news archive

2003

November 22, 2003
>> sis announcement for the members
Hello Everybody,

First of all allow me to apologise for the delay in letting you all know what is going on with the Suede fanclub. In light of the recent developments in the Suede camp we will not be continuing the Suede Information Service in its current shape or form. The band have not ruled out the possibility of working together again at some stage in the future and so we will effectively be putting everyone's memberships into suspended animation, ready to be activated again if and when necessary.

By way of compensation for fanzines that you may not receive we are preparing a special CD exclusively for fanclub members. The CD, tracklisting yet to be finalised, will feature in the region of a dozen rare and previously unreleased tracks spanning all of Suede's career from the first album right up to the present day. We will be posting this CD out to all current fanclub members in the new year. Current fanclub members will include those whose membership expired with the last fanzine (number 34).

We are not accepting any more membership renewals or new members. If you have sent us renewal information in the past couple of weeks your email will be deleted or your cheque destroyed - we will return cash and international money orders - in other words we have not accepted payment from any of you since we realised that the fanclub would not be continuing as before. However, please keep us up to date with your email and postal addresses so we can let you know of any developments in the Suede camp.

Suede HQ will still be in operation at least up to until the end of the year so please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about anything Suede-related, we'll answer them as best we can. And we still have a wide selection of merchandise available, check your latest fanzine for details.

The website and forum will continue to run as usual and we will continue to add content from time to time, it's at http://www.suede.net

Many thanks for all your kind support over the years.

X Ben

November 17, 2003
>> david on bbc6
David Barnett, official Suede biographer, has gone on air on BBC6 today, 17.00 GMT, to talk about his book Love and Poison with Andrew Collins. It's a very amusing session, with some Suede songs in between. If you missed it you can have a listen right here [thanks Florence Gadeyne].

November 14, 2003
>> vega gig sold out
Suede's goodbye gig for their biggest supporter Denmark, to be held on December 1 in Vega, Copenhagen, was sold out in less than an hour.

November 8, 2003
>> brett's statement
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 enterered 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.

Brett

November 07, 2003
>> nothingness falls, emptiness calls
No official reason for the break has been released from the Suede Information Service. This decision was reached in a long meeting held on the evening of November 5th, 2003. The UK sales figure of Singles [no. 31] has been mentioned to have disappointed the band. There are also some extent of emotional tension running within the band, though no one wants to kill another. Nothing is set for the future yet at this moment. The destiny of the official fanclub will be announced within a few days.
>> my say...

November 06, 2003
>> they were my oxygen...
"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."

November 03, 2003
>> love and poison release!
Finally, the must-have biography book of Suede Love and Poison is given its nationwide release today. If you haven't got it, GO BUY IT. I must insist on recommending it to anyone who's interested in Suede.
To celebrate the release, those lovely people at Misshapes are throwing a Suede-themed party on Thursday 6th november where there will be copies of the book and other goodies up for grabs, plus more Suede tunes than you can shake your tits to. Don't miss it.

November 01, 2003
>> exclusive xfm download
On Thursday October 23rd Suede played an exclusive live session for Zoe Ball, touching on all eras of their amazing career. Brett and the band played some of their finest moments to date as requested, live, by the XFM listeners.
For a limited time the session tracks are being made available for download. The exclusive recordings include Animal Nitrate, Attitude and The Wild Ones. You can download the whole session (all three songs) for £3.00 or download an individual track for £1.50. to listen to previews and download the session tracks click here.

October 31, 2003
>> vote vote vote
Vote for www.suede.net as best artist website [here] and www.essentialsuede.com as best fansite [here] for this year's IMA! You'll stand a chance to win a safari, a car, a home entertainment system and lots more. Let's show them what an online community we have!

October 28, 2003
>> suede art in denmark
Suede are taking their exhibition of artwork and related visuals to denmark. The exhibition, similar to that displayed at the london ica recently will be at the ideal bar on the ground floor of the vega in Copenhagen for a month from Saturday November 8th.
To kick off the exhibition the band will be signing copies of the greatest hits album, Singles, and authorised biography, Love & Poison, at the ideal bar on Saturday November 8th at 4pm. Gaffa magazine will be selling books at the bar during the session and via their website, gaffa.dk.

October 27, 2003
>> chat with biography author tonight
Here's your chance to send your praises [or criticisms, if any] directly to biography author David Barnett as he kindly steps into our chatroom tonight at around 06.00 pm UK time! Click here for more info about how to get into the chatroom!

October 20, 2003
>> got attitude, get singles
Congratulations to the winners of the get a little bit of attitude competition. On a side note, Suede hits collection "Singles" is out today so go and grab it!

October 06, 2003
>> get a little bit of attitude
Commemorating the release of Suede's 20th single, The Essential Suede presents a special Attitude feature, including a little competition where you can try your luck at getting an Attitude promo single or exclusive ICA posters!

October 02, 2003
>> chat with suede
6 Music and BBCi will be hosting a live Suede webchat next Tuesday, October 7th between 7.30 and 8pm. Brett, Mat and Richard will be live at the BBC while Simon and Alex will also be fielding questions put to them via email and telephone from their homes.
As well as submitting questions live via the web, email and SMS we are inviting fans to submit their questions to the band in advance - Details to follow soon.
To access the webchat live point your browser at http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music or http://www.bbc.co.uk/music

October 01, 2003
>> free hmv gig
On October 21, 2003 Suede will play a special free gig at HMV, 150 Oxford Street London, starting 8.30 pm. Tickets can be obtained by simply buying the Singles album on its release date [October 20, 2003], maximum 2 tickets per purchase on a first come first served basis from 9am.
In addition, XFM's early evening Music Response show will be giving away tickets each day throughout the week beginning Monday 13th October and fans tuning into Virgin Radio's HMV Chart Show on Saturday 18th October will also have the opportunity to win tickets.
Fanclub members can also try their luck through a competition announced in the next issue of the Suede fanzine.

September 27, 2003
>> ica nights
Check out reports from the ICA gigs at our tourdates section, from September 22 through September 27.

September 19, 2003
>> dog man star
Unsurprisingly Dog Man Star won the BBC6 online vote and will be broadcast on December 14th 2003.

September 18, 2003
>> give a little bit of attitude
And so the promotion has begun - they're giving away a little bit of Attitude. Get yourself a free and limited Attitude slipcase to house all three formats of the single - to be released next month. All fanclub members will receive one with the next issue of the official fanzine.

September 13, 2003
>> there's a song playing on the radio
:: Broadcast of one of the ICA shows:
BBC 6Music are running a campaign to find out your favourite Suede album. The album that receives the most votes will be recorded live during Suede's residency at the ICA at the end of September. The concert will be broadcast on 14/12/03 with another repeat during the Christmas period. Here's BBC 6music's web page to vote http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/artists/suede.shtml

:: Interview with Brett:
On September 16 Brett will be guest on Andrew Collins show (16:00-19:00) http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/presenters/andrew_collins/

:: 2002 Royal Festival Hall broadcast:
BBC 6Music will also be broadcasting Suede's performance from the Royal Festival Hall from 2002 on September 24 between 22.00-23.00.

September 10, 2003
>> attitude
Listen to Attitude there... just click on the link and let the streaming play until you hear the song [don't hit 'Skip 5 mins'].

The track is released on double CD and DVD formats on 6 October, and is featured on their forthcoming ‘Singles’ compilation, due two weeks later on October 20. It comes backed across the formats with two brand new tracks, ‘Golden Gun’ and ‘Oxygen’, the demo version of ‘Attitude’, and two out-takes from the Suede archive, ‘Just A Girl’ and ‘Heroin’.

The DVD features an early version of ‘We’re So Disco’, which emerged as ‘WSD’, an Arthur Baker remix of ‘Head Music’, and the director Lindy Heymann’s cut of the ‘Attitude’ video.

‘Just A Girl’ was written by Brett Anderson before he formed Suede, and was recorded as a duet between Anderson and guitarist Richard Oakes shortly after Oakes joined the band in 1994.

August 30, 2003
>> real love and poison
The almost-final artwork of "Love and Poison" is on display at amazon.com where you can already pre-order the item. It smoothly oozes the whole essence of Suedesque art from time to time without repeating or parodying what have been done before. May I add that the author is appropriately credited as David Barnett.

The only change so far is that the logo has been moved somewhere more sensible than where it is shown here.

The picture will also be used for the cover of "Singles".
Click to see larger version.

August 29, 2003
>> everything will flow
Check Pukkelpop's website tonight for live streaming of Suede's performance from the festival straight from Belgium!

August 28, 2003
>> low rent glamour
Peter Crompton from lowrentglamour.com shares his points of view regarding the ICA gigs, as well as a fine interview with the SIS to support it. Check it out here.

August 22, 2003
>> winter sons
Suede announced a UK tour for December. Dates and details in the tourdates section.

August 16, 2003
>> singles
The greatest hits album, Singles, will contain all 19 singles plus 2 new tracks. The album will be released on October 20th and the supporting single will be Attitude, released on October 6th. For tracklist and more details check the upcoming section.

August 16, 2003
>> touts beware
Anyone who's planning to sell [or bid for] the tickets to next month's series of gigs better beware. SIS have tracked down who sold the tickets on eBay and have promptly invalidated them.
Up until invalidation, ticket bids went crazy - highest bid for 2 Coming Up tickets were GBP 26.00, for Dog Man Star were GBP 83.00, and for the debut album night the highest bid reached GBP 104.00.

August 15, 2003
>> we want suede!
Ticket sale for the London gigs next month has outraged many fans. The venue capacity is only 350 per night, and tickets were to be ordered by phone where they had 4 operators standing by. Although SIS members - which count at around 10,000 souls at the moment - were given a chance to buy tickets yesterday, 4 days in advance of general sale, tickets were sold out in matter of minutes. Not only due to the ridiculously limited space, but also because many who got through bought to the max limitation - 4 per member, some to be re-sold as eBay could testify.
Seeing as this is a series of special shows and fans are keen on flying to London from all over the world for the gigs, this is probably one of the biggest Suede event ever and one couldn't help wondering why Suede chose such a miniscule venue for it.

August 8, 2003
>> see it, hear it all
From the SIS:
To commemorate the release of their long-awaited greatest hits collection, Singles, Suede will be taking over the Institute Of Contemporary Art from Monday 22nd September for a week-long celebration of their illustrious career as pop pioneers.

Suede will play five unique concerts, each of them featuring a different Suede album in its entirety. This will be the first time many of these songs have ever been performed live in public - and almost certainly the only chance to hear some of them ever. To make each night even more special, Suede will encore with a selection of b-sides and rarities, chosen by the fans themselves from the broad sweep of Suede's rich musical heritage.

Dates are as follows:
Monday 22nd September - Suede
Tuesday 23rd September - Dog Man Star
Thursday 25th September - Coming Up
Friday 26th September - Head Music
Saturday 27th September - A New Morning

Tickets go on general sale from Monday, August 18th.

In addition to these very special concerts, the ICA will also be holding an exhibition of Suede artwork and memorabilia from over the years.

August 7, 2003
>> curious quills
According to NME, the official biography book will be out on November 3.

July 28, 2003
>> singles
The greatest hits album most likely will be called "Singles", and will probably include Stay Together which the band weren't keen to include in the first place. Next single is most likely be Golden Gun, a rocking Suede tune which have been played live a few times so far. Stay tuned for more news [and rumours] regarding this album.

July 23, 2003
>> love and poison
The official biography book, written by David Barnett - long time Suede insider, credited as "Dave Barnett" - will be entitled "Love & Poison - The Authorised Biography". The draft is ready, and the book will hit the shelves in late October 2003. You can even pre-order now at Amazon.
This book will take even the most devoted fan by surprise with its revealing details that no one ever knew before. That alone, with Barnett's sharp wit and humour, makes this a definitely must have Suede-bible!
Click on the cover art to see larger picture.

On a less official note, we are also expecting another Suede book by another Dave: "Suede - The Biography" by Dave Thompson. Renowned for his David Bowie book, Thompson could be delivering something interesting here.
It's also going to be released later this year, and you can also pre-order this at Amazon.
Click on the cover art to see larger picture.

July 22, 2003
>> green, yellow, orange
To coincide with Suede's recent appearances at the Grøn Koncert series of festivals in Denmark, A New Morning has been released in that country with an additional bonus disc featuring live tracks from the band's legendary Roskilde performance in 1999 where the group played all three stages over three days. The bonus disc contains over 45 minutes of music with songs taken from each of the stages. The full tracklisting is:

The CD is available in Danish stores but you can also order it online from CDON
The pressing is limited to 5,000 copies so don't expect it to be available for long.

July 21, 2003
>> go green
The Green Concert tour in Denmark finally reached its end yesterday. Suede played 7 gigs in 10 days [11-20 July 2003]. Read the journal of the Danish Suedeheads who attended all shows in the tour, here in the gig journal section!

June 28, 2003
>> glastonbury blast
Suede were electrifying at Pyramid stage, Glastonbury last night. Broadcast live in BBC3 and webcast later on by Playlouder, they're in an excellent condition and they even played 2 new songs among classics. Full report here....

June 27, 2003
>> glasto online tonight!
Suede's performance are being webcast for you who don't have tickets or stuck at the wrong coordinates of the Earth. Don't miss it, who knows how many new tracks will be webcast! [Being hopeful is not a sin ;-)]
Check this link tonight - Suede will be on at about 19.10 British Summer Time!

Watching from your tiny room seems too... lonely? Join our chatroom, opening all the way before-during-after the webcast, for discussions and all that jazz with fellow fans!

June 24, 2003
>> new tracks revealed
Thessaloniki, Greece, 23/06/2003: Suede premiered 5 new songs plus Love the Way You Love which was premiered earlier this year in Denmark. What a treat! More info here....

June 23, 2003
>> glastonbury performance online
Can't go to Glastonbury? Fret not. Here's an official statement from the SIS:
"Suede's performance at Glastonbury this Friday will be webcast live by Playlouder. You can also see it on Freeserve. Suede take the stage at 19.10 British Summer Time."

May 17, 2003
>> new titles, new direction
From Brett Anderson himself at the official forum:
"Most of the new material is more aggressive and less song based than ANM.We're spending a lot of time working on tracks that sound nothing like traditional Suede. There's a kind of electronic reggae thing called "Attitude",an insane metallic robot march called "Golden Gun" and a punky thrash called "I Don't Need a High". I needed to write something as soulful as ANM at the time but now that's out of my system and it's time to RELEASE THE BEAST."

May 15, 2003
>> new official forum
The official suede website now opens a new, improved forum, replacing the unmoderated & plain chat-style one that's been there before. If you're a regular at the old one, the new one may look complicated, but give it some time to get used to and enjoy the enhanced features.

May 07, 2003
>> fanclub membership
There's a slight change regarding the membership of the official fanclub, Suede Information Service. Memberships had been valid for 12 months before you had to renew. Now, it's valid for 4 issues of the Suede magazine. Read more about it here.

April 22, 2003
>> curious quills
An official book about the band is currently being written, and is expected to be out some time later this year. It's said to hold more than a few surprises, and undoubtedly will be 'the' essential reading for fans, so get ready!

April 03, 2003
>> more news, new album
Preceding their two-date gigs in Århus, Denmark, Suede held a press conference today in which some more latest news are revealed:
They will perform Daddy's Speeding on Friday, The Asphalt World on Saturday, and a new song Love the Way You Love which Brett described as "brutal, but has simple lyrics". They will also mix their own favourite album tracks and b-sides.
Then, a proper new album is due out next year - no more extensive waiting! And, unfortunately there are no plans for a Sci-Fi 2 or a live album.

March 31, 2003
>> happy anniversary and more
The weekend chat [28-30 March] to celebrate the debut album's 10th anniversary was great fun. Thanks to everyone who came by.

On the first night, SIS' own David Barnett kindly dropped by and answered our endless Suedey questions... about the debut album and more.
Here are some latest news he shared with us that night:

• Suede are currently in the studio for new materials for the greatest hits album. They were contractually obliged to release their greatest hits after their fifth studio album, and have to provide two new songs for it. So they're keen to get on with it as soon as possible.
• No 3rd single off A New Morning. The band wanted to release Lost in TV but the only territory/affiliate that wanted it was Denmark - hence it's being released there as a promo only radio release.
• There is a new chart rule which states that a double cds 2nd cd has to contain 80 percent the same songs as cd1 - which makes it hard for a double cd Greatest Hits release.

March 08, 2003
>> europe is our playground
Suede are going to play in Århus, Denmark on April 4 and April 5 in a small venue called Train [www.train.dk]. Again in Denmark, they will join the Grøn Koncert tour which will be held from July 11 through July 20. Danish fans get ready!

March 06, 2003
>> summer festivities
Suede are currently in the studio to begin work on new material for possible inclusion on a prospective greatest hits package. At present the record is provisionally scheduled for release towards the end of this year. Meanwhile, they're also going to make appearances in several summer festivals around Europe. The first one to be confirmed is for Glastonbury, where they will be playing with the likes of Super Furry Animals and Radiohead, NME.com revealed.

February 13, 2003
>> fined act
As a result of Brett taking off his t-shirt in Singapore [more of that here], the promoters were fined. lol. Read more bits from Charlie Charlton's tour diary at suede.net

February 06, 2003
>> knickers auction
The "Star Draws Auction", a fundraising campaign by the Bristol Cancer Help Centre, gives us the opportunity to bid for a pair of knickers signed by Suede!
If you want them [c'mon, admit it!] better hurry, the auction will close on February 14th [next week].
To see or bid visit the star draws page here.

January 29, 2003
>> instant sunshine
A commemorative 6 track EP is released today in Japan only, to coincide with the band's current Japanese tour. Entitled Instant Sunshine [catalogue number EICP188], the EP collects together all six b-sides from the three UK formats of recent single Obsessions. The release includes lyrics to all six tracks in Japanese and English.

January 28, 2003
>> top suede sites
This maybe a little late, I forgot all about it: late last year there was this Interactive Music Awards held by dotmusic.com, including a People's Choice Award for fansites.
From the Suede camp we have 3 sites in the final top 1000: The Essential Suede [257], Stine Bauer's suede.dk [235], and David Gejlemo's Suede Station [148].
Click here to see full list of the sites that made it to Top 1000.

January 27, 2003
>> suede rocked singapore
Reports from Suede in Singapore: MTV Asia Awards [some stills] and the gig!

January 24, 2003
>> my obsession
Exclusive report and photos from Jakarta - after all these years, I finally managed to feature an exclusive report from my own hands! Read all about their press conference and gig, by obsessive Suede hunters: me and my sister Caroline!

January 09, 2003
>> watch suede for free
Check out promoter javamusikindo's website, specifically "interaction" section - "quiz". There's a quiz to win pairs of Suede tickets for the upcoming Jakarta gig. Questions are very easy and definitely worth trying! Good luck!