3rd July 2023
Suede talk NME through their ‘Firsts’
Brett Anderson and Mat Osman recall a host of their earliest musical memories
By NME
Suede‘s career may span over three decades, but two of the band’s founding members Brett Anderson and Mat Osman still fondly recall their respective early forays into music.
Those early memories form the basis of the latest instalment in our Firsts video series, in which the Suede pair look back on a host of their musical first times during a sit-down at The Social in central London. Anderson, for instance, remembers falling in love with the Sex Pistols as a youngster, recalling how the pioneering punks “were the first band that felt like they were my band” and musically were “as far away as I could get from my parents'” music taste at the time.
Anderson and Osman also name the first CDs they ever bought (it’s no surprise to hear that Anderson quickly got his hands on a copy of ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’), the first jobs they had and the first bands they were ever a part of. Forget Suede: how about ‘Suave and Elegant’, the name of Anderson’s first band?
As for their memories of their first live performances, Anderson says of their rough-around-the-edges results: “Those early gigs, inevitably you’re rubbish. But I think there’s something quite lovely about not being able to do it, overcoming it and becoming resilient. For the first three years [of Suede], we just weren’t very good live! And that ended up becoming a strength.”
Check back at NME soon for more Firsts interviews with some of music and entertainment’s biggest names. For now, though, you can revisit our recent Firsts interviews with the likes of Peter Crouch, Liam Gallagher, Interpol, Lucy Dacus, Måneskin and Pabllo Vittar.
This week sees the release of new project called ‘Suede30’ – celebrating three decades of their acclaimed self-titled debut.
Arriving on July 7 will be special limited edition 30th anniversary releases – offering up their 1993 self-titled debut in a newly mixed and mastered format. Containing the fan favourites and era classics ‘Animal Nitrate’, ‘So Young’, ‘The Drowners’ and ‘Metal Mickey’, the LP hit Number One upon first release, selling over 100,000 copies in its first week and becoming the fastest-selling debut album ever in the UK at that time before going on to win the Mercury Music Prize.
The band will be celebrating this album and their acclaimed 2022 album ‘Autofiction‘ as they wrap up touring at the end of the year. See the full list of dates below and buy your tickets here.
https://www.nme.com/features/music-inte ... Io9KynxSuU