Steve Jones. Bruce Treasure’s early riffs on 'Demolition War' carry that same snotty, overdriven punch. It provided the basic DNA before they started adding the more complex, jangly layers.
The Damned — The Subhumans shared the Damned’s sense of chaotic energy and dark humor, often covering 'New Rose' in their early days. You can hear Brian James's influence in the way Bruce Treasure attacks the guitar with a sense of frantic melody rather than just blunt force. It kept them from being just another boring 'noise' band.
Buzzcocks — The band toured with Pete Shelley and has admitted a deep respect for their ability to hide complex ideas inside fast songs. The melodic sensibility in the bass lines and the occasional pop-hook buried in a wall of feedback is a direct nod to the Manchester legends. It’s what makes their songs actually catchier than the average riot.
The Ruts — The tight, rhythmic interplay and the occasional flirtation with reggae-inflected bass lines came straight from watching The Ruts. Phil Bryant’s playing often mirrors Segs Jennings’s ability to stay melodic while the rest of the band is going through a blender. It gave the Subhumans a swing that most of their peers lacked.