As explosive rock outfit The Subways make their way to Independent in Sunderland this January, Lee Allcock caught up with frontman Billy Lunn to speak about grassroots venues, dodgy first gigs and more.
Following the release of your new single, ‘Black Wax’, which talks about your love for now defunct venue, The Square, how important are grassroots music venues to you?
Grassroots venues are the places where we establish our most profound and lasting connection with music, given the way we relate to them as parts of our community, places where we spend time with our friends and loved ones, and even places we first play when we decide to make music of our own. Losing The Square in Harlow was a shock to the system, not just to the creative atmosphere of Herts and Essex, but also to the lifestyles of those who would frequent it for whatever purpose – even if it was just to catch up with everyone. That is why we must do what we can to defy this Tory government in any way we can, one of those being the preservation of these creative and social hubs, where one of the few joys in this life can be found.
And the track was actually recorded with a guitar made from wood reclaimed from the bar at The Square…
Yes! Brett Halsey built the guitar from a slab of wood from the bar top of The Square and it was serviced by local legend, Murray Torkildsen (of The Sweeney). It only felt right to record the guitar parts for a song devoted so wholeheartedly to my love of music using an instrument made from the viscera of the place where I found so much solace.
Tell me some stories from your first-ever gig at The Square…
Well, it wasn’t great [Laughing]. We hadn’t even learnt to tune our guitars properly. We played a mash-up of Nirvana, Green Day and some of our own material. At one point, the sound engineer spoke down the monitor system begging me to tune our guitars. Rather than being down-beaten by this truly horrid experience, we vowed to do better and try again.
You’ve been on some journey since then. Tell me about some of your achievements and what you’ve learnt over the years…
Being someone who’s averse to tooting his own horn, I will merely say that every day since that first awful performance at The Square has felt like a success, merely by virtue of being lucky enough to play guitar and sing in a band with the people I love so much almost every day. That we get to continue this journey, making albums and touring the world, is a true blessing.
And finally, what can gig-goers expect on the Sunderland leg of your tour?
Expect lots of noise! We love to be loud and raucous. We love to see the audience move, surge, sway, mosh, and crowd-surf, but all reined in by a perpetual love of the pop chorus.
The Subways head to Independent, Sunderland on Saturday 28th January. Tickets, priced at £22.00 in advance, are available from independentsunderland.com.
