You know when a band comes on you haven’t heard for a while and you think you’ll check to see if they’ve got an album coming out and when you do you realize not only they do but you also missed their last one that came out a few years ago. Considering how important this band were in my live music odyssey as a teenager, these guys deserve better than that.
Reality is that The Subways were actually the first proper band I ever saw live. I had a fairly sheltered existence until I went to university and they played one of the bars in town during freshers week. The same venue had Club NME once a week where I then saw the Rumble Strips and the next 5 years of my life were spent relentlessly seeing as much live music as possible.
In the lead up to the gig I had their debut album Young For Eternity on loop, I’d just learned to drive so I guess that played a big part in my newly discovered freedom. For whatever reason, at the time, you didn’t have too many boy/girl dual-fronted bands- fast forward 10 years and it’s a whole other landscape.
The album was equally full of huge life affirming tracks and more delicately introspected moments. I want to hear what you’ve got to say, Rock & Roll Queen, Oh Yeah and Young for Eternity are the four aces in a quality pack.
Three years on, I’m living in another country they release another album All or Nothing, I manage to catch Kalifornia and Boys and Girls during a brief stopover at a festival, both humungous and as good as anything on the first album. It’s suddenly 2014 and I haven’t heard the rest of that album or 2011’s Money and Celebrity and their new Self-Titled album is due at the start of next year.
That’s why I’m doing this though. Like friends, there’s a whole load of bands I’ve lost touch with and want to reconnect with before it’s too late.
While we’re getting older there’s music that will always stay stuck in time and for me The Subways’ debut album is one of those and it’s always magical revisiting the time where everything began to change.
Rock and Roll Queen
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Kalifornia
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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
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My Heart is Pumping To A Brand New Beat