T he ‘difficult second album’ is a phenomena that hits all too many bands after an inventive debut record, unable to take their potential to new levels and mature their sound. The Subways give new meaning to the term. After smashing onto the scene back in 2005 with their bullish first LP ‘Young For Eternity’, the band have been plagued with problems from lead singer Billy Lunn almost permanently losing his voice to countless gig and tour postponements and Lunn and bassist Charlotte Cooper’s break-up. We caught up with Billy to see what is has been like living the life of one of Britain’s most turbulent bands and how it feels to be back on track once more ahead of the release of their followup album ‘All Or Nothing’ this June. The band shot to fame shortly after the debut album ‘Young for Eternity’, were you surprised by your sudden emergence? Yeah we were always surprised by the attention we were given after we released ‘Young For Eternity’. We were very young then, and really just wanted to play as many shows as we possibly could! Way back in 2005, do you think The O.C. effect had a big impact on where the band is today, particularly in terms of cracking America? Yeah, I definitely think appearing on the show allowed us to showcase our music to a lot of people who otherwise would not have heard of about us. That was an amazing opportunity because it meant that we could extensively tour America, which is one thing a lot of bands don’t get a chance to do and it’s also one thing that we’ve always wanted. But things took a turn for the worse in 2006, did you ever think about scrapping the band when you were diagnosed with nodules on your vocal chords? There were points during that period where things were particularly difficult because I couldn’t sing at all and 10
we were all worried that I might never sing again. If that had happened, then yes, the band would have totally fallen apart but we all stayed strong and positive because music is the most important thing to us. What did you do to pass the time during your recovery period? We jammed in rehearsal studios for hours on end – much like Jimi Hendrix or Cream would have done in their early days! So we found ourselves being creative even when I couldn’t sing or even speak at that point. I also began to write in a journal, which helped me articulate my thoughts and become more analytical and opinionated about everything that was going around me in my life and in the music industry. It really affected the musical and lyrical aspects of what was to be our new album, ‘All Or Nothing’. Were you nervous the first few shows back? We were definitely nervous about our first few shows when we started playing because we like to have lots of fun onstage, dance about and get the audience singing and clapping but all the worry soon disappeared and we realised how much we missed playing shows. How is your voice now?