Every week we feature a notable rising artist on the verge of success. Meet this week’s artist in residence, the Swedish sensation Subway Club. We had a chance to talk to them and go On The Record with questions that let us view alternative culture from the eyes of the musician.
"We all have a strong connection to it, and it’s someway part of our lives."-via SILVIA
Whats even more interesting about the group is that guitarists Emil, and Hampus, bassist Edward, drummer Dennis, and lead singer Adam are all 17 and still in High School.
Their entire 6 song EP is just as impressive: from the edgy, rocking The Tower to the dreamy and passionate Frantic People, to last week’s feature Showing Up Late, the collection is a great production of energy and creativity. We cannot wait for more music from this amazing group! Luckily, we had the chance to talk to the guys last week and ask them about their inspirations, goals, and thoughts about the industry.
On The Record with Subway Club:
What are your fondest musical memories?
Our fondest musical memory as a band is definitely when we went to Hultsfred festival together during the summer 2013. Three days of unbelievable bands like Two Door Cinema Club, Phoenix, Imagine Dragons, Arctic Monkeys and so much more! We all had an unforgettable time there, it was truly amazing!
Lately what musical periods or styles do you find yourself most drawn to as a listener?
As we said, we listen to a lot of different music genres and bands, but a genre that we all are drawn to is alternative indie rock
What is Subway Club currently working on? Any new projects?
We´re constantly writing new songs. Right now we are recording demos of some of them with a friend of ours. Also we´re trying to get more experience playing live shows around Stockholm.
What is your dream collaboration and why?
If we could pick someone alive it would be Julian Casablanca. He has an incredible voice and he´s a great music writer. But if we could choose anyone it would most likely be The Beatles with their producer Brian Epstein. They were so hardworking and created so many great albums and songs. Really, who wouldn’t like to work with such songwriters as the members of The Beatles?
What is your writing process like? How do you create your music? What subjects/experiences do you draw inspiration from?
When we’re writing new songs, it often starts with someone having an idea that they’ve written at home, often just a guitar or a synth part. We come up with new ideas all the time, therefore, when we are about to start writing a new song, we can all show our ideas to each other and we’ll choose the one that we all like the most. Then we proceed to play that part over and over, coming up with all the instruments, and then we talk about what part we feel should come next. We don’t really write songs based on an experience or a certain subject, but rather based on what we feel at the moment. What kind of song would we like to hear? And what feeling should the song have? Those are the questions that we ask ourselves a lot during the songwriting process
Your debut EP is available on Spotify and iTunes. What do you think about online music sharing, both as a music fan and as a musician? How do you think social media/music streaming services impacts the rising musician?
Well when we first started the band our biggest focus was to record some of our songs, which we later put together to a self-titled EP. Right after that we tried to spread our sound to as many people as possible. We always knew that the internet was a very effective way to do so on, therefore we created a Facebook page, and put out our music on services such as Youtube, Spotify, Itunes etc.
To answer your question; we think it’s a great way to basically show the whole world what you and others are capable of creating. It could be by making music, or just making a film or a painting. Many of the artists we listen to we’ve found on the internet, and without those music inspirations we would probably never have started Subway Club.
You can also see that bands in today’s society are growing so fast, and the internet is the main reason for that. We have listeners from the other side of the earth, and we are still a rather small band. Without the internet many people wouldn’t know about us. With some more help from the internet we soon hope to grow bigger as a band and be able to play on the main stage.
There has been a lot of great indie/alternative music that has come from Swedish artists in the past year. Acts like Icona Pop, NO NO NO, and The Royal Concept have become overnight successes here in the states. There must be something in the water! What do you think about the current Swedish music scene?
Sweden has always produced many good artists, it’s one of the leading music countries right now .Yes Royal Concept is certainly an Indie band that is starting to get bigger in both Sweden and the rest of the world. It’s really great to see Sweden come out with so many successful musicians. We think it will keep going, the flow hasn’t stopped in many years so why would it stop now? Especially when we are on our way haha.
It’s music festival announcement time. If you were in charge of a festival, what would be your perfect lineup? What groups, old and new, would you want to see play?
Oh hard one, it’s so many to choose between. But a great lineup and a cool mix would absolutely be if The Beatles, RHCP, The Killers and Phoenix were playing together, it ought to be a little bit of everything.