This week, Bobble Tiki and Weekly Volcano music scribe Matt Driscoll arm wrestled. This is not the first time the Weekly Volcano’s lunchroom has been turned into a scene from Sylvester Stallone’s 1987 classic Over the Top, but this time there was real meaning behind the battle. Both Bobble Tiki and Driscoll wanted to preview the upcoming Subhumans show at Hell’s Kitchen on Thursday, April 3 — but only one could. Arm wrestling, it was decided, was the only way to settle things.

For those who’ve seen Driscoll’s scrawny ass arms, it should come as no surprise Bobble Tiki emerged victorious. While Bobble Tiki may have the body of an island themed souvenir, he’s still got Driscoll beat when it comes to muscle mass and overall strength. It was really no contest.

So, Bobble Tiki won the right to preview the Subhumans show at Hell’s Kitchen, and preview it he will.

If there’s one thing Hell’s Kitchen is good at, and there are actually many, it’s bringing in iconic punk bands from the glory days of yesteryear. Hell’s Kitchen booking agent, Flash, has proved time and time again that he’s got the sense, connections, and punk rock IQ to book the most influential bands in the history of the genre still touring and going strong. When the Subhumans hit town Thursday, April 3, it’ll be just another example.

The history of the Subhumans begins in the UK in 1980. Formed in the Trowbridge and Melksham area of Wiltshire, the band started to take off after frontman Dick Lucas joined the mix late that year. For the next five years the Subhumans delivered some of the most important punk of the era. Though they broke up in 1985, the band reformed in 1998 to capitalize on the name they built. In between, Lucas formed Citizen Fish in 1990, only adding to his legacy as a forerunner of punk and ska.

But just because they’re legendary, don’t think the Subhumans are resting on their accomplishments. In ’07 they released Internal Riot, which has received surprisingly strong reviews considering how fickle old school punk fans can be. Bobble Tiki caught up with Lucas this week to discuss the band’s latest record, history, and upcoming stop in Tacoma.

(Note: When Lucas writes “cos,” it means “because.” Bobble Tiki assumes this is a bloody U.K. thing.)

BOBBLE TIKI: After all the miles you’ve logged, what’s the appeal of touring these days?

DICK LUCAS: It’s true, the original appeal of traveling, that of going to new places and seeing wonderful sights, does diminish if you go to the same places often enough, and is always countered by the limited appeal of sitting in a van several hours a day in order to get there. Although there are still occasional sight-seeings that make us collectively realize the real meaning of “awesome” (and the continuing nonexistence of gods), the real bottom line has to be that we like to do what we do for as many people in as many places as we can, cos the hour or so onstage is still the best so-called “job” going.

TIKI: Are you ever surprised by how strong the band’s following remains? Did you ever envision the band lasting this long? What has made that possible?

LUCAS: The crowd and band’s time-span very much intertwine. If we started crumbling into self-pastiche the crowd wouldn’t keep showing up, and if people regularly didn’t show up we’d presumably get despondent, so one supports the other.

TIKI: You released Internal Riot in September. How has the reaction been?

LUCAS: Very good so far, ranging from “surprisingly good for a reformed punk band” to “better than (our first LP) The Day the Country Died.”

TIKI: What drives you in songwriting today? You’ve got plenty of songs under your belt, what things inspire you these days?

LUCAS: More or less the same stuff as 20 years ago, cos not that much has changed for the better in the areas of war, suffering, exploitation, commercial slavewagery, junk diets, alienation, politics, and blind consumption. Not that everything I write is angry and critical ... um ... just most of it, cos it still sucks that the world’s poor could be housed and fed many times over with the billions spent on the war in Iraq. And it still sucks that people believe lies as long as they come through a TV screen or a politician. And it still sucks that people think “complaining wont change a thing,” cos with that attitude it won’t.

TIKI: How have your experiences in Tacoma and Hell’s Kitchen been?

LUCAS: Two shows there so far, one Subhumans and one Citizen Fish. (Hell’s Kitchen is a) friendly place — not too big, not too small; people grateful that we went there instead of missing it in favor of Seattle and Portland instead, good energy and heat. Not “heat” as in “it’s so cold put the heat on.” but as in extra hot sweat pool by the end of the night.

As has become custom, Bobble Tiki doesn’t care what you do this week because he doesn’t even know you. And since Bobble Tiki has all the friends he can handle at the moment — five — he doesn’t expect to suddenly be pining for your friendship anytime soon. Join Bobble Tiki every Monday through Saturday for Breakfast at www.weeklyvolcanospew.com, and consider yourself close enough. 

[Hell’s Kitchen, The Subhumans, The Insurgence, Red White & Die, CLR, Thursday, April 3, 6 p.m., all ages, $12, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

Bobble Tiki is going out of his head via e-mail.