| The Subways | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England |
| Genres | Alternative rock Post-grunge Indie rock |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Labels | Cooking Vinyl (UK), Sire/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.) |
| Website | thesubways.net |
| Members | |
| Billy Lunn Charlotte Cooper Josh Morgan |
|
The Subways are an English alternative rock / indie rock band. Their debut album, Young For Eternity, was released on 4 July 2005 in the UK and February 14, 2006 in the U.S. Their second album, All or Nothing, was released on 30 June 2008 and their third album Money and Celebrity debuted on the 19th of September 2011. Although the band have not experienced a great deal of commercial success, they have gained a loyal cult following amongst attendees of the annual Reading and Leeds festivals, in which on each occasion they attracted a crowd big enough to fill the second stage tent beyond capacity, resulting in the band becoming main stage regulars. Their debut album was certified gold in January 2007 for 100,000 units shipped.
Contents |
The Subways, whose name comes from the time Billy used to wait outside a subway station, began playing at an early age, in Lunn and Morgan's homes (who are brothers - regardless their different surnames) in Welwyn Garden City. They first played Nirvana, Green Day and other punk songs, under the name of Mustardseed. They later changed their name to Platypus, and began to tour small, local venues, such as The Square in Harlow, Essex. An early CD of the band playing live was recorded at The Square which they sold at gigs.
The band released many demos and EPs in their early days when playing the London circuit in the UK. With every batch of new songs that The Subways would compose, Lunn would insist that the band record them. However, at such a young age the group had no money with which to go into a studio to record consistently, so they came upon the idea of buying their own cheap recording system at home. Eventually, the band had their own website, http://www.thesubways.net, which Lunn himself constructed and maintained, where they put all their new songs. Through the use of their own home recording system they now had roughly eight demos worth of songs both on the internet and being sent out to local and London promoters at various venues. The Subways then began touring in the local and London area playing regularly at the Buffalo Bar in Highbury and Islington.
Having the home recording system also proved useful for production. The band felt that it would not only benefit themselves, but other local bands who could not afford the studio prices, even in the Welwyn Garden City area. It was here that Billy and Charlotte both stumbled upon the opportunity that would eventually prove significant for the band. "I was producing a local Welwyn Garden City band in my front lounge one day and I noticed that it was quite good so I asked if they were going to send it to any London venues, because I knew a few that would like it. They said that they were going to send it off to Michael Eavis who runs Glastonbury Festival, and I asked why..." Michael Eavis that year was running an unsigned bands competition to play on the Other Stage, and The Subways decided that would be a great idea. "It was really just another address to send one of our CDs off to. All we wanted was to play shows and this was another great opportunity. The CD we sent off to Michael Eavis was literally one among a bunch of 30 that were being sent out to London promoters for a load of gigs we wanted to book. "We never expected the phone call saying that we'd won and were to play Glastonbury," said Cooper on radio. The Subways remain friends with Eavis today, and have suggested that other upcoming bands should send demos to Eavis.[1]
After Glastonbury, The Subways went on to play The Carling Weekend 2004 in both Reading and Leeds, and then proceeded to play their very first (self funded) tour of the UK consisting of 35 dates.
John Peel was the first DJ to play single "1am" on National radio.
The band signed to City Pavement & Infectious Records in late 2004. Their first album, Young For Eternity, which was released on the 4 July 2005, was produced by Lightning Seeds frontman Ian Broudie; with their debut single "Oh Yeah" reaching number 25 in the UK Singles Chart on its release week 21 March 2005.
The Subways appeared during the seventh episode of the third season of The O.C., "The Anger Management", performing two songs at the music venue 'the Bait Shop', "Rock & Roll Queen" and "Oh Yeah". The episode came to a close with "I Want to Hear What You Have Got to Say" playing.
Some of their tracks, such as "She Sun" and Rock & Roll Queen, are now being used on television adverts for Rimmel cosmetics featuring British supermodel Kate Moss. The Sun newspaper adverts are currently playing the song "Oh Yeah" in the background. "Rock & Roll Queen" appears in Live Free or Die Hard as well as Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla and "Oh Yeah" is featured in the 2008 comedy Charlie Bartlett.
The band postponed touring in April 2006 because Lunn had nodules on his vocal cords. They played a "secret" gig in The Green Room in their home town of Welwyn Garden City on 16 June, and also as support for the Foo Fighters in Manchester at the Lancashire County Cricket Ground on 18 June (along with Eagles of Death Metal, Angels & Airwaves and The Strokes), and have recently returned to touring.
In the summer of 2006 the band traveled to North America where they made numerous appearances. These included opening for the co-headlining tour of Taking Back Sunday & Angels & Airwaves and performing on the talk shows, Late Show With David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. On 4 August they performed at the Lollapalooza music festival, and the next day they performed at Street Scene in San Diego. On 7 August they appeared on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. On 25 August they returned to Reading and Leeds Festivals, this time on the main stage.
On 15 May 2007, the band announced they would begin recording their second album on 4 June, and the band began recording then in Los Angeles, California with producer Butch Vig. The band had written around twenty-five tracks which were recorded over a period of several months. In August 2007 the band came back to the UK and played a series of small warm up shows showcasing their new material, before playing at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. On 3 September 2007, the band returned to Los Angeles to complete work on their second album. On 17 October 2007 the band finished recording, All or Nothing.
On 18 February 2008, the band recorded their live video at The Stoke Sugarmill for their first single, "Girls & Boys", which was released as a free download from their website on 25 March 2008. On 24 February 2008 in an exclusive interview found on www.sundaymail.co.uk, Lunn revealed he and Cooper split up in June during studio sessions for The Subways' second album, All or Nothing. He went on to say that the break-up will not affect the band. They are both happy with their new partners. By 25 March 2008, The Subways had started their first UK tour of the year and played at the Glastonbury Festival, T in the Park, Download Festival, Oxegen Festival and Reading and Leeds Festival.
On 26 May 2008, The track "This is the Club" was released on the internet as part of a competition for fans to produce its video using 4 video clips. The winner was Seb Ronjon from Paris. On 30 June 2008, All or Nothing was released, achieved with the help of producer Butch Vig. The band's song "Girls and Boys" was featured as the backing song for the television show The Riches on Virgin1. The band appeared as themselves in Guy Ritchie's film RocknRolla, performing "Rock & Roll Queen". The Song "I Won't Let You Down" is featured on the racing-game Colin McRae: DiRT 2.
The Subways perform three songs in episode 10 of Series 2 (2008) of Live From Abbey Road: "Oh Yeah" from Young for Eternity, and "Strawberry Blonde" and "I Won't Let You Down" from All or Nothing. On 18 March 2009, The Subways featured as themselves in the episode "Golden Lady" of the TV series FM.
The Subways played Australia's Soundwave festival tour in February and March, followed by Poland in April 2009. The song "Kalifornia" is featured on the video game, Midnight Club: Los Angeles. On 26 June 2009, The Subways supported AC/DC at Wembley Stadium and Hampden Park on the 30th of June.
In 2009 ,the band played at the biggest open-air festival in Europe (400.000 - 500.000 rock fans every year) - Przystanek Woodstock[2] in Poland. On 17 July they headlined and closed the fifth 2000 Trees Festival in the UK. On 31 July, The Subways headlined at the Y - Not Festival, near Matlock, Derbyshire. On 8 August 2010, they appeared at the Hevy Music Festival near Folkestone. In the same month, the Subways played in Lithuania's rock/metal music festival, Rocknights,[3] in Zarasai.
On 29 November, the band headed back into the studio to record their third studio album. By 21 December the band announced they are back in the studio recording with Stephen Street. The band have partnered with the direct-to-fan platform Pledge Music, and are offering fans the chance to be part of the release of the new album, which was released on the 19th of September 2011. This album is entitled "Money and Celebrity".
The band announced in June that the first single from the album will be "It's a Party", which was released as a free download through the band's website. They also released dates for an additional tour which supports the album. This is tour will be across Europe, playing in such venues as Manchester Academy 2, London KOKO and Madrid Sala Caracol. At the end of October, 2011 they released news that they are playing in the KERRANG! Xmas Party in Birmingham Ballroom on the 16th of December 2011.
The single "We Don't Need Money To Have A Good Time" was released on the 11th of September 2011.
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK[4] | GER | SWI | ||||||||
| 2005 | Young for Eternity
|
32 | 65 | _ | ||||||
| 2008 | All or Nothing
|
17 | 18 | 40 | ||||||
| 2011 | Money & Celebrity
|
43 | 16 | 58 | ||||||
All singles released in CD and 7" format on the Infectious/City Pavement record labels unless otherwise stated.
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Notes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [4] |
ITA | GER | ||||||||||
| 2004 | "No Heart, No Soul EP" | _ | _ | _ | Bus Stop Records - First official release; was available from the Bus Stop Records website before The Subways were signed. Release of 75 copies[5] | |||||||
| "1am" | _ | _ | _ | Transgressive Records - Limited 7" release of 500 copies | ||||||||
| 2005 | "Oh Yeah" | 25 | _ | |||||||||
| "Rock & Roll Queen" | 22 | 37 | 92 | |||||||||
| "With You" | 29 | _ | _ | |||||||||
| "No Goodbyes" | 27 | _ | _ | |||||||||
| 2008 | "Girls & Boys" | _ | _ | _ | Did not chart (free online release) | |||||||
| "Alright" | 44 | _ | _ | |||||||||
| "I Won't Let You Down" | 137 | _ | _ | I Won't Let You Down" also went to No 3 on XFM's top 7 at 7 and has also peaked at 16 on the HMV singles chart. | ||||||||
| 2011 | "It's A Party!" | _ | _ | _ | Did not chart (free online release) | |||||||
| "We Don't Need Money To Have A Good Time" | _ | _ | _ | Download Only | ||||||||
| 2012 | "It's A Party!" | _ | _ | _ | Download Only | |||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||
| Year | Album Title | Label | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Glastonbury Unsigned 2004 | Concrete Recordings | ||||||||
| 2005 | Music from the OC: Mix 5 | Warner Bros./Wea | ||||||||
| 2006 | Transgressive Singles Collection Vol.1 | Wea | ||||||||
| Rescue Me (soundtrack) | Nettwerk Records | |||||||||
| 2007 | Charlie Bartlett (soundtrack) | Lakeshore records | ||||||||
| 2008 | RocknRolla (soundtrack) | Universal Music | ||||||||
| Die Welle (soundtrack) | EMI - Germany | |||||||||
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