The Subways

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• Genre: Brit Rock
• Hometown: Welwyn Garden City
• The Subways Website

About

The Subways are the best thing to come out of the satellite town of Welwyn Garden City since the 05:01 to London Kings Cross (arr. 05:45). Their big break came with winning the 2004 Glastonbury Festival unsigned performers competition and the chance to play to 10,000 impressionable rock fans. Snapped up by Infectious Records soon afterwards, the threesome of Charlotte Cooper (bass) and brothers Billy Lunn (vocals, guitar -- who took his artist grandfather's name for the stage) and Josh Morgan (drums) took to the road for year before winding up in a Liverpool studio with erstwhile Lightning Seed and indie production supremo Ian Broudie. Young For Eternity is what emerged, with Lunn explaining on the band's website: "We really wanted to create an emotional journey with this record, which is why each song is very different. I think people's opinion of us will change with every new song they hear and eventually they won't be able to think of us as being any particular style." That said, the band's love of Oasis, the Jam, Nirvana and the Sex Pistols is there for all to see, albeit with an occasional adherence to sweeping melody that presumably brought the compilers of The O.C. soundtrack to their door, providing the suburban trio with their big chance to crack the States.

- Jamie Dolling