Brett Anderson Turns His Back On Britpop

2 weeks ago 07th Nov 08:15

One of the most familiar faces of 90s Britpop, Brett Anderson became one of the movement's most prominent figures as frontman of Suede.

Forming the band in 1989 with then-girlfriend Justine Frischmann - who later went on to carve a career as singer of Elastica - the group enjoyed numerous line-up changes before settling on Brett, guitarist Bernard Butler, drummer Simon Gilbert and bassist Mat Osman.

Debut single 'The Drowners' marked them out as vastly different from the dying out Madchester scene, and the group enjoyed widespread critical acclaim with their self-titled debut record.

Several additional line-up changes - including Bernard leaving and being replaced by 17-year-old Richard Oakes midway between recording second album 'Dog Man Star' - affected the band's sound throughout their career, from a poppy, commercial third LP in 'Coming Up' to keyboard-heavy electronica on 'Head Music', but Brett's distinctive voice always held the band together with an undeniably trademark sound.

a bisexual man who had never had a homosexual experience

The group's final album, 2002's 'A New Morning', proved to be a disaster, however, failing to receive support from either fans or critics, prompting the group to disband in October 2003.

Always an engaging and enigmatic frontman, there was little doubt that Brett - with his heroin and cocaine addictions behind him - would not disappear from the music scene for good.

Now 42, the singer who once described himself as "a bisexual man who had never had a homosexual experience" appears in perfect health, and though the make-up and long hair may be long gone, Brett still retains his androgynous look and can still move on stage as well now as his hey-day 15 years ago.

As he releases third solo LP 'Slow Attack' this week, BANG Showbiz caught up with him to discuss reunions, the safety of being in a band and his literary ambitions.

Q: Several bands from the 90s - such as Blur and Shed Seven - have reformed recently. What do you think about that?

A: It's just making money isn't? Everyone's got bills to pay.

Q: So does that mean you would never get Suede back together?

A: I can't tell you whether that's true or not to be honest. I never thought that I'd do lots of things and I ended up doing them because I never really see beyond my next project. I email Simon and Mat often. I invited them to my wedding, so absolutely.

Bernard I see occasionally when we bump into each other and have a chat. There's no bad blood with the former members of Suede, it ended because - and unfortunately, it's always more interesting to have an exciting story and a punch-up - but really, as with most bands, they end because they just get a bit bored with it and they want to do something else. It's not like a plotline from TV- some of them are - but you want to do something else. I felt creatively like I didn't know where to go with it. I felt like I needed to find my creative thing again and I wasn't finding it within the framework of being in a band.

Q: Do you miss being in a band?

A: I'd quite like to make a band record again actually, the last couple of records I've made have been me in the studio with a piano, I would like to make a record with a band. I don't mean that I want to form a band, but I'd like to have musicians in a room.