loveandpoison.org: band info

Full name: Brett Lewis Anderson Position in Suede: lead vocalist, songwriter Birthplace: Haywards Heath, West Sussex Birthday: Friday--September 29, 1967 Zodiac: Libra Sibling(s): Blondine Favourite Suede songs: The Wild Ones, Saturday Night, He's Dead, My Dark Star Favourite David Bowie song: Bewlay's Brothers Favourite color: purple Favourite soup: Gazpacho Favourite football club: Ipswich Town Favourite insult: Piss up a rope Life long ambition he had achieved: Suede Future dream: world peace Brett Anderson was one of the founder member of Suede. Raised in Haywards Heath with Mat, he was studying at the Oathall Community College after high school. In his A levels he got three C's for math, physics and chemistry. He majored town and country planning but then he changed courses after meeting Justine Frischmann who majored architecture. She then became his live-in girlfriend for 3 years and a part of Suede. His favourite place in Haywards Heath was the railway station, because it's the only way out. At the age of 8, he wrote an essay against vandals defacing trees. When he was around 12, he played sports seriously and he even ended up in the school team. He held the school record for the 800m for a couple of years. He said, "It was the only way to avoid getting beaten up. All the bullies tended to leave the kids who were good at sport alone..." One of his first jobs was DJ-ing in Manchester. His father, Peter Anderson was, and is, a taxi driver who drives a Silver Maestro cab and is very fond of Franz Liszt. He and Brett could argue about, "Is classical music better than pop music?" Other than classical music, Brett's father loves historical figures like Nelson and Churchill. Brett's mother was an unsuccessful actress who died of cancer in 1989. She named Brett after Roger Moore's character, Lord Brett Sinclair, in her favourite TV show The Persuaders. Brett loved his mother. His sister left their house when she was only 16. She used to take part in 'the battle of the volume' by playing Kate Bush while his father played Franz Lizst and Brett played Crass. As a child Brett once dreamed of being dead and going to hell. He met the devil and he had to persuade the devil to let him live again. He couldn't find a rational argument so he plead and plead. Brett wanted to be a rock star since he was very young and he simply thought that other people did too. He had many bedroom bands in his youth like The Pigs which theme song became the root of We Are The Pigs; or Geoff which he formed with Mat. He recalled that none of his band members could really play. His musical career was started when he moved to London in 1988. He worked hard for his dreams and now he has become a rock star as he always wanted. Brett always has an idea of how a perfect band should be and he implemented it on Suede (successfully, if I may add). He's currently dating an Indian model called Sam; he has a cat named Fluffington and he has a flatmate named Alan Fischer. Brett moves from one apartment to another frequently. He's fond of olives but he's allergic to mushroom. Brett likes to smoke a lot and he can juggle oranges.	Full name: Richard John Oakes Position in Suede: guitarist, songwriter Birthplace: Perivale, West London Birthday: Friday--October 1, 1976 Zodiac: Libra Sibling(s): Kate, Stephan Favourite insult: Cobblers! Hobby: sleep Lovetype: sexy Lifelong ambition he had achieved: No.1 album Lifelong ambition he hadn't achieved: No.1 single What he was on his previous life: stray cat What he wants to be carved on his gravestone: Cobblers! Richard Oakes was raised in Poole, Dorset although he was born in London. His first contact with guitars was when he stumbled on his sisters' Spanish guitar and he was learning chords ever since. The record that turned his way into music was "The Story Of The Clash" when he was 12. He used to have a band called "TED" with his mate Pete before he joined Suede. He replaced Bernard Butler after beating hundreds of other candidates in an audition. The first time he played for Suede was on the Tops of the Pops while his first appearance in a live show took place in a secret gig at London's Raw Club on October 7, 1994. The first song he played live was We Are The Pigs. Richard went to a Suede gig once before he joined in and it was the first concert he'd ever been to. Later on he heard about Bernard's departure and he knew he could do something for the band. He recorded a demo using a Yamaha keyboard as his backing music and he sent it along with a letter to Suede. He confessed that in the letter he didn't write 'Please let me play for Suede'; he wrote 'Take me or leave me' and that's what they liked. While Brett was listening to the demo tape, Simon walked in and thought that it was a long forgotten Suede tape. In the audition Richard was pretty sure that he'd got the job. He played Heroine in his first audition, and played The 2 Of Us in the second audition after the band realized that he could play piano. Their mouths were telling him to come back the next week but their eyes were saying that he got the job, he said. So he went home and he told his cat that he's got it. He officially joined Suede in September 17, 1994, exactly 2 weeks before his 18th birthday. The first video he starred in was We Are The Pigs while the first song he wrote for Suede was Together. Richard usually washes his face before performing and he's the only member who--infrequently--drinks beer before going on stage. He wears contact lenses on his performances and he wears glasses off stage. His favourite foods are McDonalds, brown rice, while his favourite drinks are beer, water and cider. About sports, he would love to do decathlon. Richard loves to sleep a lot. He's the only Suede member who doesn't smoke; also the only one who's totally not a vegetarian. He's known to be very confident about himself, which is good. Brett revealed once that although Richard is much younger than him, Richard could be much more mature in writing songs. Richard, as Bernard did, plays a red Gibson. His mother, Maureen Oakes, once worried about him joining Suede at the tender age of 17. "He seemed so young and the rock and roll lifestyle is notorious isn't it? But he doesn't even smoke!", she revealed. She also admits that she was happy to see Richard gained weight in the run-up to the release of Head Music. She said it's better to over-indulge in food than in drugs.
Full name: Matthew David Osman Position in Suede: bassist, songwriter Birthplace: Welwyn Garden City Birthday: Monday--October 9, 1967 Zodiac: Libra Sibling(s): Ricky Favourite insult: Twat/You rancorous coilfurled old sow Favourite soup: Shawaks Indian Favourite pet: cat Favourite football team: Crystal Palace Hero of all time: Homer Simpson Worst habit: loud flatulence Lifelong ambition he had achieved: No.1 in Finland Lifelong ambition he hadn't achieved: beat anyone in Suede at cards What he was on his previous life: Osman II The Lunatic King Of Turkey What he wants to be carved on his gravestone: I told you I was ill People's biggest misconception about him: That I'm in Suede Mat Osman was a childhood friend of Brett, and also one of the founder member of Suede. He was raised in Haywards Heath and he continued his studies to London in the London Economy College. Mat is the tallest member of the band, and also the one with the best sense of humour. He admitted that being in Suede has always been his dream. He doesn't have any idea on what would he be doing without the band...an elegant toilet cleaner maybe, he said. However he also admitted that he never had enough sleep on Suede tours and he sometimes get confused about who he is and where he is. He often gets trouble getting through airports because of his favorite metal-toed boots he carries everywhere. Having endless legs and lofty body, he often got hidden behind his bandmates in pictures. On Suede's usual stage formation he stands behind Neil. The best thing about Suede for Mat is the songs. He feels so good when the five of them sit together listening to a song that's almost finished. Nothing feels like that, according to Mat. He also thinks music is the best form of art and pop music is underrated. So far he had only written Europe Is Our Playground, an everlasting favourite. As Brett said, "It took him 29 years to write the fucker, but it's worth it." Indeed. Mat spends all his money on CDs. He can buy 20 pieces at a single purchase, in belief that he would find at least 1 great song that he could play for the rest of the band. He thinks it's the best buy.	Full name: Simon Gilbert Position in Suede: Drummer Birthplace: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire Birthday: May 23, 1965 - Sunday Zodiac: Gemiani Sibling(s): Sarah Blood type: A - Treasure: Dog Words he says often: "You know what I mean ?" Four words to describe himself: "I am a drummer" Favourite insult: "You little shit !" Favourite soup: "Tomato" Song he wished he had written: "Happy Birthday" Lifelong ambition he had achieved: "Living" Lifelong ambition he hadn't achieved: "More living" What he wants to be carved on his gravestone: "RIP dead poof" Simon Gilbert was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. He is Neil's cousin but they didn't meet much in their childhood. Simon is openly gay. He was once beaten up by a gay basher in 1995 while he was walking out of a gay bar with Paul Codling [Neil's older brother] who's also a gay. Paul was being beaten as well. Simon was selling tickets in London ULU when he was recruited by Suede. He said that drums are the easiest instruments to play. On their first video, Animal Nitrate, Simon admitted that all his mother's friends thought "Brett was a woman". He likes reading fanzines and he has them stacked up in his mother's house. He also likes to tape his band with his camera.He likes it so much that he's already got over 60 tapes of Suede on road[3 hours each]. Some of his shots are used in the Europe Is Our Playground video and some others are featured as the multimedia in Filmstar single. It would be useful as he was very forgetful, he said. He can also show off in front of his family and friends, not to mention how memorial his collection would be if Suede have to split for some reasons. Simon has a dog called George, a cute golden retriever that appeared in the beginning of Saturday Night video. He takes George out a lot while he's not touring and he talks about it a lot on tours. George takes Pedigree as his food. Simon is known to be very friendly to his fans. He also likes to throw his drum sticks to the audience after gigs, who would happily fight to get those. And Simon likes to smoke. His bandmates see him as the most vain member of the band, and the best dressed. A couple of years ago he met his father who he never met before. His sister tracked him down, and he turned out to be a sound technician at BBC. Simon started to worry about what he'd think about his band's sound quality.
Full name: Alex Lee Position in Suede: Keyboards [Wurlitzer Electric Piano],Back Guitar [Fender Telecaster] Birthplace: ??? Birthday: 16 March 1970,Monday Zodiac: Pisces Sibling(s): ??? Favorite Suede songs: The Wild Ones,Trash,Lost In TV Favorite Food: Anything spicy,roast potatoes,Tom Yum soup Favorite Films: Gregory's Girl,Godfather 2,Abigail's Party Favorite Pet:None. Favorite Books:American Psycho [Brett Easton Ellis],Head-on [Julian Cope The Sopranos Alan Warner] Favorite Bands:Captain Beefheart + The Magic Band,Chic,The Beach Boys,The Pixies,Tom Waits Previous Bands:Lupine Howl,Strangelove,Blue Aeroplanes ['89-'91 vintage] Having previously played in various bands including indie stalwarts the Jazz Butcher and the Blue Aeroplanes,Alex Lee's connection with Suede goes back to early 95.Then,as a member of Strangelove,he supported Suede at the tail-end of the Dog Man Star tour,including a show at London's Albert Hall. The two bands had something of mutual appreciation society going on and at one show in Spain,famously covered each others songs.Strangelove played Killing Of A Flashboy while Suede offered She's Everywhere (then still know by its working title,Spacey Viby Thing),from Strangelove's forthcoming second album. Later that year Brett and Richard both added their vocal talents to two of the tracks on the album in question,the classic Love and Other Demons,largely written by Alex Lee.Brett sang on She's Everywhere,with Richard joining him on Living With Human Machines,the first single to be lifted from the album. Strangelove were later hand-picked by Suede to support them at one of their trio Christmas shows at the Roundhouse,London 1996. The Suede connection was to prove something of a help and a hindrance for Strangelove who became "the Suede fans' second favorite band" and had to put up with endless requests for Flash Boy from the front row.They attracted extreme reactions from the music press,who either loved or hated them and were sometimes unfairly dismissed as humorless miserablists on account of their uncompromising sound and singer Patrick Duff's dark lyrics and deeply intense vocal style.Despite some high praise from the likes of Radiohead who cited them as a massive influence and a couple of near missies at the charts with Beautiful Alone and The Greatest Show On Earth,Strangelove sadly disintegrated an eponymous third album in 1998. Alex went on to work with the Warm Jets until he was put on stand-by as Neil's understudy in 99 when it became clear that Neil might not be able to complete the rigorous schedule of the Head Music world tour.Alex then had the unenviable task of filling Neil's shoes at a number of European promotional engagements,learning all Neil's parts while trying to stay as much in the background as possible.His first UK show with Suede was at Poole Arts Centre in October 99 and from then he completed the rest of the band's UK and European dates that year. While Neil had recovered sufficiently to perform at the last show of the tour at tel Aviv in January last year,Alex had kept in touch and sent a few song ideas to Brett,who worked on them during his sabbatical at his country retreat last year.One of these,reworked by the rest of the band,emerged as one the first demos for the new album,recorded at Parkgate in May.For the second set of demos,Alex actually joined in the five members of Suede in the studio to add parts to another of his compositions. Both songs made it on to the Iceland setlist in October,but other than that it looked like Alex's link with Suede was over.Neil seemed to be fighting fit - Brett even made a joke about him returning "back from the dead" - while Alex had started working with ex-members of Spiritualized in Lupine Howl. So when Neil made the shock announcement that he was bowing out from the band after almost five years,Alex was the obvious choice as his replacement.He still has a few commitments with Lupine Howl to complete,but other than that is now a fully fledged member of Suede and is already rehearsing new songs,with the new line-up set to begins recording the album number five in May.
Full name: Neil John Codling Position in Suede: keyboard player, backing vocalist, songwriter Birthplace: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire Birthday: Wednesday--December 5, 1973 Zodiac: Sagittarius Sibling(s): Paul Favourite Suede songs: The Wild Ones, Filmstar, Money Favourite football team: Aston Villa Favourite soup: Mulligatawny Favourite soap: Eastenders Favourite insult: Why don't you fuck off! Long life ambition he hadn't achieved: Learning to high jump Song he wishes he has written: I'll Be Your Mirror (Velvet Underground) What he wants to be carved on his gravestone: Here lies Neil Codling...he's dead Neil Codling comes from a rather wealthy family. He was raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, the beautiful town of Shakespeare. He was going to Bridgetown J and I on his elementary years, continued on to King Edward V School on his high school years. On October 1992 he moved to Hull, majoring English and Drama in university. He graduated three years later with 2:1 (which means he's very good). He didn't see his cousin Simon Gilbert a lot in his childhood, only on Christmas. His entrance to Suede often being taken cynically by public due to his handsome look. He got in the band after he hung around their studio so much...at that time he was living nearby the studio in London. He came to borrow a suit from Simon and just sort of stayed, recalled Brett about him. He never got the suit, though. Neil is an occasional model and he often got thrown by his bandmates to smile sweetly and look handsome for magazines while they're off doing something else. His first appearance for Suede took place in Hanover Grand, on a secret fanclub gig. It was January 27, 1996. His first public performance with Suede was on September 1996. On stage he often looks bored. Sometimes he even smokes between his turns to play, like when the band's playing an old song of theirs. He admits that to be a kind of image for him. However in studio he's not as relaxed as he looks on stage. He does work hard for the band. His favorite song to play live is Picnic by the Motorway. Neil is the best cricket player in the band, and also the best smoker. He often found in hotel lobbies early in the morning, smoking and snapping couldn't sleep. He can juggle oranges, not more than 3 at a time, and he would like to fence. Neil often does brown-rice diet and fasts. He recommended the brown-rice diet to Brett during the process of recording Coming Up. In fact he looked pale one evening during one of his fasts, and he came up the next morning with Starcrazy. He contributes his vocals on a marvellous b-side Digging A Hole, which he wrote by himself. Neil has a dreadful on-line bookstore habit. He would order obscure fiction, medical, philosophical books -- anything he could get his hands on, and later he'd get their manager pay for them because he doesn't have a credit card.	Bernard Butler is not the man to turn to if you want to be reassured that rock'n'roll excess is alive and well. He's not a pop star to put his life on a pedestal and tell you about your life like it's noticed in passing from a lofty perch. He could have done it of course, could have walked the walk with leather trousers squeaking on his hips and string sections pouring money down the drain. But it would be a lie, as much of a lie as if he made his words fit the moments from his past that people think they should fit. Bernard Butler turned his back on tricks like that to get back to what music was really about. 'Friends and Lovers' is the album he's made after finding it. "Everything is so fucking precious to me when it comes to writing songs," Butler says, in a cafe not too far from the leafy streets on North London where both the man and the album were born. "I've left the groups because of it, I've done all these mad, un-career like things in order to chase this stupid musical dream, and I have been mis-interpreted at every step. And I've known the only reason is the fire." It's had to burn pretty brightly at times for Bernard Butler to make it through. Through Suede and his brief collaboration with David McAlmont, Butler found enough of it to be considered one of the greatest British Songwriters of the 1990s. And with 'People Move On', his debut album released at the start of 1998, he'd found enough of it to shrug off the criticisms and self-doubt that had prevented him singing his own songs. But there was still something waiting to get out... "There's certain things I held back all along that I was too scared to say until this record. This is the first time that I am totally happy with it. I couldn't get everything that I wanted to in the last one. It was honest, but it was honest about half the story rather than the whole story. This is much more brutal and much more decisive. I feel I've got much more out on this record." Butler hasn't felt the need to turn a fire into a bonfire. 'People Move On' washed it's most thoughtful moments with a layered sheen and boosted it's rumbling electricity with track and tracks and yet more tracks of guitar. But second time around it seems less is more. Recorded in London and mixed in New York (with Nirvana and Jeff Buckley collaborator Andy Wallace) 'Friends and Lovers' returns to riff-driven songs that Butler temporarily put on the shelf last time. "Everything on the last record was going towards 48 tracks nearly every song apart from a couple of acoustic ones... 'Woman I Know' with all its overdubs was pretty huge, and everything on this one was 24 tracks or under. That was the decision I made, we're using one machine from start to finish, and we're not using strings either." "I think this record is very guitar based, much more so than the last one, much more electric guitar based. I think I've been a lot more simple and direct and got back to playing riffs rather than playing acoustic with lots of lead overdubs. 'I'd Do It Again If I Could' and 'Friends and Lovers' are just good guitar riffs, and you know when you're writing you can't let go of stuff like that, you've got to do something with it." Musically 'Friends and Lovers' pulls no punches - when it's bold, it's not because of a string section to force a point, but because Butler's riffs simply don't need any embellishment. Listen to 'You Must Go On' and you know it's the kind of song one with a chorus so natural it should be organically certified - that the likes of chart-topping Robbie Williams wish they had at their command. The post-punk wall of sound that Butler built for McAlmont and Butler and 'People Move On' had been dismantled brick by brick to leave something else, a simple approach that never sounds consciously stripped-back, trading vast string fills and massive banks of guitars with Hammond swirls and sparkling piano trills. But music's just one thing. As the man himself has said, it's taken a long time for Bernard Butler to feel comfortable talking about who he is and what he feels. "No more. I love the words on this record, a lot of it is tongue in cheek, 'Friends and Lovers' as a title is completely tongue in cheek. I don't know what people will make of it. Half the time with a lot of these songs I didn't know what to make of it. On the last record I wouldn't have done them. "cos I would have thought, 'Is this appropriate, can I get away with this, is this OK?'. And this record I thought, 'Fuck it, I'll say what I want', and if it sounded slightly unusual or odd or didn't remind me of another lyricist then that was cool." There aren't many songwriters who would bring themselves to write a song like 'Precious' either, a sparse, naked acoustic song that peers inside what seems to be a tortured, confessional psyche, when all the time it's Butler looking on bemused at what some people expect him to be. "'Precious' is about me as a songwriter and the predicament I feel myself in, when I'm sitting in my attic writing songs and suddenly I think 'God I'm a wanker! Can I say that about myself. Is this me or the nutcase in the back of my head, is this my fantasy person, am I Billy Liar is this me?'" But deep down away from the preconceptions of those who don't really know what goes on in the life of this happily married dad of one, Bernard Butler knows that 'Friends and Lovers' isn't born from a fantasy world. And he knows the decision he's made. To take the dream this far, isn't a light one. "I was aware that this was a craft and it was going to be something that I would have to step into, very secretly on my own, and decide whether I was comfortable with it... Being the sole songwriter was never going to be a big problem for me, I knew I could come up with the millions of melodies. It was a case of would I be comfortable, writing words? And that was the biggest shock of all that I was really comfortable with writing, and it did it for me, right from the start." "It was a real serious lifetime discovery, mainly because it happened in my mid 20s rather than in my mid teens... I knew a lot of people would hate me for it, but I knew if it was good I could see it through. I knew I would never want to be an amazing technical singer. The people I admired and the people I was into had very natural voices where there's an X factor of emotion that can't be placed in the quality of the voice, there was just something about it." "Whatever people are getting out of it, of my guitar playing, I wanted them to get out of my voice. I knew that had to be the ideal. I think I have achieved it." taken from www.bernardbutler.com
Justine was Brett's girlfriend and guitarist of Suede but she left Suede in 1990 and build her new group Elastica in 1992 and releaed their self-titled first album in 1995 does: vocals, rhythm guitar, songs (she usually co-writes with Donna)ie:connection, a mean snarl on most pictures and lots of media attention Justine had her 29th birthday on the past September 16th.. making her a Virgo! A little band history: Justine was the member who first intiated Elastica, she called Justin once he left his band Spitfire. She started off joining bands as a guitarist (never a singer) including Suede, and you can hear her play on the earliest Suede singles "Art", "Be My God" and "Wonderful Sometimes". She left Suede because she felt like she was "just a girl in the back." So Justin, Justine and Damon Albarn of Blur started off playing together, Damon on bass. YEAH, SEE THAT ANIMAL is a Suede song Brett Anderson gave her permission to re-work. INteresting Facts. etc. She knows every Frank Sinatra song (her mom used to sing them all and play his records all the time) Multitasker: she learned classical guitar at 11, then did piano, and later many wind instruments the flute? "I know what we're not. If I knew what we were we'd stop because it'd be boring. Then we'd go and be something else." She wears black most of the time, big boots, has short black hair which used to be long but she cut it (liberation from an ex-bf who loved her hair). A great thing about Justine is she'll sign your 7" and pose for a picture, too. go there for some lucky people who got to pose with her...