“Rock & Roll Queen”
from the album Young for Eternity
2005
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From the complex love lives of Fleetwood Mac to the domestic bliss of Wings, taking the stage with the person who shares your bed means opening a Pandora’s box of titillation and speculation. But lovestruck teens Charlotte Cooper and Billy Lunn of the Subways know that if anyone’s going to exploit their lust, it’s them. As they violently jolt around one another to a blistering rhythm or press their foreheads together and rock slowly to a bluesy beat, it’s clear that their stage-managed passion is as practised as their edgy pop sound.
 The Subways |
The Subways — a British trio, including Lunn’s brother Josh Morgan on drums — make music that sweats with hormones and tingles with the thrill of being young. “These teenage years, no, they don’t last,” Lunn sings in “Oh Yeah.” “These teenage years, they speed too fast.”
Showcasing songs from their upcoming debut album Young for Eternity, the band adopt and adapt the bluesy Detroit sound, adding Ash’s self-aware lyrics and a hint of Nirvana’s ferocity. On stage, Lunn and bass player Cooper celebrate their relationship through their songs, sharing vocals and appreciative glances on “I Want to Hear What You Have to Say.” But though Lunn screams through “Rock & Roll Queen” and does a good impression of the Vines frontman Craig Nichols’ stoned vocal style on “Mary,” he can’t compete with Cooper for charisma.
A Top Shop-clad princess who violently shakes her blonde hair, Cooper is a teen dream even when bunny-hopping around the stage. But when you’re in a band with your boyfriend, there are some things you just can’t do. Falling to her knees for the bruising rock of “Somewhere,” Cooper pulls her bass upright between her knees. Within seconds, Lunn stands above her, looking concerned, legs astride — his stance putting a physical wall between the personal and the public.