The Subways Issue #27

Young For Eternity (Sire)

By Jeanne Fury
Published: March 1st, 2006 | 12:00am

In most band pictures, 20-year-old high school dropout and Subways singer-guitarist Billy Lunn is shown mid-flight, guitar in arms, legs spread in a moment of rocknrowl ecstasy. It’s a common pose for six-string players to assume when they want to nail down the rebel image. And oftentimes, the image is the only thing that sticks. Not the case for this London trio.

The Subways’ debut, Young For Eternity, is hell-bent on proving that Lunn, his brother drummer Josh Morgan (19), and bassist Charlotte Cooper (19) are more than just snotty, loud and proud kids with instruments. They write songs, too. Good ones. Different kinds, even. The Subways’ mix of snide rock twisters and softer, more contemplative strummers echo a certain other British band of brothers.

It was no surprise to learn that Lunn got serious about music after seeing Oasis perform “Supersonic” on Top of the Pops. His howling and the clamorous rhythms on “Rock n Roll Queen,” “City Pavement,” and “Holiday” sound like Liam and Noel Gallagher fed through a cement mixer. But “I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say” and “Oh Yeah” are pared-down, employing the mod-ish skitter of the Strokes, and “Lines of Light” and “No Goodbyes” are acoustic pop. Throughout, you can hear Lunn reveling in the trickery that is (or was) the teen years, as if he secretly knows youth does indeed fade.