The Subway Organization
Encyclopedia
The Subway Organization was an independent music label founded in 1985 in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, by Martin Whitehead.

Indie Pop and C86

The label was associated with the Indie Pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...

 movement and the seminal NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

 cassette tape C86
C86 (music)
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from independent labels of the time. As a phrase, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterised by "jangly" guitars and fey melodies, although other...

, that included the track It's Up To You by the Shop Assistants, from the label's first release (the group subsequently joined the 53rd & 3rd
53rd & 3rd
"53rd & 3rd" is a song by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released as the band's second single and the final released from their debut album, Ramones.-Lyrics:...

 label). The label also had contacts with other groups including Pop Will Eat Itself
Pop Will Eat Itself
Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band, originally formed in Stourbridge in 1986, with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a Grebo act, their style changed to incorporate sample driven indie and industrial rock...

 but their songs were only released on compilations.

The founder of the label had his own group, The Flatmates
The Flatmates
The Flatmates, part of the mid 1980s British indie pop boom, were part of The Subway Organization, a Bristol record label formed by Martin Whitehead, who was also guitarist and main songwriter for the band....

.

Singles Artists

  • Rodney Allen: Released the Happysad LP on Subway in 1987, and 12" Circle Line EP in 1988. Then after a brief spell in The Chesterfields
    The Chesterfields
    The Chesterfields were an English indie pop band from Yeovil in Somerset. Hardcore fans tended to refer to them as 'The Chesterf!elds', with an exclamation mark replacing the 'i', following the example of the band's logo....

     (replacing guitarist Brendan Holden), joined The Blue Aeroplanes
    The Blue Aeroplanes
    The Blue Aeroplanes are an English rock band from Bristol, the mainstays of which: Gerard Langley, brother John Langley and dancer Wojtek Dmochowski originate from the earlier New Wave “Art band” Art Objects .-History:...

    .
  • Bubblegum Splash!: Short lived (1987–1988) indie pop band from Salisbury, England. With Nikki Barr on vocals, Dave Todd on bass, Jim Harrison on guitar, Marty Cummins on tamourine and backing vocals, and Alan Ware on drums. They recorded only 7 tracks in total, 4 of which were released on their debut and only EP "Splashdown!” in August 1987, which reached #15 in the indie charts. In December 1987 the track “If Only” came free on a split 7” flexidisc with The Darling Buds
    The Darling Buds
    The Darling Buds were an indie band from Newport, South Wales. The band formed in 1986 and were named after the H. E. Bates novel The Darling Buds of May – a title taken in turn, from the third line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May".-Career:Influenced...

    , in issue 2 of fanzine So Naive.
  • The Charlottes
    The Charlottes
    The Charlottes were a female fronted indie pop band from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire in England, formed in 1988.-History:The band formed in 1988, initially as The Giant Polar Bears, comprising Petra Roddis , Garham Gargiulo , David Fletcher , and Simon Scott...

    :
  • The Chesterfields
    The Chesterfields
    The Chesterfields were an English indie pop band from Yeovil in Somerset. Hardcore fans tended to refer to them as 'The Chesterf!elds', with an exclamation mark replacing the 'i', following the example of the band's logo....

    : Indie pop band from Yeovil, Somerset (1984–1989). They garnered Indie Chart Hits for their singles and albums not only on The Subway Organisation, but their own Household label. Fans tended to refer to them as 'The Chesterf!elds', with an exclamation mark replacing the 'i', following the example of the band's logo.
  • Choo Choo Train:
  • The Clouds
    The Clouds (UK band)
    The Clouds was a Glasgow-based indie pop band from the 1980s, based around brothers John and Bill Charnley.The Clouds had a hit on the UK Indie Chart in 1988 with "Tranquil," their only single , reaching number 13....

    : 'Glasgow brothers John and Bill Charneley, who began as back-bedroom punks and gradually softened to an acoustic, West Coast-influenced sound after signing with The Subway Organization'.
  • The Fastbacks:
  • The Flatmates
    The Flatmates
    The Flatmates, part of the mid 1980s British indie pop boom, were part of The Subway Organization, a Bristol record label formed by Martin Whitehead, who was also guitarist and main songwriter for the band....

    : Indie pop band (1985–1989). The band's core members were Martin Whitehead (Guitar) and Debbie Haynes (Vocals). Initially, the band also included Kath Beach (Bass guitar) and Joel O'Beirne/Rocker (Drums). They released 5 singles, all of which featured in the UK Indie Chart
    UK Indie Chart
    The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...

     Top 20.
  • The Groove Farm:
  • Korova Milk Bar:
  • Razorcuts
    Razorcuts
    Razorcuts were an indie pop band formed in 1984 in London. The group centred around Gregory Webster and Tim Vass , with various musicians including Peter Momtchiloff of Heavenly. Early releases on the Subway Organisation label, including the debut Big Pink Cake led to a deal with Creation Records...

    : 'Melodic UK guitar band with strong 60s folk-rock influences. The line-up consisted of Gregory Webster
    Gregory Webster
    Gregory Webster is a British musician. In 1985 he founded the Razorcuts with Tim Vass. He then played in The Carousel with Elizabeth Price from 1989 to 1994. Soon after he was the main protagonist in Saturn V. In 1997 he founded Sportique, his present band, with Mark Flunder and Rob Pursey...

     (vocals & guitar), Tim Vass (bass) and Dave Smith (drums). Vass later formed the psych/folkers Red Chair Fadeaway.' Webster and Vass reunited under the name Forever People in 1992 for a one-off single on Bristol label Sarah Records
    Sarah Records
    Sarah Records was a UK independent record label active between 1987 and 1995, best known for its recordings of indie pop.The label was formed in Bristol in 1987 by Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes, and grew out of the fanzine scene at the time, Haynes having previously edited Are You Scared To Get...

    .
  • The Rosehips: 'Jangly UK pop band'.
  • Shop Assistants: Their All Day Long E.P. (SUBWAY 1) was the first release by the label in 1985. The track It's Up to You taken from the E.P. ended up on the seminal C86
    C86 (music)
    C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from independent labels of the time. As a phrase, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterised by "jangly" guitars and fey melodies, although other...

     cassette tape from the NME
    NME
    The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

    .
  • The Soup Dragons
    The Soup Dragons
    The Soup Dragons were a Scottish alternative rock band of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Named after a character in the 1970s children's television show Clangers, the group is best known for its cover of the Rolling Stones' song "I'm Free."-History:...

    : The band formed in Bellshill
    Bellshill
    Bellshill is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, 10 miles south east of Glasgow city centre and 37 miles west of Edinburgh. Other nearby towns are Motherwell , Hamilton and Coatbridge . Since 1996, it has been situated in the Greater Glasgow metropolitan area...

    , Glasgow
    Glasgow
    Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

     in 1985 and recorded their first demo tape, You Have Some Too, after playing a few local gigs, and this was followed by a flexi disc
    Flexi disc
    The flexi disc is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable...

     single "If You Were the Only Girl in the World". Originally inspired by Buzzcocks
    Buzzcocks
    Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...

     and lumped in with the C86
    C86 (music)
    C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from independent labels of the time. As a phrase, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterised by "jangly" guitars and fey melodies, although other...

     movement, along with fellow members of the Bellshill Sound, such as the BMX Bandits
    BMX Bandits (band)
    BMX Bandits are a Scottish 1960s-influenced guitar pop band who have been making music from 1986 to the present day. They have shared members with other Bellshill bands Teenage Fanclub and The Soup Dragons....

     and Teenage Fanclub
    Teenage Fanclub
    Teenage Fanclub are an alternative rock band from Bellshill, Scotland. The band is composed of Norman Blake , Raymond McGinley , Gerard Love and Francis MacDonald , with songwriting duties shared equally among Blake, McGinley and Love...

    , they went through a number of stylistic changes in their career. The band signed to Subway in early 1986 and their first proper single (The Sun in the Sky EP
    Extended play
    An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

    ) was Buzzcocks-inspired pop
    Pop music
    Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

    -punk
    Punk rock
    Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

    . The band's big breakthrough came with their second single for Subway, "Whole Wide World", which reached #2 on the UK Independent Chart in 1986.

Compilations

  • Take the Subway to Your Suburb , (suborg 1 [LP])
  • Surfin' in the Subway , (suborg 4 [LP])

Reissues on other labels

In 2005 Cherry Red
Cherry Red
Cherry Red is a London-based independent record label formed in 1978.-History:Cherry Red grew from the rock promotion company founded in 1971 to promote rock concerts at the Malvern Winter Gardens...

 released a CD of 'The Best of The Subway Organization 1986-1989'.

See also


External links

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