The Subways
The Subways formed in 2002 and are about to release their fifth studio album, Uncertain Joys, due out in January of 2023. They also have a hefty slew of EPs to peruse, but we do not have enough real estate on this blog to get into those. They have toured with AC/DC, Foo Fighters, and Oasis, as well as appeared on Letterman and Conan O'Brien, in addition to playing the main stages at Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Lollapalooza, Download Fest, Soundwave, Hurricane & Southside, and many more. It almost feels like we’re bragging…. Our lawyers have just advised us to inform you that none of us are currently members of The Subways (though we are available as an entourage or to occasionally carry a bass amp).
If you haven’t heard of The Subways by now, we cannot think of a better way to introduce you than “Black Wax,” the newest single from their upcoming record. The track kicks off with some dirty riff work from Billy Lunn’s guitar, but the rest of the band enters with an abrupt perfection. It is nearly impossible to draw any comparisons, as this band is absolutely its own sonic animal, but try this on for size: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club meets Silversun Pickups. Their music spans two decades and, for us, it is very difficult to classify them under any one, specific genre; however, “Black Wax” is definitely more of an indie rocker– though the careful listener may certainly be able to hear the remnants of punk or even post-grunge scattered throughout.
They are marketing the track as “a love letter” to the now defunct Harlow venue The Square, where the group played their first show. The really cool part of this story is that Lunn had a guitar made out of reclaimed wood from the actual bar (we demand photos). Lunn says: “Given that our first ever gig was on the hallowed stage of The Square in Harlow… it felt only right to record my guitar parts with the guitar that had been built from the wood lifted from The Square's bar. This guitar, built by local legend Murray Torkildsen, was lent to me by a very good friend, Adam Smith, who fought so hard to save The Square in its final days. It's no coincidence that his handle online is Black Wax. Long live The Square. Long live music.”
Photo by Lisa Voigt.
We keep getting off track here, likely because it is impossible not to try to squeeze in two decades of a legacy, or, more likely, social media has ruined our attention spans... Anyway, before we completely lose ourselves in a history lesson, play this f’ing song:
The new record was mixed by the Grammy Award-winning Adrian Bushby (Muse, Foo Fighters, Everything Everything), and mastered by Katie Tavini (Mykki Blanco, Arlo Parks, Nadine Shah). The Subways have toured all summer and were ready to hit the UK, but then the album was pushed back (not sure why), so they will not be heading out again until January. Here are some details on that:
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