Diminished Responsibility: Life as a U.K. Sub and other strange stories
The third and final volume in the UK Subs bassist, Alvin Gibbs, excellent and insightful trilogy of autobiographies, ‘Diminished Responsibility: My life as a U.K. Sub, and other strange stories. Vol 3’ is in stock now and shipping immediately.
With a Foreword by Gaye Black of The Adverts, Alvin has written thirty seven chapters packed with anecdotes and stories from his life in the scene and on the road with UK Subs and other alt-rock bands. There’s a full discography and bibliography for collectors, and with over 130,000 words across 400 pages, there’s plenty to read and new tales to find out. The book is fully illustrated with photos and memorabilia throughout from Alvin's personal archive.
Excerpt from ‘Diminished Responsibility, Vol 3’…
"If you’ve followed my story from Volume I, through Volume II, and on to this final edition of my memoir trilogy, you’ll already be aware that my fascination with Rock music began in the 1960s, metamorphosed in the early-1970s to an obsession that overtook that of wanting to become a professional footballer and, in turn, saw me forming a school-based Glam rock band in 1973. Come the advent of Punk and my witnessing many of the renowned first-wave outfits of that genre, I became an active participator in the scene by means of joining my first Punk rock group in 1978, The Users.
"Following a stint with The Users, I experienced touring at a higher level supporting The Police in Europe and Thin Lizzy in the U.K. with ex-Damned guitarist Brian James and The Physicals respectively. My becoming a U.K. Sub in 1980 raised the bar even higher: I initially recorded two albums and four singles with the Subs, appeared on Top of the Pops, and travelled all over the British Isles, Europe and North America to play and perform prior to swapping London for San Francisco and thereafter, relocating to Los Angeles. Whilst living in the city of fallen angels I became Iggy Pop’s bassist and embarked on an eight month-long global tour with one of the seminal figures of napalm hearted Rock ‘n’ Roll. During that same period, I played a show with the actor Johnny Depp, became a friend of and hung out in New York City with Joey Ramone, spent time in the company of David Bowie, Alice Cooper and Michael Hutchence, as well as experiencing many other ‘pinch me’ moments.
"Upon my return to London, I gigged in the U.K., Japan and Scandinavia and also supplied instrumentation and compositions for two LP records plus three single releases with the Hanoi Rocks’ spin-off band Cheap And Nasty. After four years of C ‘n’ N I returned to active duty with the Subversives, and subsequently played an inestimable number of world-wide tours, gigs, and festivals, plus contributed, both as a musician and songwriter, to a further nine studio albums and 11 single/EP records. Perhaps the biggest Rock band of the late-1980s/1990s, Guns N’ Roses, covered one of my songs for a platinum-level selling LP, the royalties from which paid in part for my house in France.
During the large slab of time these accumulated events took place, there were certainly other instances of Diminished Responsibility and enough additional Strange Stories to fill another three volumes. And, no doubt, there will yet be a couple of lapses of appropriate conduct and a twisted tale or two to be accrued in future days; but I’m satisfied with what is already available in the public domain and have no desire to keep ploughing the same literary ground beyond this final instalment. What a ride. What an incredible journey.”
"Obviously I can’t recommend this book highly enough but not just for fans of The UK Subs, Iggy Pop, Cheap & Nasty but for anyone who appreciates a well-written book by someone who writes with passion, honesty and fantastic use of the language..."
"Absorbing, passionate and another mightily impressive book from the talented Mr Gibbs...."
"Musician, Songwriter, Author and a thoroughly good bloke, Alvin Gibbs I salute you and urge anyone... to click the link and order a copy of this book you won’t regret it for a second...."
Dom Daley - RPM Online
"Needless to say it’s a very difficult book to put down as the perils of a life on the road are told with Alvin’s typical flare, honesty, and humour..."
Mark Bestford - Devolution Magazine
"This works on all levels – whether it be as an evocative autobiography, travelogue and tour diary or a thoughtful take on the various machinations of the music industry over the years. Take your pick, Alvin has all bas(s)es superbly covered within these fast-turning pages..."
Steve Worrall - Retro Man Blog
"Alvin writes with a real flair and eloquence missing from most rock biographies and his memory and attention to detail is outstanding... a brilliant fly on the wall read that any U.K. Subs or punk fan will have to own..."
Eugene Butcher - Vive Le Rock magazine review
"Gibbs’ descriptive prose and humorous anecdotes would entertain even readers unfamiliar with the Subs music..."
Jennifer Upton - Womanycom
Order your copy of ‘Diminished Responsibility: My life as a U.K. Sub, and other strange stories. Vol 3’ by Alvin Gibbs here now.
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