U.K. indie rock trio The Subways came to Canada for the first time last Saturday to play a sold out show at Montreal’s La Sala Rosa.
Although the group has had their share of homeland success, the only buzz they’ve had in North America so far was from their appearance on American teen soap opera, “The O.C.”. So touring Canada and the United States is like starting fresh for The Subways. Drummer Josh Morgan asserted, “We don’t come to expect anything. This is a brand new country for us [so] we can’t come in expecting more than 20 people a show. This is like starting again 5 years ago in England for us, [but] actually, the shows have been amazing. People have been clapping, going along, going nuts. There’s been an average of 400 people going to the past shows in the States [so] I’ve really enjoyed it so far,” he said.
The Subways, completed by singer and guitarist Billy Lunn and bassist Charlotte Cooper, were in town to support their first album, Young for Eternity. The title aptly describes the age and mentality of the band when they were writing the record. As Morgan explained, “It’s a very naive, immature album – we know that. We wrote it because we were, well, we are, still young and we have to be honest. If we wrote about, I don’t know, drugs or something that we don’t do, then there’s no point and we’d have nothing to write about. So lyrically, I’d have to say the album’s very honest, and musically, the influences are very diverse. We listen to Kylie Minogue, to the Prodigy, to Slipknot, and to Nirvana. So much different music. I love the Ramones, the Raveonettes, everything. It does help out that we listen to [all] that so we get lots of influences and we can make a nice little diverse album,” he said.
The band tries to maintain this type of honesty and diversity in their shows too, but to a bigger, better and louder extent. Morgan described The Subways experience as one of “pure passion.”
“Our shows are definitely louder and more punky and very, very dirty and sweaty. Running about, going mad: it’s very exciting. We just lose ourselves in the music so much. We’re just so honest. We started ’cause we’re obsessed with music and the way we play is because we’re in love with it you know,” Morgan elaborated.
As to whether or not their young age (the members are all still in their late teens) has affected their musical perspectives and how they are perceived by the music industry, Morgan said he wasn’t too sure. “We’re just trying to go with the flow, you know what I mean? I listen back to [the 100s of new songs we’ve been writing] and I do notice how much they’ve matured. Lyrically and musically, there’s progress within ourselves. We’ve grown up and it’s all from touring. It’s all from getting around and seeing the world and not being stuck in this one little town, so [our] second album [will be] a lot more diverse,” said Morgan.
Declaring that “gigging and touring” is the best thing about his job, Morgan was quick to add that working hard was equally important for the threesome. “We like to come off a day knowing that we earned the crowd’s reaction,” he explained.
With sold out shows across North America, a live performance on “The Late Show with David Letterman” the night before the Montreals concert, and a second album in the works, it definitely looks like the Subways have been doing that and much more.
For more information visit
www.thesubways.net.
