Subways Bring Butch Vig on Board for New Album

Since being picked out of obscurity to play the U.K.'s Glastonbury festival as an unsigned band several years ago, the Subways have been on a quite the little adventure. The trio, fronted by Billy Lunn, pixie-esque bassist Charlotte Cooper (now a brunette, Subways' scorecard markers) and drummer Josh Morgan, have completed several, sold-out U.K. tours, signed to Warner Brothers and made a fair amount of headway Stateside with their 2006 debut, 'Young For Eternity.'

Now, the band has just scored a major ace up their sleeves for their second record -- 'Nevermind' superproducer and Garbage wizard, Butch Vig. "It was quite mad," Cooper tells Spinner of their hookup with the modern studio legend. "He came to see us when we played in L.A. about a year-and-a-half ago. He came backstage and we played him some demos we had, and he seemed excited. We kept in touch ever since."

So far, the trio has spent part of their summer at L.A.'s Conway studio's with Vig, laying down six songs. Among the tracks recorded are the tried and tour-tested 'Kalifornia' and 'Shake Shake,' and new ones 'Strawberry Blonde,' 'Girls and Boys' and 'I Won't Let You Down.'

Though they've garnered a host of stories from Garbage's studio days of yore, none have crossed Vig's lips from the days he spent with Kurt Cobain, Krist Noveselic and Dave Grohl. "We haven't asked him," Morgan admits.

"We're tempted to," Cooper adds with a giggle. "I don't want to ask!"

The band will get a chance to muster up their inquisitive courage when they head back to L.A. to finish off the album later this month. They really have no excuse as, despite their tender, early 20-something ages, Vig has proved entirely untimidating thus far, according to Morgan.

"It was very exciting. I didn't have any nerves whatsoever," Morgan enthused. "With this record, I had more a clue of what I wanted and Butch appreciated that. We would sit down, discuss the drum sounds -- we worked together so well. I knew it was gonna happen that way because he was such a cool guy."

With the album not expected until next year, the only Subways U.S. action may be the group's vague plan to do a few L.A. shows as their recording wraps. Cooper says fans will likely have to wait until Spring 2008 for a proper Subways jaunt.