Legendary punk band Vic Godard and the Subway Sect play Liverpool’s 81 Renshaw Street this autumn.
Formed to play at the 100 Club punk festival in 1976, Vic Godard’s Subway Sect shot beyond punk – their music a testament to the liberating ethos of the movement.
Respected, and deservedly so, Godard (actually Napper) has been a career postman more than he has been a career musician, a fact you might attribute to Subway Sect’s early days – when all but Vic were sacked from the band by their manager – but which he has turned to his creative advantage.
As a great new compilation, 30 Odd Years, amply demonstrates, his music has covered tuneful garage post-punk to existential crooning and witty jazz, his mode an inspirational reconciling of opposites.
A dandyish character, Godard has more in common with Edwyn Collins (he sang back-up on A Girl Like You) than Joe Strummer, and he remains ahead of a time that would do well to catch him up.