This is something you’ve gotta hear right now: The Subways
British trio The Subways released their eponymous fourth album in 2015, a brilliant record full of the energy consistent across the band’s career. But much has changed since then, as we know all too well. In the wake of a pandemic, countless Black Lives Matter marches, mental health battles, a line-up change and the rise of influencer culture, The Subways are finally back with their fifth album ‘Uncertain Joys’ in 2023. And it’s clear to see this is a band that has changed with the times.
This article dives headfirst into the record, exploring each of its album tracks, singles and B-Sides, and features a concluding Q&A with vocalist/guitarist Billy Lunn and bassist/vocalist Charlotte Cooper.
The Subways - Billy Lunn, Charlotte Cooper and Camille Phillips. Image Credit: Laura Lewis.
Since their formation in 2002, The Subways have gone from strength to strength, releasing their debut album ‘Young For Eternity’ in 2005, the Butch Vig-produced ‘All Or Nothing’ in 2008 and ‘Money and Celebrity’ in 2011.
The release of ‘The Subways’ in 2015 marked the beginning of a gap in the band’s recording career, as the trio embarked on more separate personal journeys between touring commitments. This included Billy Lunn studying English at the University of Cambridge whilst Charlotte Cooper started a band of her own as she became a parent.
We wrote about The Subways when they returned to the stage with new drummer Camille Phillips in September ‘21, completing their ‘Young For Eternity’ anniversary tour. For their new album ‘Uncertain Joys’, original Subways drummer Josh Morgan recorded his parts prior to his departure in October 2020.
In May ‘21, Billy Lunn told Moths and Giraffes ‘Uncertain Joys’ is ‘easily the greatest thing we’ve ever made’ and we whole-heartedly agree. The band have already released several singles from the album, including its opener, ‘You Kill My Cool’.
The musical change is immediately apparent with the opening rising chord progression on ‘You Kill My Cool’, its buzzing synth sound provided by bassist and now keyboardist Charlotte Cooper. Following this is some of the classic riffery that fans have come to expect from Billy Lunn, his tone an anchor amid the band’s new-found sound.
But it’s also Billy’s opening lyric that plants The Subways firmly in the now, empowering the listener as he tells them, ‘You’re more than an algorithm.’ The lyric of the sexy pre-chorus is also the result of change in Lunn’s life, coming to terms with his bisexuality prior to the pandemic. Charlotte backs Billy up during the chorus, their vocal blend forever a comforting aspect of The Subways sound.
The music video for ‘You Kill My Cool’, directed by Blake Claridge is the first to feature Camille Phillips behind the drum kit. By this time, The Subways’ newest member had already put in a full UK tour in 2021 and would later tour Germany in May and June ‘22, with a string of festival dates that summer.
The deceptively simple visuals showcase the new trio performing in a bedroom, while the angle runs up and down into the ceiling and the floor, a bespoke set-up involving butchered gear, ropes and a crash mat. The unique system was lovingly christened as the ‘Drop-Cam’ by Claridge. ‘You Kill My Cool’ would later open the Alcopop! Records sampler, ‘Fuckin’ Indie Since 2006’ alongside label mates Art Brut and cheerbleederz.
If you’ll allow us to deviate from our album review for a moment, ‘You Kill My Cool’ arrived in April 2022 and featured a B-Side, the short but sweet ‘Oi You Boy Bands’. With a rare lead vocal from Charlotte Cooper and clocking in at just over a minute and a half, this is a track that should’ve appeared on ‘Uncertain Joys’.
Josh Morgan rolls across his toms through Billy Lunn’s guitar feedback before the brothers smash their way beneath Cooper’s authoritative vocal, ‘Oi You Boy Bands, making us raise our hands, are women only allowed to stand below in your crowd?’ Charlotte also provides her own backing vocals, venting out her frustration with shouts of ‘Looking down on me’, and ‘Hey, YOU!’ This is an exciting new direction for The Subways, and one we hope they explore more in the future.
The mood is altogether lighter for third single, ‘Love Waiting On You’, a track about the joys of missing someone you love; ‘Now I'm addicted to dreaming, it's all I ever wanna do, give me the opposite of freedom, I Love Waiting On You.’ Here, Billy’s lyric is reflected in his vocal delivery, singing from the heart as Charlotte adds uplifting harmonious backing vocals.
In the band’s recent performances of the track, Cooper hangs up her bass entirely to provide the song’s keyboard lines - and it’s easy to see why. With Lunn taking a more rhythmic approach on guitar, Charlotte plays the fat synth bassline and bouncy hook, mirrored early on by Josh Morgan’s drum performance. With The Subways completely committing to the sound, even Josh’s snare has a handclap edge, better fitting in with the synth-pop of the track.
The lyric and sound of ‘Love Waiting On You’ is expanded for its music video by animator Neil Whitman in the style of an 8-bit video game side-scroller. Flipping a classic narrative on its head, the Princess is the one rescuing her love through a medieval castle that tries anything to stop her. The sword-wielding warrior is repeatedly thwarted, but salvation eventually arrives for the guitarist in distress as the pair sail away on a dreamlike cloud…
For the B-Side to ‘Love Waiting On You’, The Subways turn to astrology for the mid-paced ‘Sign Of Scorpio’. Musically, this song is the most intriguing of the ‘Uncertain Joys’ B-Sides. Equally guitar-riff centric, with bass played on synth by Cooper, Charlotte uses an arpeggiator following the first chorus. The glistening synth notes ride the tide of Billy and Josh’s locked in groove, which return prior to the last chorus, though in a more natural playing style.
‘Sign of Scorpio, oh, how you rule me, winter nights so cold, just like my cruelty. Must we discuss the sting in my tail, hate, love, and lust, honour and betrayal?’
For his lyric, Billy sings about the tropes traditionally associated with those born with the Scorpio star-sign, typically between late October and late November. Lunn, a Scorpio himself, uses the star-sign to assign the blame of his shortcomings, ‘Gotta blame it on the Sign Of Scorpio, gotta blame it on the Scorpio, 'Cos it's the only way I know.’
‘Loving you is a cocoon unfurled.’
The synth sound continues for the album’s title track ‘Uncertain Joys’, but its clear that The Subways have sought to retain an element of their sound, with Cooper playing a melodic bassline beneath the keyboard stabs. Keeping on the subject of love, this lyric sees Billy Lunn’s growth in emotional maturity on the subject, ‘You’re happy and it’s not my business.’
Billy and Charlotte weave their voices together following the former’s statement of; ‘This is something that I’ve gotta do right now’, Lunn’s voice angular while Cooper’s maintains its ever-soothing quality, each vocalist balancing the other out. An excellent production choice employs a keyboard line reinforcing Billy’s voice before his guitar takes centre-stage to bring in the closing chorus.
‘I hear a banging, banging, banging on the door, resonating to the rhythm of your name…’
Bringing the sound back to the classic trio formation, Lunn plays a raw guitar riff that Morgan opens up rhythmically with more excellent tom work. With further lyrical exploration of Billy’s bisexuality, the songwriter uses the concept of witchcraft to describe an early crush.
In response to the song’s heavier sound, and following a guitar and rhythm section call and response, Billy unleashes a throat-tearing scream, and not for the last time on ‘Uncertain Joys’. Here is a song that was made for the band’s live set, this writer already envisioning The Subways’ reckless abandon as Camille Phillips pummels her way through the track.
In the fourth single for ‘Uncertain Joys’, ‘Black Wax’ combines the band’s heavier tendencies with the smoother production of their updated sound. The title itself refers to the classic image of vinyl, the song about the appreciation of the music that’s come before, ‘Spin the vinyl, drop the needle, let me play your song, when I hear your heavenly voice, I believe in God.’
In his lyric, Billy namechecks one artist and song in particular, “Smokey's ‘Tracks Of My Tears’, has got me bleeding,” a seminal piece for Lunn. He also mentions other musical inspirations, from Kurt Cobain to Shirley Manson, Jimi Hendrix, Madonna and Aretha Franklin. Credit must be given to Grammy award-winning mix engineer Adrian Bushby, who pulls Lunn’s vocal either side of the listener as he sings, ‘I feel the pressing, of the Black Wax…’ He also blends Charlotte Cooper’s subtle keyboard layers in with her vocal to provide a constant atmospheric bed to the band’s heavier chaos.
This song exploring music history has its own piece of music history woven into it. ‘Black Wax’ was recorded on a guitar made from the wood of the bar taken from where The Subways played their first gig, The Square in Harlow. Check out this set from the trio in 2002, under their early name Platypus. Over the years, the venue played host to acts such as Coldplay, Buzzcocks, Glenn Tilbrook and early incarnations of Blur and Kaiser Chiefs. The Square would become a regular local haunt for The Subways, returning there many times over the course of their career before its closure in 2017 and demolition a year later.
The video for ‘Black Wax’ is an Art-Deco style affair, shot in the New Mills Art Theatre in Yorkshire, with the band donning outfits reminiscent of the era. Directed by Joe Gist, the video stars Erin Pollitt as she explores the building, dropping the needle on some vintage Black Wax and dancing her way through the track.
‘This morning I found out my baby’s a Tory, how do I tell them that’s the end of our story?’
With the release of ‘Black Wax’ came the band’s third B-Side of ‘Uncertain Joys’, the well matched ‘Vex Machine’. Faster and more aggressive than its A-Side, its politically fuelled lyricism is aimed towards the Conservative Party, who have maintained power in the UK since 2010. This song addresses the anger felt by many at the direction of the country, but ‘Vex Machine’ isn’t without its optimism as The Subways live in the hope that, ‘One day, maybe, this will all work out.’
‘Uh, tell me if it’s too much and I’ll just stop.’
The placement of ‘Lavender Amelie’ is appropriate in the album’s tracklist, affording the listener respite from the band’s louder offerings. Aside from the occasional drum build-up, Josh Morgan is largely absent from this track, which features Billy Lunn’s acoustic guitar in its centre.
‘How long has it been now, Lavender Amelie?’
This arrangement helps the gorgeously bright acoustic instruments to breathe, with Charlotte Cooper providing synth flourishes as the icing on the cake, plus a little extra electric guitar roughing up the low end. Though possibly conceived as a straight acoustic number, it’s the collective sound of The Subways that makes this song come alive.
The first single from ‘Uncertain Joys’ is also the album’s shortest track, and unlike anything else on this record. We wrote about ‘Fight’ back in May ‘21, a song inspired by the Black Lives Matter marches in 2020. Speaking in our Q&A at the time, Billy told us about the genesis of the track:
‘FIGHT came together as soon as I came home from the first of the Black Lives Matter marches I attended in London in the summer of 2020. I knew as soon as I got home that the song was swelling up inside me. I picked up my guitar, came out with the main riff, and then penned the lyrics in a single go. I refused to make any amendments. It was pure rage and disbelief tinged with so much love and hope for the future.’ – Billy Lunn (Moths and Giraffes, May 2021)
Having performed the track live during their ‘Young For Eternity’ anniversary tour, our review of their Kentish Town Forum gig gives more context for Billy’s attendance in the marches. He explained to the crowd that a friend asked him to accompany her on one demonstration that led to Parliament Square:
‘…and she was seeing all these slogans and she got these placards out and they were obviously these really personal messages of her experiences as a black woman. All the people around us started seeing her slogans, and you could see it in her face, you could see this validation in her face. It was fucking beautiful to see.’ – Billy Lunn (London, 25th September 2021)
‘Fight’ Single Artwork by Rhi Lee.
Seeking to further highlight the issues raised in ‘Fight’, neither the artwork nor the music video featured images of the band. Even the B-Side of the song maintained relevancy, with Billy and Charlotte speaking to London duo Nova Twins. During the six-minute conversation excerpt, vocalist and guitarist Amy Love discusses the repetitive issue with festival line-ups and their lack of diversity:
“I think coming together is the way forward because, you know, we were speaking to Shingai (Shoniwa) from the Noisettes and, she was saying how there could only be one black woman. Didn’t matter what genre you were coming at it from, there could only be one. So she would have festivals where they’d be like ‘Oh sorry we’ve already got Janelle Monáe, sorry, so we can’t book you, you know.’ It doesn’t apply to white male rock bands, because there can be plenty of them. I think especially with women in music, women coming together, not women against each other, women together are stronger. There doesn’t have to be one Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Nicki can exist in the same world, but they don’t want that. Do you know what I mean? They try and put you up against each other, but it’s not about that.” - Amy Love (The Subways In Conversation With Nova Twins)
A track that views these issues from multiple levels, more than one aspect of ‘Fight’ continues to be relevant in 2023. With the fast turnaround of Prime Ministers in the year previous, as well as Matt Hancock’s appearance on reality TV show I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, it would appear little has changed in the years since The Subways recorded ‘Fight’:
‘And now we all fall down, everybody's mesmerised by Eton-Oxford clowns. Newspapers mirror all the cheapest of desires, as parliament front benches are all consumed by fire.’
‘Influencer Killed The Rock Star’ is a song long overdue in the world of music, which increasingly is suffering under the pressure of ‘content-driven’ media. Personality alone is enough to warrant a platform, with influencers doubling as advertising space. Often pushing products that have little commercial value to the individuals they’re marketed to, their attachment to the personality is what drives the sale (see: the recent PRIME drink madness).
The track itself is built around Billy Lunn’s guitar riff, as he describes getting ‘lost in a YouTube hole.’ But it’s his lyrical combination of ‘it’s a hashtag feedback loop with a soundtrack’ that gripped this listener, the songwriter’s carefully worded digs a mark of a creative who is fed up with the noise. He goes on to describe how influencer culture is the antithesis of creativity and originality, and he’s right. Lunn’s screams of rage are not unwarranted, with many confused artists torn between finding ways of pushing their ‘content’, and others wanting to smash their devices and exiting social media entirely.
‘Forget music, art, the prospect of dialogical engagement with another, this is your life now.’
It’s no accident that ‘Swanky Al’ sounds a little Britpop, the song a satirical look at the male frontman archetype in Britain. Lunn explores the looks, ‘Who cares when a leather jacket looks as good as that?’ The attitude: ‘When he swings round his guitar and points the finger at you, and croons the often-quoted lyric from the number one tune, you turn to jelly (so do I).’ And the scandal: ‘He’s The Untouchable Guy, making tax avoidance sound like it’s a valid pastime.’
This is a track that covers all the bases (including the third verse focusing on the subject of nepotism in music). Billy even adds a second electric guitar layer, mirroring the sound and line-ups of the bands he’s poking fun at, but The Subways do more than just pull off the style, they’re also having fun while they do it. Josh Morgan adds tambourine during a vocal break (is this the bit where they get the audience to clap along?) It’s unclear whether Charlotte Cooper’s bass guitar is boosted by synth, or whether it just sounds that utterly ballsy from the off. Either way, it really holds its own.
As Lunn finishes the second verse by saying, ‘It’s that time, grab the wine, rock and roll isn’t dead!’ I’m left wondering how deliberate the band’s placement of ‘Swanky Al’ was following ‘Influencer Killed The Rock Star’, as if one is two fingers up at the other. Despite being satire, it’s a masterful move.
‘You’re the star, oh yes you are.’
‘When I was only sixteen, the devil came to me…’
Billy Lunn’s production gives the listener that bit more in ‘The Devil and Me’, a lesson on how patriarchal ideas are drummed into boys from a young age. Not only does Lunn sing the pre-choruses in falsetto, he backs up those melodies with a lead guitar line. The band’s vocals are some of the most passionate on this track with Cooper’s backing vocal layers an essential part of the mix during the pre-chorus. The chorus vocals themselves are given extra weight as both singers belt the harmonised line ‘Carry on’ ahead of a thundering Josh Morgan.
The drummer’s performance on this song is varied in a cleverly subtle way, keeping the rhythm for the verses the same, but playing it straight the first time and in a shuffle the next. And behind that, Charlotte Cooper’s bass sound is even bigger than before, deviating from the riff during the choruses to give ‘The Devil and Me’ a more three-dimensional feel. One more production surprise can be heard in what sounds like a glockenspiel pinging out delicately among the heavier moments, an unconventional time to make its presence known, but a welcome one.
‘A dreamer I suppose, that's all I've only ever known and now I guess it starts to show…’
‘Joli Coeur’ is straight in with guitar, the drums reminiscent of the sound used for ‘Love Waiting On You’, as is this song’s lighter musical tone, helped by Cooper’s keyboard performance which gives it an anthemic quality. This track is one inspired by the pandemic, during which the band largely recorded this album separately, including Charlotte converting her loft space into a home studio.
‘Tomorrow borrows all my hope from me…’
A quick Google translates ‘Joli Coeur’ into ‘sweet heart’, the lyrics ruminating on the loss and isolation felt during lockdown. However, Lunn avoids direct reference to the era, ensuring the song a life and relatability long after. Billy uses his falsetto for a second time on ‘Uncertain Joys’, shortly after the song’s second chorus. His vocal is heartfelt and genuine throughout ‘Joli Coeur’, no doubt influenced by its subject matter.
‘I double back into the caverns of my brain, to find the frequency that's driving me insane, delete the applications, all the things I've said, if I'm offline, then am I practically dead?’
The epic ‘Futures’ is the crown jewel of ‘Uncertain Joys’, the grand finale that showcases everything that is good, exciting and brand-new about The Subways in 2023. Beginning not least with a vocal sample of Charlotte Cooper as the band bounce through Part 1 – for this is a song that exists in several parts. The tone in this section is set by Lunn’s guitar riff, but it’s Josh Morgan’s drumming that’ll inspire waves of crowds to jump to this track, surely also a lap of honour in upcoming Subways concerts.
‘Have I been waiting for a moment? I will continue till it comes my way, I was escaping under covers, looking back I wonder if I'm insane.’
As the distortion and cymbals decay, this pause signals the start of the next segment. If Part 1 of ‘Futures’ was a showcase of the familiar Subways sound, Part 2 is the sound of ‘Uncertain Joys’. Charlotte Cooper holds down both the melody and rhythm on keyboard and bass guitar, with Lunn’s vocal soft and airy, another direction The Subways should explore further, ‘I’ll see you when the light has had its day…’ Lyrically, ‘Futures’ deals with Billy Lunn’s mental health struggles, following his diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, which the frontman continues to battle.
‘As an organism I could die, just an emotion, this is love. And now I'm dead at the end of desire, I'm a machine, will it ever be enough? No, no.’
A harsh thud of bass drum in Part 2 cuts through the ether, bringing with it a gritty Lunn guitar riff that raises the tempo. Gone is the softness of the singer’s voice as he shouts down the microphone, ‘I thought it years, it was only a day, a single minute is eternity…’ the most aggressive part of ‘Uncertain Joys’, fully expressing the painful experiences brought on by his mental health.
In the final moments of ‘Uncertain Joys’, over the sound of electric piano, can be heard the unravelling words of Antonin Artaud, the selection of which Billy Lunn expands on in our Q&A below. The crackling 1940’s recording from the Theatre Of Cruelty creator might seem an unexpected way to close out this record, but in a song that questions the very sense of self, it’s perfect:
‘Through the blood, and until you bleed, God, the bestial hazard of unconscious animalism of man everywhere, you can encounter him. What the hell are you doing, Mr. Artaud?’
Image Credit: Laura Lewis.
‘Uncertain Joys’ is without a doubt the most daring record The Subways have ever made. It’s an album made for the people and the world we live in right at this moment. It embraces honesty with themselves, that nobody is perfect, but the first step is admitting that, and the second is to try and do better.
It also embraces love, in all its wild and exciting moments. ‘Uncertain Joys’ represents resilience in Billy Lunn, a frontman who has been through enormous emotional turmoil, and a band attitude that strives to push forward. With ‘Uncertain Joys’, The Subways deliver on all the promises of the last eight years since their self-titled album, and so much more.
With a three night residency at Hackney’s Paper Dress Vintage already completed, The Subways have embarked on a UK tour which will continue into February. In March and April, the band will take their show to Europe, with more performances booked for the summer of 2023.
Continue reading for our Q&A with Billy Lunn and Charlotte Cooper. We ask them about the tracks they’re most excited to take out on tour, plus we ask Billy about his production technique and Charlotte about her recording circumstances and the addition of keyboards. All this and more below!
Image Credit: Laura Lewis.
1. It's incredibly exciting to have The Subways back with this new album! What about the song or title 'Uncertain Joys' sums this up as an album title?
Billy Lunn: The album/song title itself was inspired by the Sarah Dixon poem 'To Strephon', which is ostensibly about betrayal. Between the lines, though, there exists an implicit tension between the idea of eternal contentment (in the 18th-century conception of the afterlife) and the passing pleasures of the corporeal world (referred to as 'life's gay scene [...] With flattering prospects of uncertain joy'). I suppose the album as a whole is an uncertain attempt at exploring the gulf between these two poles, as it pertains to me, as I make my way through this post-modern age in which we endlessly and exhaustingly vault for perfection. The way we attempt to portray ourselves online, for example, belies the reality that occurs to us in our thoughts, words, actions, relationships, and as we each attempt to do better in future in relation to our respective pasts. It's an album full of questions that doesn't quite know if it wants to find answers. In a world that feels as if it's very soon coming to an end, it's an understandable quandary.
2. Like your previous album, 'Uncertain Joys' is self-produced. Billy, is it tempting to agonise too much over the kind of sound you want when producing? Does there come a point where you have to walk away from a song?
Billy: I'm always mindful about never writing or adding too much, particularly if the core idea of the song is strong enough to stand on its own. We've always been a trio in perfect agreement that less is often more than enough, so making sure the main lines are just-so trumps all else. Though, if Josh wants to add a fill in this phrase, fine. If Charlotte wants two extra lines of harmonies in that phrase, I'm sure I can find space in the speakers for it. I'm usually content with the degree of instrumentation we apply to any given song, and instead agonise over issues like performance and energy. As long as the core of the song is strong.
3. The first thing noticeable about 'Uncertain Joys' is the addition of keyboards. Were the songs written in mind to have keyboards or was this more of a studio experiment?
Charlotte Cooper: I think for me it was kind of a happy accident. A lot of the songs were recorded during lockdown, which gave endless time to try out different ideas. I always enjoy listening to the arrangements of songs, so to add in more ideas for this album was really fun for me. I know Billy had synths in mind for some of the songs when he was writing them, so we were totally on the same page.
4. Some of this album was recorded during isolation, Charlotte you especially recorded parts in your loft space - did you feel more relaxed recording at home than you have done previously recording in studios? Or is there still pressure when tracking?
Charlotte: I definitely found it more relaxing and was more confident to try different things - with only my poor neighbours to offend! It was still frustrating when a song wasn't quite coming together how I'd imagined. But then at home I had the luxury of leaving it for a bit and coming back with a fresh head.
5. Of course, Josh Morgan's drum performances on this record are exceptional as they always have been. When and where did he track his drums? Was this in isolation or before the pandemic?
Billy: We always as-standard have Josh record his drum parts first, as they're the vital, fundamental basis of each and every one of our songs. By the time Josh decided to leave the band to pursue his own musical endeavours, we thankfully had everything we needed from him. And what a final effort from Josh. Some of the most beautiful patterns he's ever composed.
6. At what point did Josh reach his decision to leave the band? Was there ever talk of him finishing the postponed 'Young For Eternity' dates before leaving?
Billy: It was I think almost exactly midway through the isolation period of the pandemic, when we were all going through very existential moments. When Josh made his decision, we were all thankfully in much the same state of mind, and understood the reasoning and respected the decision. We also knew we probably had enough time to find a replacement before we were likely to be back on the road to complete the YFE anniversary dates!
Image Credit: Laura Lewis.
7. I love the video for 'Black Wax', you all look great! Who came up with the concept for that one?
Billy: I think that might be me! I've been begging to do an Art-Deco-themed video for quite some time. I'm preoccupied by architecture and style a lot of the time, but I'm especially in love with Art Deco. Given how the song is about the importance of music, and paying homage to it, it seemed right that we reach back through the 20th century to the point when pop music first started to emerge.
8. It's long overdue to hear a song like 'Influencer Killed The Rock Star', what was the breaking point that created this song idea?
Billy: Yeah, this was a song that I absolutely had to write, given the heartache I personally experienced watching a friend decide to give up his musical dreams to fall down the YouTube right-wing rabbit hole. There is something so anti-creative about passively absorbing hateful material online because it inspires those feelings that only more and more fear and resentment can fulfil. Especially when it saps all your will to interrogate and question and explore, which I think are natural and positive corollaries of partaking in the songwriting process. I wish them the very best, of course, but it all makes me very sad indeed.
9. There are one or two other voices to be heard on this album. Who's speaking the French at the end of Joli Coeur?
Charlotte: That's Josh's daughter. Her voice sounds so amazing here! I love the character it brings to the end of the song.
Billy: You can also hear Antonin Artaud questioning his very sense of being at the end of Futures, which was a song inspired by my Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis. It was the culmination of so many years of feeling so anomalous and weird and crazy and reactive. Now, all of a sudden, there was some rational explanation. And yet I still found finding a sense of my self so difficult. It's something I'll unfortunately always experience, but at least I have an answer as to why.
10. I love the epic journey of 'Futures'. Was this conceived as different pieces of music, or was 'Futures' always going to be a song in three parts?
Billy: It was at first several separate kernels of interesting but unfinished phrases, all which only eventually made sense when sewed together as an elongated whole. I've never in my life felt compelled to write a song longer than five minutes (I shiver at the thought, being a devoted lover of pop), but this seemed to work. I'm still frantically panicking about how I'm going to manage to perform this song live!
11. Was there more material written or recorded that didn't make the album cut? What were those songs called?
Billy: So many! I definitely wanted Oi You Boy Bands on the album, not least because Charlotte's lead-vocal performance was so riveting - and we've yet to have Charlotte sing a whole song to herself on any of our records (I continue to plead for this to happen soon). There were also some lush acoustic numbers that were dropped because they have the potential to be something more than their current incarnations. I'm not averse to saving ideas for the next record if I think they aren't living up their best selves.
12. You toured quite extensively in Germany last May and June where you debuted some of the new material, how did that go down?
Charlotte: I was very nervous about playing synths live for the first time; I was very much out of my comfort zone. Especially as the songs weren't released yet; I wasn't sure what people would think when I put down the bass. However, our lovely German fans seemed to dig it and were dancing along!
The Subways tour tickets are available on their official website here.
13. It's impossible for any artist to be constantly touring or recording indefinitely. What does a band at your level do when they aren't recording or touring? What happens in the months in between?
Charlotte: I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old, who keep me very busy! After a tour its always straight back home to a different kind of sleep deprivation, school runs and playgroups! There is always something to be working on though: new songs, rehearsing for tours, normally with headphones while the little one naps!
Billy: I produce and mix the works of other artists in my studio in Herts, where I grew up. I love the recording process, so when I'm off tour I'm straight back in the studio!
14. The Subways are back on tour in the UK in support of 'Uncertain Joys', what song from this album are each of you most excited to perform live?
Charlotte: We have already been playing Influencer Killed The Rockstar at festivals in the summer, but I really love rocking out on this track!
Billy: I think the title track, Uncertain Joys, is the best song we've ever made, so I'm really excited about playing that live!
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Purchase ‘Uncertain Joys’ by The Subways on CD and vinyl from the Alcopop! store.
For more music and other merch, visit The Subways store here.
Purchase tickets to the band’s UK and Europe tour via their official website.
Follow The Subways on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @thesubways.
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