The Subways in 2005 recording 'Young For Eternity' at Elevator studios in Liverpool

Recording ‘Young for Eternity’ at Elevator Studios in Liverpool with Ian Broudie:

‘For the first time in my life I felt like we were doing something ‘natural’: just making music. We woke up every day (in the centre of Liverpool, the home of The frickin’ Beatles), with a view to making noise. Ian simply put us in one of the rooms in the multi-layered Elevator Studios, and let us play together, communicating to us from the control room on the top floor. We smiled, we laughed, we fought, we tussled – but, ultimately, we gelled, and it’s all right there on the album. I wanted our first single ‘At 1am’ on the album, but not merely as a track on its own. I could see it suspended at the end of the album after a yawning gap of silence, like ‘Endless Nameless’ on Nevermind by Nirvana, or ‘Bring it on Home to Me’ on Lack of Communication by The Von Bondies, which leaves it haunting the album like the echo of a ghost. Here, though, we’ve given it its own place in the track-listing, which is actually what it truly deserves.’ Billy

‘Ian was the perfect producer for YFE. We were so young, enthusiastic and passionate and also pretty nervous. Ian is of course an amazing production talent, but he also acted as a mentor for us. Despite the history and prestige we were presented with, he made us feel comfortable and at home, which was the best environment for us to record in. We recorded the album in a couple of sessions, and I remember sitting on the big sofa in the studio watching the video for ‘Oh Yeah’ on the TV for the first time - mind blowing!’ Charlotte

‘Recording in Liverpool was the first time I ever used the words music and comfort in the same sentence. Before that all we had known was the back of vans and sleeping in rooms with no roof. We were 3 crazy kids fresh from the rubble and I like the punk sound this experience generated.’ Josh