Subways

From the nice little town of Welwyn Garden City, England come the Subways — the teenage spawn of the relatively short-lived Detroit garage rock boom from a few years back. Having already played the Bait Shop on The O.C., the Subways have all of the right elements to make a good run for fame: a passionate front-man, a gorgeous bassist and enough youth where they can reinvent themselves if they go belly up with the whole passé rock’n’roll pastiche. Okay, so their timing is shitty, and their debut album patchy and filled with youthful mistakes, but what Young for Eternity lacks in relevance it makes up for with its potential to improve. Singer/guitarist Billy Lunn knows how to punch out some adequate rock riffs, with a snarl in check that challenges the Von Bondies’ Jason Stollsteimer. However, it’s his tendency to wander off into soppy nu-acoustic-grunge terrain à la the dreadfulness of Aussie poseurs the Vines that does the most damage. If Lunn could stick with writing winners like "Oh Yeah” and "1 AM,” and give his sweetheart and bassist Charlotte Cooper more of a co-lead role in the band then maybe he can keep the Subways on track. Otherwise, it looks like the Subways are headed for a messy derailment, or at least, another insipid album.