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) extensive global headline tours, particularly in the UK and Germany, with a running total of 1059 gigs across 40+ countries – and much more to come. They have also played shows as guests to everyone from Oasis to Foo Fighters via AC/DC, and hit seemingly ever 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.
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 also announce details of a major UK and European headline tour, ‘The Subways For Eternity’, to commemorate the anniversary.
‘When I’m With You’ bursts into life with the band’s debut single ‘Oh Yeah’ and the running order unfolds to capture the energy and dynamism of a live set – the environment in which they especially excel. Every moment of their journey so far is represented, from early highlights ‘With You’, ‘I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say’ and ‘Kalifornia’, through to mid-era fan favourites and live staples ‘We Don’t Need Money To Have A Good Time’ and ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’, and into key songs from 2023’s acclaimed ‘Uncertain Joys’, such as the title track and ‘You Kill My Cool’.
It closes with the classic ‘Rock & Roll Queen’. The track’s cultural impact was immense, taking in performing in Guy Ritchie’s ‘RocknRolla’ and the famous teen drama ‘The OC’ as well as soundtracking a major Rimmel campaign starring Kate Moss. It also took them to one of their biggest promo moments, with a Stateside performance on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’. And that was no one-off, as they also stormed the ‘Late Night With Conan O’Brien’ and ‘The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson’ with ‘Oh Yeah’.
The compilation brings new material too. It includes two new songs: ‘I Need To Feel You Closer’, which premiered during last year’s live shows, and ‘Passenger’s Side’. The new recordings also mark the album debut of drummer Camille Phillips. She joined in 2023 to join founder members Billy Lunn (vocals/guitar) and Charlotte Cooper (vocals/bass) after original drummer Josh Morgan departed for family reasons.
The collection features the band’s work with some of the most influential producers around, including Butch Vig (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur) and The Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie (Echo & The Bunnymen, The Coral). The tracks taken from their self-titled album and ‘Uncertain Joys’ were produced by Billy Lunn.
Billy says, “Reaching 20 years in itself is really special for us, because it means we’ve been doing what we love so deeply for such a long time. But the true test of the joy we’ve been lucky enough to experience over the last two decades is the friends we’ve acquired along the way. Seeing faces old and new in the crowds at the shows is everything to us. We’d be nothing without our fans, and we love that The Subways’ songs are theirs as much as ours. It is with them that we’d like to celebrate this milestone, and we can’t wait to do so properly in the chaos of the mosh pit on the upcoming tour!”
Charlotte adds, “We’ve been on this wild ride for 20 years now and I’ve so enjoyed looking back over all the things we’ve been part of. I’ve loved it all from the small sweaty gigs to the big festival stages. Seeing the world. Creating albums I’m hugely proud of. Making lasting friendships. We are so excited to celebrate with the fans who have kept us going all this time. Those who have been coming to shows for years; those who are now bringing their children along! We are eternally grateful and we are the luckiest people. See you down the front!”
Ian Broudie reflects on his time working with The Subways: “It was a great pleasure for me to work with The Subways on their debut album ‘Young for Eternity’. They were a unique young band with great songs and a fabulous energy and I’m very proud of the amazing album we made together.”
‘When I’m With You’ is available to pre-order HERE and will be released on double-vinyl, CD and digital formats. Fans who pre-order the album by will receive access to a pre-sale for tour tickets. This will open at Tuesday 9am 8th April and will remain live until any remaining tickets go on general sale from Thursday 9am 10th April.
‘The Subways For Eternity’ will see the band tour extensively across the UK and Europe, and includes a London show at the Electric Ballroom. Recent years have seen them continue to take their explosive shows on the road with highlights including co-headline tours with The Enemy and Ash as well as festival dates spanning Truck to Hurricane. In the meantime, they will return to the summer festival circuit for select dates including a UK show at Y Not? on August 2nd.
November 13th – Manchester, Band On The Wall
