The Subways - When I'm With You [2 LP TransparentRed]

In 2005, teenage trio The Subways made a phenomenal breakthrough with their Gold-certified debut album ‘Young For Eternity’. It set them on the road to an endless succession of highlights, including their iconic ‘Rock & Roll Queen’ becoming a mainstay of rock radio and streaming playlists (with 100 million+ streams to date) extensive global headline tours, particularly in the UK and Germany, where they’ve played more than 500 gigs. They have also played shows as guests to everyone from Oasis to Foo Fighters via AC/DC, and hit seemingly ever major festival around, from Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage and main stage sets at Reading and Leeds in the UK to major international events such as Rock Am Ring / Rock Im Park, Lollapalooza and Sziget.

Twenty years on, and now five albums deep into their career, The Subways celebrate their 20th anniversary with the career-spanning collection ‘When I’m With You’. They also announce details of a major UK and European headline tour, ‘The Subways For Eternity’, to commemorate the anniversary.

‘When I’m With You’ bursts into life with the band’s debut single ‘Oh Yeah’ and the running order unfolds to capture the energy and dynamism of a live set - the environment in which they especially excel. Every moment of their journey so far is represented, from early highlights ‘With You’, ‘I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say’ and ‘Kalifornia’, through to mid-era fan favourites and live staples ‘We Don’t Need Money To Have A Good Time’ and ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’, and into key songs from 2023’s acclaimed ‘Uncertain Joys’, such as the title track and ‘You Kill My Cool’.

It closes with the classic ‘Rock n Roll Queen’. The track’s cultural impact was immense, taking in performing in Guy Ritchie’s ‘Rock n Rolla’ and the famous teen drama ‘The OC’ as well as soundtracking a major Rimmel campaign starring Kate Moss. It also took them to one of their biggest promo moments, with a Stateside performance on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’. And that was no one-off, as they also stormed the ‘Late Night With Conan O’Brien’ and ‘The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson’ with ‘Oh Yeah’. The compilation brings new material too. It includes two new songs: ‘I Need To Feel You Closer’, which premiered during last year’s live shows, and ‘Passenger’s Side’. The new recordings also mark the album debut of drummer Camille Phillips. She joined in 2023 to join founder members Billy Lunn (vocals/guitar) and Charlotte Cooper (vocals/bass) after original drummer Josh Morgan departed for family reasons.

The collection features the band’s work with some of the most influential producers around, including Butch Vig (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur) and The Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie (Echo & The Bunnymen, The Coral). The tracks taken from their self-titled album and ‘Uncertain Joys’ were produced by Billy Lunn.