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Brett Anderson and Mat Osman first met while at school in England where they formed a band called Geoff in the mid 1980's. During this period Brett became the band's guitarist while Mat took on the role of bass player. They then met two other youngsters, Gareth Perry and Danny Wilder, who joined the band and took on vocals and drums respectively.
This first band line-up split when Brett and Mat left Haywards Heath in Sussex to go to University in London. While at university Brett soon made friends with an Architecture student named Justine Frischmann and together with Mat they formed a new band called Suave and Elegant. Brett swapped his guitar playing in favour of vocals, Justine played rhythm guitar and for the time being they used a drum machine.
In 1989 they placed an advert in music journal NME to find a lead guitarist. A young man named Bernard Butler was chosen as the band's new member and he would quickly prove himself to be one of Britain's most talented guitarists. He would also share songwriting duties with Brett.
It was shortly after this that they changed their name to Suede and then gained their first major media exposure. Gary Crowley, a DJ for Greater London Radio, chose to play the demo he had of a Suede song called 'Wonderful Sometimes' on his 'Demo Clash' show. Each week demo's from two unsigned bands were played and listener's had to vote for their favourite. The winning song would then be aired again the following week and repeatedly if it kept winning. 'Wonderful Sometimes' was so popular it won the listener's vote for several weeks in a row.
As well as 'Wonderful Sometimes', other Suede demo's recorded around this time were for songs called 'Justice', 'So Liberated', 'Just A Girl' and 'Natural Born Servant'. There were also songs which appeared shortly after called 'She's A Layabout', 'Going Blond' and 'Maid In London' although most of this earliest material would only ever appear in live performances, studio jams or demo form. In fact of all these songs only 'Just A Girl' would resurface years later as an official Suede b-side.
In late 1990 Justin Welch (who later became a member of Elastica) joined Suede for recording sessions and played drums on several demo's as well as future single 'Be My God'. He left shortly after and auditions were held for a replacement. The band were shocked to find that ex-Smiths drummer Mike Joyce was interested and hired him. He went on to perform drums for the 'Be My God' b-side 'Art' and also produced the 'Be My God'/'Art' single. However like Justin Welch he left the band shortly after and the single, available only on vinyl, was never released as an early ill-fated record deal collapsed. 'Be My God' has since become a very rare collector's item.
In 1991 Joyce was replaced by Simon Gilbert who at the time was selling tickets for the University of London Union.
Justine left shortly after Simon's arrival to start her own band Elastica and the current four piece of Brett, Mat, Bernard and Simon would be the first permanent band line-up.
As the band sent demo's out to record companies they spent the rest of their time doing gigs to perfect their live performances. They were starting to get more attention than ever and were soon offered a short term record deal. Saul Galpern, boss of the newly formed Nude Records, snapped them up after seeing them live.
With some astounding live shows behind them and now backed by a record deal, they were thrust onto the front page of Melody Maker. A journalist who had heard some of their demo's was so convinced they were going to be the next big thing, he persuaded the editor to place them under the slogan "The Best New Band In Britain."
1992 would see them release their first two singles 'The Drowners' and 'Metal Mickey'. Despite their debut 'The Drowners' missing out on the top 40 UK singles chart when it entered at 49, its follow up 'Metal Mickey' crashed in at 17 which led to Suede's first ever performance on the legendary music show Top Of The Pops. 1992 also saw the band perform at Reading, their first british music festival.
Before the end of the year Suede found time to feature on an album of cover versions by various artists called Ruby Trax. The album, which had been organised by New Musical Express, included Suede covering The Pretenders classic number 1 hit 'Brass In Pocket'.
Despite their rapid rise to fame and backed by two insanely catchy singles and rave reviews Suede failed to receive any nominations at the prestigious Brit Awards in early 1993. They were however invited to the ceremony to perform their forthcoming single 'Animal Nitrate'.
Having extended their record deal with Nude, 1993 continued with the release of their third single, 'Animal Nitrate', which became their biggest hit to date entering the UK chart at 7. Whilst this had been happening they had been working on their debut album with producer Ed Buller. The 11 track self-titled LP was released later in the year and it would prove all of the hype surrounding the band to be totally justified. A mixture of rock and ballads, the album earned the band a gold disc for sales within a day of release and went straight to number 1 in the UK album chart. As well as this they gained a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize for best album of the year - which they later won and donated the £20,000 prize to the Cancer Research charity.
'So Young' was the last release from this album and it reached number 22 in the charts. They followed this by touring the US with support from The Cranberries and made an apppearance on the legendary US television programme The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.
In June Suede headlined Glastonbury Festival in the UK and shortly after performed live at London Clapham Grand as part of an AIDS fundraiser for director Derek Jarman. During the show the band were joined by Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde for a rendition of 'Brass In Pocket' and also Siouxsie Sioux from Siouxsie And The Banshees for an acoustic cover version of Lou Reed's 'Caroline Says'.
Suede rounded off the year by winning their first major UK music award for Best New Act at the Q magazine awards and also released their first live concert video. Called 'Love and Poison' the video featured footage of Suede performing live at the Brixton Academy during their earlier UK tour.
At the start of 1994 Suede had their second music award triumph this time at the NME Brat Awards where they won the best band accolade.
Their first release of 1994 was the massive one-off single 'Stay Together'. It became their biggest hit to date making number 3 in the UK chart and was a dark example of what was to come on their second album - 'Dog Man Star'.
Having had such success during the previous year Suede then gained a staggering 5 Brit Award nominations - making up for the previous year's snub. However Suede were dealt a bitter blow around this time after being threatened with legal action from a US based singer who already went under the name of Suede. Eventually the band were forced to admit defeat and had to rename themselves 'The London Suede' for all future US releases, touring and promotion.
During the making of 'Dog Man Star' it appeared as though a crisis was looming. Bernard was becoming more isolated from the band as he struggled to cope with their high profile lifestyle while the rest of the band were enjoying partying. He also disapproved of the direction the material was going in and wanted less input from producer Ed Buller. Eventually, with the album only half finished, he quit the band (although he has since claimed that he was sacked). Many felt it was the end of Suede, but the remaining band members moved quickly to find a replacement.
Having placed an advert in the Melody Maker looking for a new guitarist, Suede were surprised at the disappointing response and quality of the musicans who applied. However Richard Oakes, a 17 year old self taught guitarist, sent a demo to the fanclub and after immediately impressing during an audition, was chosen to replace Butler. It looked to be a difficult task but Brett commented "He can play like the Devil." During the 'Dog Man Star' tour he would more than prove himself (much of the time he had to learn the guitar parts as he went along).
Oakes made his debut performing new single 'We Are The Pigs' on Top Of The Pops. But none of the 'Dog Man Star' singles would make a particulary big impact with 'We Are The Pigs' and 'The Wild Ones' both making number 18, and 'New Generation' (released in 1995) making 21.
In the run up to the release of 'Dog Man Star', which emerged in October 1994, the album's title had mysteriously been appearing on walls throughout London in the form of spray painted graffiti. It was never revealed whether this had been part of a calculated publicity campaign on behalf of the band or just the work of a number of over-excited Suede fans.
When 'Dog Man Star' itself was released, it got a mixed reaction from the british press, with some who found it a work of genius and others who called it overblown. The ballads were bigger than ever and 'Still Life', which ends the album, even used a full Orchestra. It peaked at number 3 in the UK album chart. Suede also toured the UK and Europe in 1994 with support from Manic Street Preachers.
Touring continued into 1995 and while in France singer Brett Anderson took time out from the band to perform a duet with popular solo artist Terence Trent D'Arby on French television. Together they sang versions of Neil Young's 'Cinnamon Girl' and the T-Rex classic 'Children Of The Revolution'. Brett also found time to record a French language duet, 'Les Yeux Fermes', with Jane Birkin for an AIDS charity album.
During the summer Suede released their second live concert video, 'Introducing The Band', which featured highlights from the 'Dog Man Star' tour. Additionally the video also included tour films and a documentary.
In July the band headlined the Phoenix Festival in the UK and debuted a beautiful new ballad, 'By The Sea', which would feature on their next album. 1995 also saw Suede T-shirts bearing the slogan 'Gayanimalsex' banned from HMV music stores.
In September Suede recorded a cover version of the Robert Wyatt song 'Shipbuilding' for the charity album 'Help'. Proceeds went to the Warchild charity which helps children affected by worldwide conflicts.
Suede returned in 1996 with their biggest album to date and with another new member.
Neil Codling, drummer Simon Gilbert's cousin, joined on keyboards during sessions for their third album. He also co-wrote two of the new tracks ('Starcrazy' and 'The Chemistry Between Us') and provided backing vocals. As well as becoming Suede's first ever full time keyboardist, at a later stage in the band's career Neil would also provide rhythm guitar during live shows and lead vocals on several b-sides.
The first release with this new five piece line-up came with the single 'Trash'. It became their joint biggest single to date entering the charts at number 3. This was followed soon after by the new album - 'Coming Up'. This 10 song album was more poppy than anything the band had done before but still with a hard rock edge. It received rave reviews, went straight to number 1 and proved to be their biggest selling album ever. Like their debut, the album was also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize - although on this occasion they didn't win. However they had proved that they could more than survive without Bernard Butler - they were actually more successful without him.
They followed this success with four more singles from 'Coming Up' (1 more released in 1996, the other 3 throughout 1997) - all of which made the top ten ('Beautiful Ones' 8, 'Saturday Night' 6, 'Lazy' 9 and 'Filmstar' 9).
Towards the end of the year Suede began a mammoth worldwide tour which would continue well into the following year.
During their final live UK gig of 1996 at the London Roundhouse Suede were joined onstage by Pet Shop Boys singer Neil Tennant who performed a duet of 'Saturday Night' with Suede singer Brett Anderson and also a version of Pet Shop Boys 'Rent' with the rest of Suede. Both of these live songs later appeared as b-sides for the 'Filmstar' single.
In 1997 while on tour in the US Suede were rocked by the news that their van containing all of their musical equipment had been stolen in Boston. They were subsequently forced to play several shows acoustically during the rest of the tour.
Their overall success continued throughout 1997 and the triumphant world tour, which included support from Mansun on shows in the UK, came to a close with a headling slot at the Reading Festival. This also included a surprise duet with ex-Suede member Justine Frischmann on the track 'Implement Yeah' (later released as a b-side).
A 27 track double album of Suede's b-sides called 'Sci-Fi Lullabies' was released in October and made number 9 in the charts. 1997 also saw Suede win an NME Brat Award for best BBC Radio 1 Evening Session where they had performed a number of songs live.
In November a cover version of Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day' featuring various artists and including vocals by Suede singer Brett Anderson was released as a single in aid of the BBC's Children In Need charity.
Before starting work on the follow up to 'Coming Up', Suede were invited to record a cover version of a Noel Coward song to feature on an album for the Red Hot AIDS Charitable Trust. They chose 'Poor Little Rich Girl' which they recorded with guest vocalist Raissa in 1997 for the 1998 '20th Century Blues' album. At the time of the album's release Suede considered releasing their cover of 'Poor Little Rich Girl' as a single. However they eventually decided against this as they would be too busy working on their next album to promote it properly.
To work on their next album, which they wanted to be more modern sounding, electronic and have more of a groove, they parted company with producer Ed Buller. He was replaced by Steve Osborne who had worked with, amongst others, Happy Mondays and U2.
After the album's completion the music media were seemingly desperate to know what it would be called. To heighten this intrigue the album's title was released to the press a letter at a time. However Suede soon tired of this 'game' and it was revealed shortly after that the album would be called 'Head Music'. Suede later denied the 'letter revealing game' had been for publicity and claimed it had been a private joke between themselves and their management that had got leaked to the press.
The album was preceded in 1999 by a number of fanclub only shows to debut some of the new material, much of which had been written solely by Anderson. Their first release of '99 was new single 'Electricity', another big hit which charted at number 5. It was also a landmark release in Suede's history as it included the UK's first ever Mini Disc format single. However the 'Electricity' Mini Disc was later pulled from official release and has since become a collector's item.
It wasn't until the album came out that the full extent of Suede's new electronic sound would become clear. Tracks like 'Hi-Fi' and 'Savoir Faire' were quite different to the norm, but mostly it was still Suede at their best - just with a few more Keyboards. Its main highlights were the breathtaking ballads. Despite a slightly mixed response from the press, 'Head Music' still crashed in at number 1.
Just before 'Head Music' had been released an illegal pirate radio station called 'Head Music 107.1FM' had begun broadcasting in London. It had been playing records by a variety of Suede's favourite bands including Sex Pistols and Roxy Music and record company executives claimed it must have been organised by a group of Suede fans. However it did appear to echo the earlier 'Dog Man Star' graffiti campaign of 1994. Head Music FM disappeared from the airwaves shortly after.
Even with a big publicity campaign and a headline performance at London's Shepherds Bush Empire for MTV, the rest of the 'Head Music' singles didn't do so well ('She's In Fashion' 13, 'Everything Will Flow' 24, 'Can't Get Enough' 23). However Suede would still prove themselves to be one of the best live acts around as they toured 'Head Music' and headlined two nights in the UK at the V99 Festival. A Melody Maker review described it as "Full-Fat Gold-Top Suede." Live commitments also included Suede providing support on several european dates for US legends REM.
Later in the year Suede were shocked when Neil collapsed on tour. It was discovered that he was suffering from the exhausting illness Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. However after lots of rest he continued with the tour and made much improvement.
In the music magazine polls towards the end of '99, Melody Maker made 'Head Music' its album of the year and described it as "Suede at their Funkiest."
Before the year had ended Suede would also gain their first taste of real success in the US after the hit single 'Everything Will Flow' was remixed by Faithless duo Rollo and Sister Bliss. Released as a single by The London Suede and featuring 3 remixes, it became a top 30 hit on the US Billboard Dance Charts.
During 2000 Suede worked on new material for the follow up to 'Head Music' including sessions in Hastings, England, recording demos to base the new album around. 2000 also saw the band headline the Iceland Airwaves Festival, their only live performance of the year. They premiered 9 new songs which received rave reviews from many, including NME, who said "the new songs are excellent and for the first time since 'Dog Man Star' Suede have returned to the big music."
Whilst in Iceland Suede also recorded a new track called 'Simon' with producer Ken Thomas. It had been previewed at the Airwaves Festival and would later be used as the title song to a new british film called 'Far From China'.
Suede began 2001 preparing to go into the studio to start recording their fifth album. However it was announced in late March that Neil Codling had quit the band due to his ongoing struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Former Strangelove guitarist and keyboardist Alex Lee, who had replaced Neil during the 'Head Music' european tour of 1999, was brought in permanently.
Soon after Alex had joined, Suede began recording the new album with Beck producer Tony Hoffer. Around the same time, Brett, Alex and Tony took to the stage in London to perform as part of a tribute to Robert Wyatt with a version of 'Sea Song'. Afterwards an onlooker said "It was a strange, kind of avant-garde jazz show, but Brett stormed onto the stage just before the interval and belted out this amazing song. It was great to watch, really captivating."
Work then continued on the album for much of the rest of the year although there were also a number of Suede related events which took place throughout October and November.
Firstly, Brett appeared in mid October at the Bristol Poetry Festival in England to read a sample of his lyrics to an audience. The event organiser said "We consider Brett's lyrics to be at the cutting edge. He's one of Britain's finest living poets." As well as reading lyrics from songs old and new, he also performed several tracks on acoustic guitar including a new song called 'Oceans'.
Then, on October 27th, Suede made their only live appearance of 2001 at the Coimbra University Music Festival in Portugal. They used the performance to debut another new song called 'Positivity'.
In November Suede appeared at the London Premiere of the film 'Far From China' which featured the Suede track 'Simon' as its title song.
November also saw the release of Suede's first ever DVD - 'Lost In TV'. It was a compilation of promo videos from all of Suede's hit singles. Other features included a karaoke option and most entertaining of all a commentary by the band themselves as they discussed each video in turn.
It was revealed in December that Nude Records, Suede's UK record label since 1992, had gone into 'voluntary liquidation' - this effectively meant the end of Nude Records and Suede left without a UK record deal. This situation was resolved when the band signed to Epic Records early in the new year.
It was announced in January 2002 that Suede would be completing recording of the new album with former Smiths producer Stephen Street. However it was revealed by Suede bassist Mat Osman that the band had also scrapped everything they had previously recorded with Tony Hoffer after realising that things were not working out. He said "We went in with an idea that we were going to make a very strange electronic folk record. The songs were good, they just didn't fit each other. Tony's a lovely guy, it's a shame it didn't work out."
The band finished recording the new album, 'A New Morning', with Stephen Street in March.
2002 was in some ways a little disappointing for Suede, certainly as far as sales were concerned, but also because of the lack of support from the british music media when it counted the most.
After the blaze of publicity that greeted the release of 'Head Music' in 1999 (including of course the now legendary name change of Virgin Megastores in the UK to 'Head Music') it was sad to see 'A New Morning' arrive almost unoticed. Suede were seemingly ignored by the likes of NME and Q magazine and with the demise of Melody Maker and Select in 2000 it left Suede with limited coverage from the music media who had turned their attention to a spate of new bands. There was also no place for Suede on Top Of The Pops where previously they had always appeared.
Despite this Suede still had two top 30 singles during the year with 'Positivity' entering at 16 and follow up single 'Obsessions' charting at 29. Both of these releases included Suede's first ever DVD format singles.
In May Suede performed a live cover version of Blondie's 'Union City Blue' for the BBC television show Re:Covered as well as 'Beautiful Loser' from their forthcoming album.
'A New Morning' was finally released on Monday 30th September having been put back from September 2nd. The album was described as being more heartfelt and honest and Brett claimed that it was the first Suede album not to have been influenced in its making by drugs. The electronic sound of 'Head Music' had been disgarded for more strings, piano and acoustic guitar as featured on songs such as 'Positivity', 'Lonely Girls', 'Lost In TV' and 'Morning'. However there were also plenty of upbeat rock tracks such as 'Obsessions', 'Beautiful Loser', 'Streetlife' and the bonus track 'You Belong To Me'. The album also featured an interactive section where you could listen via the internet to alternative versions of the tracks, including those from the aborted Tony Hoffer sessions.
'A New Morning' charted in the UK at 24. However it faired better in other european countries including Denmark, Sweden and Finland where it made the top 10.
On the live front Suede appeared at the David Bowie Meltdown Festival in London, the Move Festival in Manchester (where they supported Bowie) and the London Mardi Gras which they headlined. They also recorded sessions for radio stations Virgin and XFM and appeared live in Belfast for a BBC Radio 2 concert. For the fanclub they played a 26 song gig in London including the whole of the new album and they also invited the fans to appear in the video for 'Obsessions'. This was followed in the autumn by a successful tour of the UK which ended with three sell out dates at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire. However during the final show Brett injured his leg and although he was able to continue the performance to the end, he had to remain seated during some of the dates on the european tour which followed.
2002 also saw 'Introducing The Band', previously available only in VHS format, released on DVD for the first time and with added archive footage.
Suede ended the year by playing at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Norway in December for former US President Jimmy Carter.
2003 began with live shows in Asia throughout January and in February they made their debut in China with two shows in Beijing. Febuary also included live dates in Thailand.
As well as touring Asia, Suede spent the early part of 2003 in the studio recording new material for a greatest hits compilation and working on songs for their sixth studio album.
During April Suede played two shows in Arhus, Denmark, where they took the opportunity to debut a new song called 'Love The Way You Love' and in June they performed at the Electron Nights Festival in Greece where they played new songs 'Golden Gun', 'Teenage Rose', 'Quiet/Loud', 'Attitude' and 'Oxygen'. This was followed by their first appearance at Glastonbury since their debut at the festival in 1993.
In July they played seven shows at seven different venues for the Grøn Koncert in Denmark and they also appeared at a variety of other worldwide festivals in August and September.
It was also in July that it was announced that Suede's ex-accountant, Frank Dixon, had been charged with stealing what was thought to be in the region of £500,000 from the band between 1997-2000. He was also charged with stealing from other bands Primal Scream and Echobelly. When he eventually stood trial in May 2004 he was found guilty of siphoning approximately £1.1 million from Suede as well as £300,000 from the other bands. He had hidden his crimes by claiming that the money was being used to pay the bands tax bills. Dixon was handed a 1 year jail sentence.
Back in September 2003 Suede performed each of their albums live at five special shows in London, with a different album played every night. The shows, which took place at the Institute Of Contemporary Arts, included the first ever live performances of 'Breakdown', 'Black Or Blue', 'Asbestos', 'Head Music' and 'Hi Fi'. At the end of the final show they also played the rarely performed 'Stay Together'.
At the beginning of October Suede released new single 'Attitude' which would also feature on their greatest hits compilation. Including new songs 'Golden Gun' and 'Oxygen' as well as a number of rare and previously unreleased tracks, 'Attitude' entered the Official UK singles chart at number 14. This lead to their first appearance on Top Of The Pops since the release of 'Everything Will Flow' in 1999. Following this Suede released their greatest hits compilation 'Singles' which featured all 20 of their singles and new track 'Love The Way You Love'. Disappointingly 'Singles' only entered the official UK albums chart at number 31.
November started positively with the release of Suede's first ever official biography and the prospect of several festival appearances in Spain. The biography - 'Love and Poison' - written by Suede insider David Barnett, featured numerous candid interviews with all Suede members and key associates and exposed the truth behind the departures of Bernard Butler and Neil Codling as well as revealing the details behind the bands drug problems, rows and relationships and giving a greater insight into their background. However just days after the release of 'Love and Poison' Suede made a shocking announcement to their fans via their official website. The statement read: "Suede would like to announce that from next year they will be working on their own individual projects. There will not be a new studio album until the band feel that the moment is artistically right to make one. This announcement does not affect the forthcoming touring commitments. Suede would like to thank the fans for their wonderful support over the years. See you in the next life." 11 years after the release of their debut single it appeared as though Suede's career was finally coming to end. Yet just days later singer Brett Anderson released another more optimistic statement. It read: "There's obviously been a lot of emotion and rumours flying around over the last few days so I thought I'd try and set the record straight on a couple of things. Firstly I'd like everyone to know that this decision was based purely on creative reasons. Personally I feel that the only way to escape the artistic dead end I have found myself in is to work at least for a while outside the band. There has been speculation about record sales and chart positions ,blah,blah,blah but the bottom line is I NEED TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET MY DEMON BACK. I know that a lot of people will never be able to understand this. I'd like them to know that this is not a decision we have entered into lightly and ask them to trust that ultimately the band know what is best for Suede. Finally you should all know that we will remain good friends and that I can genuinely see us working together again. What we have done has been too special to just throw away. Thanks for caring."
Amongst fans opinions were divided as to whether or not this was really the end for Suede although many treated the band's UK shows in December, which had been arranged before the split was decided, as a series of farewell gigs. However during the tour, which featured support from Razorlight, the future began to look a little brighter for Suede with the debut of a new previously unheard song called 'Music Like Sex'. Then, during the final gig of the tour at the London Astoria, Brett finally made a firm commitment to the future of the band. Before the end of the concert he announced: "I just want you to know - there will be another Suede record. But not yet."
As a farewell gift to fans, the Suede Information Service issued its members with an exclusive CD compilation of rare Suede demo's, remixes and live tracks in early 2004. Titled 'See You In The Next Life', it featured a goodbye message from singer Brett Anderson and specially chosen artwork. The message read "Thanks for all your love. You are beautiful."
Brett spent part of the rest of the year working on new material in preparation for a solo album. In May he performed one of his new songs, 'Love Is Dead', at the wedding of Denmark's Prince Frederik.
Shortly after his performance in Denmark Brett confirmed rumours that he was working once again with ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler who had previously left the band in 1994. Having not spoken to each other for 10 years and with their famous ongoing fued, many were surprised but delighted that Anderson and Butler had finally re-united. Later in the year they announced that they had formed a new band called The Tears which also featured Nathan Fisher on bass, Mako Sakamoto on drums and Will Foster on keyboards. At the time Brett said: "I've felt reborn this year, I really have... the highlight for me has been working with Bernard and it feeling like the old days again. Not in any way as a nostalgic thing, but as a contemporary thing. Writing and being as inspired as we were in 1992. That's a great thing for me, I wake up in the morning and can't wait to get to work. If there's one thing i've missed it's the finished result of what we do together."
In 2004 several other new projects involving Suede members were revealed. Alex Lee returned to his former Strangelove bandmate, singer Patrick Duff, to work as guitarist and producer on Duff's solo album. Drummer Simon Gilbert announced that he had moved to Thailand and was compiling a film from hundreds of hours of behind-the-scenes footage of Suede he had recorded over the years. And ex-Suede keyboardist Neil Codling, who had been taking a break from the music industry since leaving Suede in 2001 due to ill health, made a low-key comeback featuring on Pearl Lowe's unreleased album and performing live with her band. He later formed a duo called Barry O'Neil with singer Harriet Cawley and in 2005 performed live on tour as part of Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia's backing band.
With Suede seemingly at an end, its former members returned with more new projects in 2005. Bassist Mat Osman created the theme tune to the UK Channel 4 comedy quiz show '8 Out Of 10 Cats' and also recorded album sessions for a band called Mista Brown whose influences included dub, 2-tone and the acid house scene. Later in the year Mat was confirmed as a permanent member of the band. Meanwhile drummer Simon Gilbert joined a Thailand based electro/punk band called Futon and made his debut with them at the MTV Asia Music Awards. He later appeared on his first Futon record when their album 'Love Bites' was released during the summer.
On 6th June 2005 Suede fans finally saw the result of Brett and Bernard's reunion as The Tears released their debut album 'Here Come The Tears'.
In late 2005 Suede's classic concert film, 'Introducing The Band', was released for the third time. Originally recorded in the 'Dog Man Star' era and released in 1995, it came out again in VHS format and for the first time on DVD in 2002. It's overall third release, and second time on DVD, saw the addition of a newly designed cover.
It was announced in early 2006 that Suede's guitarist and keyboardist Alex Lee had joined successful chart act Placebo as part of their live band for all future tour dates.
2006 was also meant to see the release of the debut solo album from Brett Anderson and possibly the next record from The Tears but in April it was revealed that neither of these would happen. Brett released a statement which revealed that he had finally completed recording of his album and that he would unveil the new material during live dates later in the year. However he also said it was unlikely that the album would appear before early 2007. Meanwhile The Tears guitarist Bernard Butler confirmed that the band had been dropped by their record label Independiente 8 months ago and were now focussing on individual projects. Although the band had not split up a new album would only be made if and when they felt the time was right.
During an interview in August Brett revealed that he had been spending time in the studio as a producer for british band Komakino - however it was unclear as to whether or not any of this material would be released.
Further doubts about The Tears future emerged shortly after when it was announced that their official website would be closing. It was again made clear that this move did not necessarily signal the end for the band and that the website would return if they decided to make another album together.
In the meantime Brett pushed forward with his solo project announcing that he had signed a record deal with Drowned In Sound Recordings. He also revealed that his backing band consisted of Jim Dare on guitars, Bastian Juel on bass (ex-Suede bassist Mat Osman would perform live), Kristoffer Sonne on drums (Sebastian Sternberg live) and Fred Ball on keyboards.
Brett finally launched his solo career in 2007 with the release of his debut album 'Brett Anderson' which mainly comprised of epic, string-laden ballads. This was followed by a european tour which saw former Suede keyboardist Neil Codling stand-in for Fred Ball during two of Brett's gigs in Germany. It was the first time Neil had been reunited on stage with Brett and Mat since he left Suede due to ill health in 2001.
Then in May at the end of a storming UK tour Brett released a limited edition double album of his acclaimed live performance at Shepherds Bush Empire in London. After the huge success of this album it was announced that another limited edition live album would be released, this time of Brett's first ever full length acoustic solo show. The gig, held at the Union Chapel in London, included dazzling piano versions of Suede classics 'High Rising', 'The Asphalt World' and 'The 2 Of Us'.
In August Brett was accompanied on his tour of Asia by keyboardist Will Foster, his former colleague in The Tears. Like Neil Codling before him, Will was brought in as a temporary replacement for regular keyboardist Fred Ball who was unavailable at the time.
Late 2007 saw the release of the new album 'Pain Killer' from Futon, the band featuring ex-Suede drummer Simon Gilbert.
In early October Brett was invited to provide live support to rock giants Muse who were performing in Romania. It was the first time Brett had provided support for another artist since Suede opened for REM in 1999.
During the same month Brett played two stunning acoustic shows backed by a string ensemble at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. As well as solo songs and Suede classics the first show also included a cover of Frank Sinatra's 'It Was A Very Good Year'. This show was later released as a special double CD album, the third and final live Brett Anderson release in a trilogy produced by Concert Live.
Despite no high profile official announcement, it also became clear in 2007 that former Suede bassist Mat Osman's latest band Mista Brown were no longer working together. A message in the profile of the band's official Myspace page simply stated "Mista Brown have split up." Mat joined Mista Brown in 2005 but their debut studio album faced a series of delays and was never released. Their future looked even more uncertain when Mat joined Brett's live solo band in early 2007.
Before the year was out, Brett answered a series of fans questions about his favourite Suede songs on his official website. However when a fan pointed out that he appeared to disown Suede's final album, 2002's 'A New Morning', Brett admitted that public reaction to the album's direction had led to the band eventually splitting up. He said "I had got clean from drugs but their huge, dark shadow still hovered over me disturbing my psychic balance and artistic focus. I think its biggest problem ('A New Morning') was its lack of vision. 'Positivity' was a strange one. When I first wrote it I thought it was a masterpiece but soon realised that many people were genuinely offended by it. If there was ever just one song that destroyed a band then it was 'Positivity' with Suede. The radio, the press and the fans pretty much hated it (with a few exceptions) as confidence in the band ebbed away and the inevitable spiral towards a break up began. Of course i'm not so dumb as to blame one little song for that, but it was the final cut in a series of body blows. 'Oceans' and 'Obsessions' are both quality songs but as I mentioned in my post yesterday, the album would have been so much stronger had it contained 'Cheap' and 'Simon'..."
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