Music > Interviews

The Subways

16/10/14

The Subways are a young rock band, who have had albums produced by Stephen Street and Butch Vig. For most bands, this would be the pinnacle of their success, but The Subways have taken it in their stride like true professionals. They're on tour, and will hit The Owl Sanctuary on 1st November for an ace night of proper rock music. I spoke to Charlotte, bass player and singer, about how they've been getting on in their careers thus far.

How did you guys meet and start making music together? I know that Billy and Josh are brothers..

I met Billy and Josh at swimming club around 13 years ago. Billy and Josh already played their instruments, and I was always hanging out when they played, so Billy taught me the bass guitar. We were just three kids who loved rock music and wanted to make a lot of noise!

What have been your main musical influences as a band?

We grew up in the Brit Pop era, so bands like Blur and Oasis had a huge influence on us. In the early days, we also took a lot of inspiration from American bands like Nirvana, Green Day and The Von Bondies and used to cover songs by them at our first gigs. As we’ve got older, we all draw inspiration from different genres of music. Personally, I’m inspired by strong females in music. In the rock world Shirley Manson and Stevie Nicks, but also the pop world; Kylie Minogue has been my favourite artist since I was 5.

Would you say the UK rock scene is on the up?

I think that rock music will always have a place – people will always love going to a rock show! Even through our 10 years in the industry, we’ve seen rock music come and go from the mainstream – we just stick to what we know and love, and that’s playing live.

This will be your first full tour in 2 years – why now?

We’ve just released the pre-order for the new album, so this feels like a perfect way to celebrate!

Next year it will be 10 years since your debut album was released. How d you feel your sound has developed?

I think we’ve all learnt more about our individual instruments, but also more about how to work together as a three piece band. Each part has to perfectly compliment the others.

You’re involved with PledgeMusic for your new album which comes in 2 parts – can you tell me a bit more about that?

The release date for the album is 9th February 2015, but if you pre-order the album via PledgeMusic you get the first 6 songs as a download right now. We have more freedom with the Pledge platform to put together packages we think our fans will think are cool, for example a gig ticket and album bundle.

You came up with your own home recording system and put your songs up online in 2002, way before this became the norm. Do you this was key to getting your foot on the ladder?

I think it definitely helped us to build an initial fan base and it set us up really well for the future. We’ve always been closely linked to our fans and the introduction of social media throughout our career has definitely helped that. We had a forum in the early days on our website, and the people on there are all still friends – there’s even been Subways forum weddings!

You played Glastonbury after having sent your demo in to Michael Eavis, and have remained friends with him. Have you played there since?

We played there this year, which was 10 years since we first won the unsigned band competition to play there. It was a huge moment for us and we all felt so grateful to still be here and loving being in a band.

John Peel was the first to play your single on radio. What is his legacy, do you think?

I think he was a pioneer for new music and will always be remembered for introducing people to new bands they would go on to love.

How did Ian Brodie from The Lightening Seeds come to work with you on your first album?

We sent him some demos and he came down to a couple of shows and miraculously agreed to work with us! We couldn’t believe it at 18 years old!

Butch Vig produced your second album. What influence did he come to bear on the resulting album?

I think working with Butch, in LA, was always going to have a huge influence on the sound of the album. The second album is a lot heavier than the first and Butch’s big production style can definitely be heard.

Your third album was recorded with Stephen Street. How was that?

We loved working with Stephen! We stayed fairly close to home in London for this album, and we really enjoyed the way Stephen worked. Every now and then he would let slip a story about Blur or Morrissey, which was really cool!

Who has produced this new album, does it have an overriding theme and what can we expect from listening to it?

Billy produced this album, which was a really different experience for us. He’s always been interested in production, and after working with those 3 amazing producers and learning all he could from them, he felt ready to have a go himself. We recorded a lot of the album in our home rehearsal studio, so there’s a lot of energy to the record. I think we’ve returned to our roots – the songs are mostly rock tracks, made to be played live.

What are your live shows like?

We love being on stage and this is reflected in the energy and excitement we can’t help but give. There’s a lot of craziness from us, but probably more so our audiences. It’s all about just having a bit of a party!

The artwork for your new album is great. Who’s responsible for that?

A fan posted a poster design on our Facebook page, and we all thought it looked really cool. We asked her if she would do the album artwork and she said yes! We love how the artwork as turned out!

What’s next for you guys?

We have a really exciting European tour booked for February-April next year, which we can’t wait for! We’ll also be gearing up for the full album release – it’s a fun time to be in The Subways!

 The Subways play The Owl Sanctuary on1st November. More details from www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk