The Subhumans
Death Was Too Kind

It is a name that means little or nothing, that of Brian Roy Goble, who passed away in December 2014 due to a heart attack, at the age of 57. At least on the surface.

Brian was a small legend in the Vancouver punk scene, for his active contribution to the formation and survival of some of the main local bands, including the trailblazers Skulls and, above all, Subhumans and D.O.A.

It was, however, his involvement with Subhumans that ensured him a place in the hearts of punk music enthusiasts and tied his name to «Death To The Sickoids».

It all started with a band called Stone Crazy: these were guys who, to augment their allowance from their parents, formed this group and managed to get gigs in city venues, playing Led Zeppelin songs; at least until August 5, 1977.

On the 6th, the Ramones came to town, and the members of Stone Crazy were all in the front row to enjoy the concert. They left the concert shaken and determined to change the game: they had seen the light, and that light was punk rock.

Goodbye to Stone Crazy, goodbye to the Zep, and it was time for the Skulls. Apart from Brian, the band included Joey Keithley, Simon Werner, and Ken Montgomery, essentially three-quarters of Stone Crazy; the newcomer was the guitarist Simon, who took the place of Brad Kent, evidently the only one not blinded by the light.

They adopted nicknames for the occasion: Joey Shithead, Ken Dimwit, and Brian Wimpy.

Despite their passion, they achieved little, except for a track, «Fucked Up Baby», also recorded by D.O.A. and included in a compilation dedicated to the Vancouver scene released in the nineties, and a demo tape that never saw the light of day.

They had nothing in their hands, the boys, also because, in Vancouver, there was hardly a scene; it was just them and another handful of hopefuls, the Dishrags.

Thus, the decision to change scenery was unanimous, and off they went, bag and baggage, to Toronto; but it was their end, and the Skulls shattered a minute after disembarking from the train that took them to Toronto.

Shithead and Dimwit were back at the ticket counter the next day, buying a ticket back to Vancouver; Wimpy and Simon continued to chase their dreams and flew to London; Wimpy lasted a couple of weeks before he too returned to Vancouver, and Simon disappeared without a trace.

All over?

Not at all, the best began right then: Shithead founded the immense D.O.A.; Wimpy reunited with Dimwit, recruited two old friends, Stone Crazy's roadie Jerry “Useless” Hannah and Mike “Normal” Graham, and thus they formed the Subhumans.

It had been about a year since the fateful August 6, 1977, when the Ramones descended on Vancouver.

Once again, Wimpy threw himself into it with great dedication and quickly wrote a track, «Death To The Sickoids». «We have a track...», the boys said, «...we need at least another one, or we won't get anywhere». Fortunately, Useless managed to pen down «Oh Canaduh».

Now, they needed someone who believed in them and their music: everyone went out, with a shoulder bag full of tapes, to knock on doors in snowy streets looking for a broad-minded producer. They didn't find a single one willing to give them an audience.

But the story I am telling you is of a band that played raw punk rock, and punk rock rhymed with DIY.

The boys produced the single themselves: by the end of 1978, in the right places in Vancouver, you could buy «Death To The Sickoids b/w Oh Canaduh».

For the few who did, the impact was explosive: on August 5, 1977, there was no music scene in Vancouver; on August 6, 1977, the Ramones arrived; over a year later, there was a terrifying punk scene in Vancouver, placing the Subhumans alongside D.O.A.

Okay, they were only two bands and had a sparse following. But the seeds were sown, and those seeds bore fruit, and by 2016 the Subhumans and D.O.A. were among the most beloved bands by punk rock enthusiasts at any latitude and longitude. In 2016, above all, «Death To The Sickoids» is unanimously considered one of the indispensable anthems in the history of seventy-seven punk.

But going back to 1978, at that time Vancouver was not exactly a metropolis, and the name of the Subhumans began to circulate in the right mouths: concert halls more readily opened their doors, and labels did the same; so much so that they recorded other tracks a few months after their debut single.

This time it was an EP, with four tracks: «Death Was Too Kind / Fuck You / Inquisition Day» / Slave To My Dick».

The attitude remained the same, for a record that kept all its promises and gifted the group two more classics to add to their repertoire, «Fuck You», also recorded by D.O.A. and «Slave To My Dick»: there were hysterical accusations of sexism, meaningless, and good only for justifying yet another debate on social deviance and the sociological misery of the punk subculture.

As quickly as it was raised, the debate was buried.

A few more months, and in 1980 the Subhumans reached the milestone of the third 45 rpm, «Firing Squad / No Productivity»: the sound became less raw, less punk, and decidedly more rock, although it did not lack tense nerves and electricity.

By then, the Subhumans were ready for their full-length debut; which arrived promptly, still in the same year, with the excellent «Incorrect Thoughts», which often returns to embrace a rough sound like that of the first two works.

But this is another story, because «Death Was Too Kind» stops just before «Incorrect Thoughts», gathering the first three short records of the band and two more tracks, «Look At The Dawn» and the remarkable instrumental «Pissed Off ... With Good Reason».

«Death Was Too Kind» was released in 2008 by Alternative Tentacles, following an ephemeral reunion that took place in 2006, after much water, not always clear, had passed under the bridge.

The “real” Subhumans ended with «Incorrect Thoughts», when Jerry Hannah left the group and joined an activist and also armed movement, Direct Action, which became known for an attack against a plant where missile components were produced and which caused numerous injuries; Jerry Hannah, although not directly involved in the action, was arrested; many rallied in his favor, from old friend Joey Keithley to Jello Biafra, but this did not prevent a sentence of ten years in prison, five of which he actually served.

After Useless left, the Subhumans recorded another LP for SST in 1983, and a final one in 2006 for Alternative Tentacles. But the “real” Subhumans had ended long before, indeed.

The final nail in the coffin of the story, in the worst possible way, was Wimpy's death in December 2014, thirty-six years after that December in 1978 when, together with Dimwit, Useless, and Normal, he was knocking on snowy Vancouver's streets looking for a producer willing to release the Subhumans' debut single.