In 2005, teenage trio The Subways made a phenomenal breakthrough with their Gold-certified debut album ‘Young For Eternity’. It set them on the road to an endless succession of highlights, including their iconic ‘Rock & Roll Queen’ becoming a mainstay of rock radio and streaming playlists (with 100 million+ streams to date).
Twenty years on, and now five albums deep into their career, The Subways celebrate their 20th anniversary with the ‘When I’m With You’, a selection of singles and fan favourites from their journey so far, while also looking to the future with two brand new songs. They will also undertake a major UK and European headline tour, ‘The Subways For Eternity’, to commemorate the anniversary.
Reflecting on the year so far, bass player Charlotte Cooper said: “It’s been really cool, we had a really fun summer and we had lots of really great festivals. We had Y Not Festival in the UK and then quite a few in Germany and some other places in Europe too, which was really fun. We had an amazing time, and now we’re just getting excited for the tour.” As the old saying goes, time flies when you are having fun. But how does the group feel about reaching the milestone 20th anniversary of their debut record?
“It’s totally wild, I think, when you think 20 years is pretty much half of my life, which is amazing really. I think the main thing we feel is gratitude to still be here,” explains Charlotte. “We took a short break in those 20 years when Billy went to university, but really, we’ve been doing it pretty much constantly for 20 years. So we are just amazingly grateful to all our fans for still coming to shows, still buying albums, and allowing us to do this because I think we still genuinely really love it. We really love being on stage, we really love being on tour. I think perhaps even more so now because I think as you get older, you get more responsibilities. It’s not quite as simple to go on tour anymore, so when you’re there, you’re like this is so worth it. This is amazing.”
During the recording of the group’s debut album, they felt as though something special was happening at the time. “I think for us it really did because we were so young and everything was such a whirlwind, and we ended up at Elevator Studios in Liverpool to record with Ian Brodie. We grew up listening to Lightning Seeds songs, he’s an
absolute legend,” reflects Charlotte. “So that was really exciting for us.”
The Subways have played shows as guests to everyone from Oasis to Foo Fighters via AC/DC, and hit seemingly every major festival around, from Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage and main stage sets at Reading and Leeds in the UK to major international
events such as Rock Am Ring / Rock Im Park, Lollapalooza, and Sziget. But where is left for the group to perform on their musical bucket list? “We’ve never been to South America, and we’ve never been to Mexico. And every time we put up a tour, those are the places where people are always like come to Brazil and come to Mexico or come to Argentina,” said Charlotte. “We’d love to, but we’ve never found a way to make it work yet.”
The band’s latest album encapsulates some of the highlights from their discography spanning the last 20 years. But how difficult was it to pick songs to put on the record? “It’s hard to choose, and I think everybody had a long list and then we had to whittle it down to get a shorter list,” said Charlotte. “I think we wanted to show a balance of all the albums.”
The Subways have recorded with some of the world’s best producers, including Butch Vig (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur), and the Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie (Echo & The Bunnymen, The Coral). Working with Butch Vig was a memorable experience, recalls Charlotte. “He’s so nice. I think we definitely felt intimidated going into that studio. It was a really famous studio, Conway Studios in LA, with Butch Vig, the producer of Nirvana’s Nevermind and the drummer in Garbage,” explains Charlotte. “We were still really young at that point. It would have been 2007, so I’d have been 21. So we were intimidated, daunted, scared by the prospect, and we got there and he was so nice and he’s brought everybody snacks to keep us going throughout the day and yes, he’s very professional and he said what he needs to achieve, but the way he goes about it in such a calm manner, it became a really fun experience. We really loved it.”
Beyond their upcoming tour and album release, what does the future hold for The Subways? “I think after this tour and the release of the 20-year ‘When I’m With You’ celebration record, I think we’re really hoping for some good festival slots next year. I think that would be amazing to have a nice, busy summer. And then the time around that we’ll be using to get album six nailed and get all the songs recorded. We’re about halfway through, almost I would say now, so hopefully the first part of next year get some more songs down and then be in a position to release that pretty soon after the festival season.”
The Subways will tour throughout October and November. For ticket information and further details, please visit: https://www.thegrovenewcastle.co.uk.
Words by Adam Kennedy
Photo Credit: Press Provided
