British Punk Lyrics
These lyrics are taken from the High Society International CD release, entitled ‘British Punk Invasion Volume 2’.
This is what Benjie ‘Butler’ Bollox had to say about his time with the Subs. Benjie co-wrote Riot.
OK, here’s the story.
I had met the Subs a couple of times here in Dallas. well I eventually moved back to London in ’96, where I’m from originally. I met up with Charlie at a Subs gig at the Orange.
We were talking and I asked if he knew anyone that needed a drummer and that’s where it all started.
Being in the Subs was not a full time gig for me or anyone else at the time. it was mainly Charlie and whoever else was available at the time. I was not the only drummer and there were a few bass players and guitarists. my main gig was with Splodgenessabounds during those years.
I played the occasional gig and recorded a record with U.K. Subs. We recorded in a little studio in New Cross from sundown to sun up for 2 or 3 nights. I remember losing my job at the time in a bookstore from constantly calling in sick so I could sleep the next day.
In the Studio, Matt from Sham 69 would occasionally come in and bring us whisky and help produce the music. That was where me and Charlie both wrote “Riot” together.
It was sort of, “Well we’re in the studio now, what should we do?”, so we made it up on the spot. I played drums and did back up vocals. My legal name is Butler so you will always see that name under “Riot” on any of the records it’s on.
The song eventually became a hit, I remember at the time, I got paid 10 pounds and breakfast. but it just made me feel good to know that I had written a part of history.
Me and Charlie spent many drunken nights going to bars and clubs and eating chinese, we did a lot of talking and he became a good friend.
Eventually I decided to head back over to the states for a break. By that time Charlie had hired a full time drummer. The Subs went into the studio to record a newer version of “Riot” and asked me to come along to supervise the song and do back up vocals. I ended up doing back up vocals on “UK Subversives” as well. We recorded at Dave Goodman’s and he produced (The legendary Sex Pistols Producer). Dave was really nice and he and his wife fed us well. That version was released as a single called “Riot 98”. Between The U.K. Subs and my band now The Visitors “Riot” seems to have been the most recorded song, there are so many versions.
The recordings we did were released on a German Compilation called “British Punkinvasion 2” it is still available. One place I know of is
towerrecords.com
also at;
www.fallen-punk.de
and at;
www.ping.be
I also appeared on a documentary about Charlie Harper called “Charlie Harper 20 years of Chaos” available at;
www.nfi.no
I now sing in a band called The Visitors. We have toured with The Vibrators, Vice Squad and also The U.K. Subs. Our website is
The Visitors
I have attached some pictures from the CD.
Cheers,
Benjie Bollox
ps- i forgot to add that this lated from late ’96 to early ’98 cheers