2025 was a fantastic year for gigs and possibly my most prolific year to date. I waste absolutely no time in kick-starting this year with a bang! I was off to see the anarcho-punk legends Subhumans. This seems to be a annual tradition, this is the third time I’ve seen them around the exact same date in as many years, this time I’m off to Newport and the cracking venue The Cab which incidentally was the last venue I went to only a few weeks ago, it’s great to see Punk/Hardcore scene thriving again in Newport and it’s now got a excellent venue which is going from strength to strength! 

Right, let’s get on with then shall we? I make my way to Newport from Swansea through the South Wales transport system and typical for me things don’t ever run smoothly the train I planned on catching is delayed with no estimate so I improvise catch a different train change at Cardiff and arrive in Newport fashionably late but thankfully still in time to see Caldicot Crossover thrash stalwarts Pizzatramp, who’s last gig of 2025 was in the same room a few weeks ago supporting the mighty Hard Skin, I got in too late last time to catch them so it would have been very rude to have missed them again. 

As they take to the stage, this sold-out room is packed, with no room to swing a cat. I make my way to the side of the room out of the way of the inevitable carnage that’s about to happen. Young & old, men & women, black & white, everyone is welcome here, and it’s great to see. There are punks, thrashers and Skinheads all enjoying themselves as Pizzatramp thrash their way through a breakneck speed set. Frontman Jimmy is on fine form tonight, both in playing and with his banter with the crowd. The rhythm section is extremely tight as the band rip through plenty of bangers, ‘Millions of Dead Goths’ being an early highlight. We get “I Got Work In The Morning’,  ‘There’s Been Murder’, ‘Flagshaggers United’, ‘Mr Slam’, the pit is chaos, bodies everywhere, this is thrashtastic. As the set is about to end, one young member of the audience gives a shout for ‘Cop Fetish’, which Jimmy responds with a barrage 4 letter insults, as he can’t remember how it goes. After a moment of deliberation, he gives the young man what he wants as they race to the finish line. Nice one, boys, that got us warmed up lovely on this cold January evening. 

During the break I make way downstairs to have a gander at the merch and fill my boots with a couple of extremely affordable Subhumans records, the band could never ever be accused of doing anything for the money, £10 to get in, £15 a record, £10 a CD this is how Punk should be, no £80 hoodies in sight which is such a rarity these days it’s a pleasure to see and a testament to the bands character that they can still do this year in year out and give everyone there money’s worth. 

I set up camp in the same spot back upstairs, and the band take to the stage. Frontman Dick Lucas informs the crowd, “In case you’re in the wrong place, we’re the ‘Subhumans’ and they proceed to blast through a classic opener ‘All Gone Dead’ from one of the greatest punk albums of all time, ‘The Day The Country Died’. 

No Subhumans gig is ever the same, this band change up the set every night and plays songs from their whole catalogue. The early part of the set is frantic, we get ‘Drugs Of Youth’, ‘Evolution’, ‘Parasites’ from the early EP’s, all of which were released years before I was even born, and all stand the test of time. The lyrics are just as relevant now as back then. 

What sets them apart from their fellow arachno/crust punk contemporaries is how damn catchy the tunes are, I dare anyone to listen to ‘99%’ off the fantastic ‘Crisis Point’ and not be singing along the next time you hear it. 

We get the one and only slower moment of the set with the reggae/punk inspired ‘Human Error’, which Dick Lucas would do more of in his excellent other projects, ‘Culture Shock’ and Citizen Fish. When I say slower, I really mean the first minute or so before the song builds into a frantic finish. 

Like I said earlier, the band change things up live all the time. During the middle of the set, we are treated to four classics from the vastly underrated album ‘Worlds Apart’, again a testament to the band that they can remember every note, beat and lyric from a vast catalogue. ‘Pigman’, ‘Businessmen’, ‘British Disease’ and the biggest singalong of the evening so far, the absolutely cracking ‘Apathy’. “Drink, sex, cigarettes, Ford Cortina, household pets, bombs, war, famine, death, an apathetic public couldn’t care less” sings Dick, and the crowd scream it back at him, outstanding. 

From here on, things get intense. The band is blistering, Dick doesn’t stop moving for a moment, ridiculous energy, how he does it, I’ll never know. The rest of Subhumans are keeping things extremely tight, Phil and Trotsky on bass and drums respectively keep the rhythm section thundering. Bruce on guitar is one of the best at what he does. This run of the last seven songs I’m not kidding is one of the finest I’ve heard by any band live in sometime it was near perfection in the track listing, the bass line of ‘Society’ kicks in and the place loses its shit, it doesn’t let up here though, straight into the double salvo of ‘Minority’ and fan favourite ‘Mickey Mouse Is Dead’, next we’re treated to the epic debut album closer ‘Black and White’. Dick stops to say there are a few more to play and asks a member of the audience to count in the next song, but there’s a catch it’s gotta be in Welsh, someone obliges and after Un, Dau, Tri, Pedwar the band rip into ‘Peroxide’ after that it’s almost over with two songs left what could they be? 

Well, it’s possibly not only the band’s finest two songs ever, but these are two of the best punk songs of all time and I will die on that hill. The opening bass rumbles and the words “No I don’t believe in Jesus Christ, my mother died of cancer when I was five” is one of the most brutal opening lines to a song I’ve ever heard, the song is simply titled ‘No’ and a classic it is and to finish the night we get ‘Religious Wars’ the limbs are flying and the singing is loud and proud. What better way to spend a Monday night. 

Same time next year, please? As long as Subhumans are still playing, I will be there, long may they continue. 

Author: Chris Davies