The Subs

The Subs
Origin Ghent, Belgium
Genres Electro
Years active 2006–present
Labels Lektroluv Recordings, Blood Music
Website www.thesubs.be
Members Jeroen De Pessemier (Papillon)
Wiebe Loccufier (Tonic)

The Subs is a Belgian electro band founded by Jeroen ‘Papillon’ De Pessemier and Wiebe ‘Tonic’ Loccufier. Originally from Ghent, the band now divides its time between their hometown and London.

Members

History

The early days

Following early success with underground club hits like "You Make Me Spill", "Fuck That Shit" and "Substracktion", the raw punktrance track "Kiss My Trance" marked the band’s definitive breakthrough in 2008. The song quickly made its way to the top of the commercial charts and got picked up by influential deejays including Boys Noize, T. Raumschmiere, Laurent Garnier and Tiësto.

In the wake of their arrival on the international scene, The Subs made several remixes for artists like Alex Gopher, The Lotterboys, Plump DJs, Telex and Cassius. By the end of 2008, The Subs released their critically acclaimed debut album Subculture on the Belgian Lektroluv label. Following "Kiss My Trance", a second single – "Music Is The New Religion" – was released to promote the album.

Getting more and more airplay, the band quickly made a name for itself. In May 2009 The Subs were invited by Rob da Bank to make a one-hour mix tape for his show on BBC Radio 1. Several months later, on 16 October 2009, London club Fabric celebrated its 10-year anniversary. The club management asked The Subs to perform at its birthday party and to record an exclusive give-away anniversary track. That track, "Mitsubitchi", was available to the Fabric audience for download from the club’s website.

First Gold Record: The Pope of Dope

In early 2010, The Subs recorded a new single, "The Pope of Dope", together with Party Harders. Following its release in April 2010, the track became an instant hit with more than 10,000 copies sold. The song earned the band its first gold record in Belgium.

Also in 2010, The Subs made a cover of Jacno’s Amoureux Solitaires together with Philippe Zdar and Etienne Daho, and Papillon featured as a guest vocalist on electro house DJ Shinichi Osawa’s track "Bring Back that Noise".

Playing as a supporting act to The Prodigy in Zénith de Lille (France) later that year, Papillon vomited on stage. The event inspired The Subs to write the track "Vomit in Style", which was released on an EP with the same name. The band topped of a particularly productive year with the release of another EP, Rototom/My Body is Gonna Remember, a collaboration with French DJ duo Les Petits Pilous.

A Successful Second: Decontrol

In March 2011, The Subs released their second studio album, Decontrol, again on the Lectroluv label. The first single from this album, "The Face Of The Planet", was exceptionally well received and soon got the band its second gold record. Although never getting the same reception, two more singles – "Don’t Stop" and "Decontrol" – from the album were released later on in 2011.

Shortly after the release of Decontrol, "The Face of the Planet" became quite a success on the Australian radio station Triple J. As a result, the band was invited to Australia to play the Future Music Festival, a national festival touring five different cities. Upon arrival in Brisbane, Papillon got arrested for filming ‘the journey of their luggage along the luggage conveyor’. He was released with a stern warning.

On 4 October 2011, the American dance label Dim Mak released the first of several New Noise compilations. The album included Octopus, a track The Subs recorded exclusively for this compilation. Later that year, The Subs brought home their third gold record with Zanna, a cover of Luc Van Acker’s eighties cult classic, featuring Tom Barman (dEUS) and Selah Sue. The track was recorded as part of Belgian radio station Studio Brussel’s annual charity event ‘Music For Life’.

Throughout 2012, the band continued to tour. In August, The Subs released the EP Hypsteria on the Blood Music label – a dance label owned by DJ and producer Fake Blood.

In 2013, The Subs released an EP called “Collaborations” where they worked with renowned producers Étienne de Crécy, Zombie Nation, Alex Gopher, Shinichi Osawa, John Roman, Blatan and Hoshina Anniversary.

New Alliances: Hologram

On their third studio album, Hologram, released in 2014, The Subs surprised fans and critics alike. Multi-instrumentalist Hadrien Lavogez replaced producer Stefan Bracke, making the band shift towards a more melodic sound. "Concorde", featuring the voice of French actor Jean-Pierre Castaldi, was the first single off this new album to hit the radio waves. The track exemplified a shift in sound with a new, soulful layer added to the band’s trademark electropunk sound. Other guests starring on Hologram include Selah Sue, house music legend Colonel Abrams and Jay Brown.

In April 2014, Trapped (featuring Colonel Abrams) was the second single to be released from the album. Later on that year, Cling To Love (featuring Jay Brown) followed suit.

The Subs live on stage

After the success of "Kiss My Trance" in 2008, The Subs started to tour with live shows. They soon established a solid stage reputation, as energetic live performances and a raw punk attitude became their trademark. Frontman Papillon’s movement on stage is often referred to as that of a mad professor, because of the combination of knob twisting the hi-tech gear and sometimes-crazy climbing habits and risky stage dives.

The Subs were invited to play at venues around Europe. But Australia, Singapore and Thailand soon discovered the band as well. Extensive touring brought The Subs to a series of renowned clubs, including The Fabric, The Egg, and Audio in London (UK), Button Factory in Dublin (Ireland), Space in Ibiza, Social Club and La Machine in Paris (France), Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, Melkweg and Paradiso in Amsterdam, and the Razzmatazz in Barcelona (Spain).

The band’s lively live performance quickly made them a fan-favourite on festivals both at home and abroad. Over the past few years, The Subs have featured at Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Dour Festival, Tomorrowland, I Love Techno, Laundry Day, Lokerse Feesten, Feest in het Park, Les Ardentes, Couleur Café and 10 Days Off in Belgium, ADE, Lowlands, Solar Festival, Dance Valley, 5 Days Off and Pitch Festival in the Netherlands, Bestival, Global Gathering, Isle of Wight Festival, Creamfields and Electric Picnic Festival in the UK, and Les Eurockéennes, Printemps de Bourges and Paradis Artificielles in France.

Visuals

The Subs have always paid particular attention to making original visuals to match their music sometimes shooting their own music videos and creating the artwork for their albums.

Music Videos

For their video for My Punk (featured on the Subculture album) in 2009, the band drove on three mopeds from their home city Ghent to the Social Club in Paris. The trio filmed each other with cameras attached to their helmets. The result turned out to be quite an unusual road movie, including footage of the band as they got arrested by the police for driving inside a shopping mall.

Later that year, the Subs played at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium. In the run-up to the show, they asked fans to film the song "Fuck That Shit" and send them the footage afterward. The Subs filmed the song from the stage as well, with several cameras attached to their instruments. Later on, the footage was mixed into a new video for the song.

The Famous Videocast

In January 2010 The Subs launched a new concept on YouTube, which they called The Famous Videocast. During three short shows, hosted by The Subs themselves, the band members talk about the music videos they like. Each time they mention a video, you can click through to the video. After each video, you get directed back to the show.

Artwork

The artwork for their second album, Decontrol, was created in an organic way, to highlight the contrast with The Subs’ electronic music. A wooden copy of the band’s logo was put in a snowed-under field, after which it was set on fire. A photographer took photos of the whole process, eventually (with Glossy.tv on board) resulting in the artwork for the record sleeve.

For "The Face of the Planet", the first single from Decontrol, they approached the artwork in a similar way. Another wooden copy of the band’s logo was set on fire, but this time while it was floating on the sea.

For H0L0GRAM they entirely relied on Uber & Kosher to provide the artwork.

Producers

As a producer, Jeroen ‘Papillon’ De Pessemier worked on Here We Go Again, the 2006 debut album of Lady Linn & Her Magnificent Seven. In 2012, De Pessemier produced Halo, the latest album by Belgian rock band The Van Jets.

Discography

Albums

Album(s) that entered the Ultratop 50 album chart Release Date First charted Highest Ranking Weeks Remarks
Subculture24-10-200801-11-20083318
Decontrol25-03-201102-04-20111219
Hologram24-02-201405-04-20141917
A Decade of Dance 2006–201627-05-201604-06-201652

Singles

Single(s) Charts with
in the Dutch Top 40		Date of appearanceDate of entry
 Highest 
position		 Number of 
weeks		 Comments 
Zanna28-11-2011- met Selah Sue & Tom Barman /
Nr. 72 in de Single Top 100
Single(s) that entered the Ultratop 50 singles chart Release Date First charted Highest Ranking Weeks Remarks
"Kiss My Trance"200802-02-20081812
"Music Is the New Religion"200806-12-2008432
"The Pope of Dope"201008-05-20101220 with Party Harders / Golden record BE
"The Face of the Planet"201105-03-20111013 / Golden record BE
"Don't Stop"20112011tip2- with Highbloo
"Zanna"201110-12-20111(4wk)11 with Selah Sue & Tom Barman /
Nr. 9 in the Radio 2 Top 30 / Golden record BE
"Decontrol"201107-01-2012tip96-
"Concorde"201425-01-2014218
"Trapped" (feat. Colonel Abrams)201405-04-20142510
"Cling to Love"201430-06-2014148

Other singles

[1]

Remixes

[1]

References

  1. 1 2 http://www.discogs.com/artist/Subs,+The


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