It's fun to poke these old punk rockers with a stick, to wind 'em up into diatribe mode. Hell, I even do it to myself. So I get Subhumans singer Dick (the band members are only known by their first names) on the phone and ask him about bringing punk rock to the gentry with the impending 30th anniversary re-release of The Sex Pistols' "Never Mind The Bollocks." Dick and the rest of his band are currently humping the American highway on a string of one-nighters, something The Pistols barely pulled off once amidst their own chaos and ineptitude.

"I think they're just cashing in again," Dick says. "But they always did. It's a great album and this way some people are going to be able to hear it for the first time perhaps. Although I think by comparison to music these days, it'd probably be seen as being a bit too slow. Today's generation of punk rockers, they all like it a bit harder and faster."

OK, that didn't work. Lemme hit him with one that fires up the most seasoned punks: pop punk and all its watered-down Manic Panic.

"The punk scene has gotten variegated, if that's the right word for it," he says. "You can't just generalize and say the punk scene is or isn't one thing anymore. These kids dig deeper than the pop punk material they get into punk through. And they see there's a whole lot more to it in terms of depth of thought and political outlooks."

It was that depth of thought and conviction that came out in violent, exhilarating bursts of guitar and guts when The Subhumans formed in Warminster and Wiltshire, England in 1980. Bands like The Pistols and The Damned served as musical influences, but the lyrical anger that sprang from an anarchic reactionary stance was uniquely Subhuman. It was Dick's rage. It was - and still is - his right and obligation.

"Every band should sing about serious issues," Dick says, "as well as the occasional bit of fun entertainment. That's what music's for. It's a luxury to have the space to say something through music, and I don't think people should waste it singing about beer or drugs or relationships or whatever."

In keeping with this philosophy The Subhumans have just released "Internal Riot" (off the band's own Bluurg label), the band's first album in nine years. It's loud, fast, and jagged, full of old school piss and gasoline. And the kids of the harder-faster generation dig it. But is it all that generational to begin with?

"The ages of the kids at the shows will always be between 16 and 22 forever," Dick says. "We just happen to get older because that's the way of the universe. What we do is in direct contact with a lot of youthful energy and that probably helps us stay away from things like middle-aged depression or middle-aged spread or whatever's supposed to happen when you turn 40. We only feel old."

Other than brief excursions like Dick's ska band Culture Shock and bassist Phil and drummer Trotsky's Citizen Fish, the band that also includes guitarist Bruce has been Subhuman for more than 25 years.

Dick is pleased to see folks from the first generation that missed the boat come around as well as the new kids, digging on the band's legendary status and impact.

"You get older people who've actually never, ever seen a punk show before," he says. "Their friend takes them along and they're just blown away by the whole energy of the situation and they say, ‘Wow, what's going on? I can't believe I missed all of this.'"

Age doesn't seem to factor into the band's live show physicality either, as stage-divers and the frequent shrapnel and slam-dance fallout from punk rock crowds flies.

Besides, Dick is more focused on the message.

"Beyond all that superfluous nonsense there is still an undercurrent of people totally dissatisfied with the way the whole world's screwed up," he says.
"It's even easier than before. There's more to get pissed off about than ever."