Loving every minute of it

Bands often reunite because they miss the glories of the past, but for Britpop pioneers Suede, it’s a chance to explore what’s new and once again help sharpen pop’s cutting edge.

Twenty years after Suede emerged in 1993 with a self-titled debut album that kick-started the Britpop movement, there is “Bloodsports”, their most mature, elegant and confident production to date.

It comes after a decade’s separation during which the individual members took up solo and side projects and then a slew of sensational comeback concerts. Bassist Mat Osman tells us all about the new Suede. 

 

What is “Bloodsports” about?

It’s specifically about one relationship. Each song is supposed to be a fragment of that relationship. 

I think Brett [songwriter Anderson] wanted to portray it as a game that is nevertheless sometimes the most serious and most important thing in your life. Sometimes it’s a psychological game between two people. There’s ambiguity – you’re not quite sure whether it’s falling apart and violent, or it’s coming together and passionate. 

 

Did you feel a lot of pressure making this album?

Yes, and it ought to be like that. I quite like a bit of pressure. It shows that you’re trying to do your best. We spent 24 hours a day on it. 

 

What was it like getting back into the studio?

It was very strange because for the first two years we didn’t really do anything apart from playing the old songs. And that was really easy. It’s like being a family – if you don’t see someone in your family for a year it doesn’t make any difference in your feelings. 

But writing is completely different, because in those 10 years everyone had gone off in different musical directions. And it took us a good six months to learn to write as a band again, rather than as individuals. There were points we thought, ‘Well, maybe this doesn’t work,’ and of the first 20 songs we wrote, we threw away 19. 

And then it comes back – we become Suede again.

 

What’s been the most challenging part?

I think finding out who Suede are in 2013. We’re a band that has always been associated with youth and a certain kind of lifestyle, and none of us are like that anymore. It’s a test to find out whether what’s good for the band is something universal, or something of its time. I think it’s more of test to Brett than the rest of us. 

It was really interesting to watch the songs come in – songs about quite adult situations, marriages and relationships, but with a spark of youth to them. It’s a matter of being the band you’ve always been and not a parody of yourself. That’s one of the reasons the album took a long time to make. 

 

Are you gaining a lot of new fans? 

Obviously you want all the people who’ve seen the band before to come again, but you have to keep moving forward. And one of the absolute joys this time around is that, because of the Internet, a whole new generation of people has discovered the band. 

We were playing in South America, where we’ve never been before, and the audiences were quite young. They knew the words to every song from YouTube. For a band, it’s like having a blood transfusion. It just fills you with hope and energy. 

 

What about the older fans’ expectations?

One of the reasons we can’t play in London a lot is that so many people there have seen us 30 times before and remember us in 1992. If we play in Bangkok, lots of people will remember 1998, also the Britpop era, whereas, in places like South Africa, we’re a new band. And we are a new band now – we’re not the band from 1993. 

 

Are the social media good to you?

God, yes! After we played our first show back together, in Manchester, for the first time ever we came offstage and checked Twitter, and it was fascinating to read all the comments – the reactions about, say, how the slow songs went down. It’s so immediate. I love it! 

 

What about people taking video with camera-phones? 

I can’t stand that. I find it very crazy. If you want to watch us online, there are a million clips out there. The whole point of coming to a gig is to lose yourself in it, and it’s impossible to do that if you’re watching from a tiny little screen. We’re actually there in front of you!

 

How is life on the road together this time?

Fantastic! It’s a real cliché, but you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. When we were touring all the time in the ’90s it became just our ordinary day-to-day life. 

But it’s a ridiculously privileged thing to be able to travel the world with a group of people you like, get paid to do what you love and have people come to scream and shout at you. We had to have all that taken away from us to really appreciate it. I’m enjoying the shows so much more this time around. You know it’s fragile and could end anytime, but it’s still an incredible feeling being onstage in front of thousands of people who love the band. There’s nothing quite like it. 

 

Is this reunion going to last forever?

I honestly don’t know. We’re trying not to plan ahead or be business-like about it. At the moment we just want to do this stuff we enjoy, and we’ll keep doing that as long as it’s fresh. 

 

Will Bangkok see you again soon?

We’ll be coming to Asia in the autumn. I still remember very clearly James Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers coming back from Thailand and telling us that, when we played Japan, we should also play Thailand. He said, ‘They’re the best audience – you’ll love it!’ And that first gig we did in Bangkok is one of my most favourite gigs ever. We will definitely be back soon.