In 2005, teenage trio The Subways made a phenomenal breakthrough with their Gold-certified debut album ‘Young For Eternity’. As they head back on the road, with a date at The Grove in Newcastle, Lee Allcock caught up with frontman Billy Lunn to discuss crowd surfing, sweat and more.
20 years on from your debut, how does it feel to be revisiting ‘Young for Eternity’ with this new tour?
There are tonnes of emotions swirling around at the moment. Mainly, it’s gratitude – gratitude that we’re still here 20 years later. We feel incredibly lucky that we’ve had all these opportunities to book shows, festivals, and release new music to such fantastic audiences. What’s even more special is that we keep picking up new fans along the way. It’s a beautiful thing to see teenagers turning up at our gigs, singing along to songs that we first played when we were their age. We never take that for granted. We’re just so thankful.
Why did you choose Newcastle’s The Grove as one of the stops on the tour?
Newcastle has always been an amazing place for us to play. I’ll never forget our first gig there at The Head of Steam. It was sweaty, chaotic, and absolutely beautiful. I remember crowd surfing, and the ceiling was so low that my footprint stayed up there for years afterwards. I think there was even a power cut that night. Since then, we’ve played The Cluny, the Academy, and a few other venues, and every time we’ve had the best shows. The crowds are so passionate up here, and it feels like a second home. We’re buzzing to be playing Newcastle again, especially at The Grove, which has already built a reputation as a brilliant venue.
You’ve recently released two new tracks, ‘I Need to Feel You Closer’ and ‘Passenger’s Side’. How will those songs be incorporated into the set?
The set will mainly revolve around tracks from ‘Young for Eternity’, but we always like to mix things up by throwing in a few songs from every album we’ve made, plus something fresh. ‘I Need to Feel You Closer’ is a really important track for me personally. I wrote it a few years ago when we were touring Europe. One of my best friends had passed away suddenly, and then just a couple of weeks later, my girlfriend broke up with me over text while we were still on the road. It was a tough time, and the one thing I could rely on was my guitar. That song came out of all that grief and heartache. It’s got a punk edge, a driving energy, and one of the best choruses I think I’ve ever written. It’s cathartic to play, and people really respond to it live.
‘Passenger’s Side’, despite sounding like it could be a TLC cover, has a slightly different vibe. It’s newer and more delicate, so we’re still figuring out exactly how it will work in the set.
Your ‘When I’m With You’ compilation arrives on Friday 17th October, just before the tour. How does that album’s release feed into the live experience?
We’re primarily a live band, first and foremost. Touring is where we feel at home. We love being on the bus, travelling to new towns and cities, seeing different cultures, and meeting new people. It’s the most enriching part of being in this band. So when we started putting together ‘When I’m With You’, we thought of it as a setlist. We wanted the album to feel like you were at a Subways gig. The songs we chose are the ones that have stood the test of time and still go down a storm in our sets today.
One of your most famous songs is ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Queen’. How does it feel to perform that on this tour, especially in a music city like Newcastle?
We absolutely adore that track. People always ask if we’re tired of it, but honestly, no. It’s pure fun to play. The moment I hit that opening chord, the place just erupts. You can feel the energy shift instantly. It’s also such a simple song to perform that I can play around with it – sometimes I even sing it in different languages depending on where we are in the world. The connection it creates is brill, and we’ll definitely be bringing it to Newcastle. I can already picture the crowd going wild.
The Subways play The Grove, Newcastle on Friday 7th November. Tickets, priced at £22.00 in advance, are available now from seetickets.com.
