Subsonics and the Re-Telling of It

The cool cats behind Brazilian garage rock/punk label Mandinga Records are big, big fans of the Subsonics… so much so that they’re releasing a four-song 7” tribute to the durable Atlanta trio this month, with a full tribute album currently slated to follow sometime in 2020.

Dubbed You Didn’t Think We Could Take It!, the 7” EP includes contributions from The Luxurious Faux Furs with fellow NOLA oddball Quintron (a faster, more desperate interpretation of “Everything is Falling Apart”), Birmingham, England garage/blues group Black Mekon (who turned “Do You Think I’m a Junky” into a ballad), primitive Brazilian duo Thee Dirty Rats (a dark and dirty “Disintegrate”) and Winston-Salem two-piece The Backbones (“I’m Charlie/I’m Jesus”).

It should be noted that the four tracks on the 7” will not also be included on the similarly globe-spanning full album, for which an impressive roster is already solidifying, so far including fellow Atlantans The Coathangers, The Paint Fumes, The Ugly Sounds, Bang Bang Babies and two different groups featuring longtime Subsonics producer Matt Verta-Ray.

“It’s all very strange and flattering,” notes Subsonics singer and guitarist Clay Reed. “I think we really lack all perspective on our own reach or appreciation in the far-flung nooks and crannies… It seems our ‘fans’ are frequently ‘people with problems’… alienated and antisocial. So: lots of musicians.”