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 12 May 2008 13:52 BST

The Subways grasp victory from the jaws of defeat

Tuesday, 18 Mar 2008 17:43
The Subways - to the brink and back
Ahead of their long-awaited second album, the Subways' lead singer Billy Lund talks to inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley.

Welwyn Garden City kids the Subways tasted success at an early age, with their win in the 2004 Glastonbury unsigned bands competition leading to a rapturously-received appearance on the Other Stage and a very rapid rise to fame. The late, great John Peel played their single 1am for their first time on national radio and after debut album Young for Eternity established the three-piece as a powerful live force, they built on their homegrown success by building an impressive transatlantic reputation, appearing on the David Letterman and Conan O’Brien shows and featuring in The OC.

But trouble lay behind their ascent. A 2006 tour was temporarily postponed in April 2006 after frontman Billy Lunn suffered with nodules on his vocal chords and when the problem worsened, Billy was forced to undergo an operation that threatened not just his career but his very powers of speech. Added to the fact that his eight-year relationship with Charlotte Cooper - the band's bassist, no less - was coming to an end, and the Subways seemed destined for the scrap heap.

Except they've survived. Festival appearances in August 2007 confirmed a meaty, exciting new sound and when it was announced that Nevermind producer and former Garbage member Butch Vig was to produce the Subways' new album All or Nothing, a deserved return to the nation's hearts seemed set. Upcoming single Girls And Boys could do just that on March 25th.

inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley spoke to Billy about his hopes for the new album and going to the brink and back.

It's been a while since the first album - why the delay?

I think the main reason is to do with my vocals. I had surgery on my vocal chords in January last year and we pretty much couldn't tour before then because my voice was completely gone. I'd ravaged my vocal chords through five years of screaming through really bad speaker systems. And after the surgery, I couldn't speak for three weeks and I couldn't sing for about two-and-a-half months, which ruled out preparation for the new album. The doctor said that if the recovery didn't go well, it wasn't that I might not sing again, it's that I may never talk again! But about a month after the operation, when I could just about talk again, we went into a rehearsal room and jammed out a few ideas and got back on track for making the new album.

Was finding a producer tough?

Because of the surgery we couldn't make demos. We'd written songs because we’d been touring for two-and-a-half years, but meeting producers was quite difficult. But pretty much all the producers we met we didn't mesh. And we got to the bottom of this list and Butch Vig wasn't on it because he's such a high-class producer - why would he want to work with three skinny English kids??

But you took a shot…

Yeah, we'd met him before and he was a really nice guy so we sent over the demos and he sent a message back saying he loved them. He'd just finished mixing a record with Against Me and was really looking forward to a new project and really wanted to work with us. So we went over to New York to talk over coffee and he was the first producer where five minutes into the conversation, I just said: "You have to make this record".

Is it a big relief to have it ready after the band's survival was almost in jeopardy?

Oh, absolutely. We can't believe it. I think there's a bunch of things that we can't get our head around. Firstly, that we're still together and have made this record and secondly, Jesus Christ, we've just made a record with Butch Vig! I can remember saying two years ago to Josh and Charlotte, "How amazing would it be to have Butch Vig produce our record?" And that's exactly what's happened! After all of the touring we've done, after all the hard work we've put in, we've just come out with a record that we feel is so potent and that we're so proud of.

To read the rest of the inthenews.co.uk interview with the Subways, click here

To watch the Girls and Boys video, click here

And click here to download the Subways' new single, Girls and Boys


The Subways - Girls & Boys
End of story


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