Blood sweat and years; Hard working Suede bridge decade gap to make welcome Irish return. (2024)

Byline: With MAEVE QUIGLEY The Big Interview

Blood sweat and years Hard working Suede bridge decade gap to makewelcome Irish return It's been around a decade since Suede lastgraced the stage in Northern Ireland so it's only fitting theirreturn is a headline show at Belsonic on August 24.

And later this year Suede will be embarking on their first tour fortheir new album Bloodsports, with an Irish date in the Olympia onOctober 28.

Mat Osman says the band are delighted to be coming back to Belfast- in fact they're just delighted to be back.

He revealed: "We are actually playing on Hampstead Heath thenight before so we have the biggest warm up show in the world forBelsonic.

"We last played a long time ago, it must be over 10 years -before we split up last time."

When the band first played Belfast the Limelight was crammed to therafters with music lovers hoping to soak up some of that attitude andelectricity that made Suede the NME cover of choice at the time.

And 20 years down the road, not much has changed. In factBloodsports - the band's sixth album which was released a fewmonths ago - is arguably one of their best.

Mat said: "The album has had a good, positive reaction whichI'm not really used to because I'm more used to 33% of peoplereally loving it and 67% hating it.

"And I am finding it a bit strange that it has been so wellreceived - I'm worried people are saving up for the next one toreally let rip."

Mat says the thing about the Suede reunion was that it happened byaccident and there had been no massive falling out so it was relativelypain-free.

He revealed: "I was incredibly nervous, I had no idea how itwas going to go. It was one of those things that literally began becauseof the gig we were offered.

"Roger Daltrey does Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at the AlbertHall and he asked Brett if Suede would play.

Brett very carefully said to him: 'You understand thatwe've split up and haven't played together for about eightyears?' "And he said: 'Well, why don't you just getback together for this?' "We thought then if it was horribleand we didn't like it or if no-one turned up - which seemed like apossibility - at least we would have done something very worthwhile withthe last ever Suede performance."

"It wasn't something we were looking to do but the starsjust aligned and we were probably 25 minutes into it when we all lookedat each other and said: 'We've got to do thisagain.'" And Mat insists the infamous musical differencesthing didn't happen.

He said: "I can see Neil's roof from my house and I amabout a mile from Brett, it's only Simon who went overseas.

"And I had done stuff with both Neil and Brett since thesplit. We didn't split up because we hated each other or anything,it was just musical. We made a s****y record and we had lost that kindof drive and passion for it that you need.

"It took seven or eight years of not doing it to realise howprecious it is and to get that drive back."

Bloodsports, above, is a fine record with the power and pomp ofSuede's back catalogue so it's no wonder it hit the top tenalbum chart.

Mat said it wasn't something the band took lightly either.

He revealed: "It was really hard - we all thought it was goingto be pretty easy because going back and playing the old songswasn't difficult. You just have to remember them and after playingthem for 20 years you should be able to manage it.

"But with most reformed bands, they probably think:'Well, that was easy, we should just make a record as good as themand keep on touring it will be fine.' "And I think maybethat's why most reformed bands' new albums are awful asit's just not the same. It's really hard work and it getsharder to mine that seam of interesting new songs that still feel likethe band.

"We wrote about 50 songs and chucked away 45 of them. We had awhole album ready to go and went out and played them live and justrealised they weren't really up to scratch. It was a process - itwas a pain in the arse to be honest.

"I would love to be able to say the five of us got back into aroom and the magic happened but it was a lot of hard work, it was a lotof soul searching and it was a lot of the producer just going: 'Goaway, you're not done, it's not ready, go and write another 20songs.' "I hated that at the time but I think it's quiterare for a band to come back after a good period away and make a recordthat's as good as anything they've done before. It'sfairly rare and that's because it's hard work."

During the Suede hiatus Mat worked on bits and pieces of music buthis main job was journalism which we can definitely reveal is a lot moreboring that being an international rock star.

Weirdly his brother Richard became more famous as the co-host of TVshow Pointless but it was the break away that made Mat realise how greatbeing a member of Suede was.

He said: "For me it was having some time off from it. All wehad ever done was be in bands and I had just been in Suede, Ididn't realise there was any life apart from that.

y p "And like anything, it becomes everyday and ordinary.It's only once you take a bit of time off and work that you realisequite how ridiculous, privileged and , it becomes ry. It's only ftime off and e quite how and exciting it is to go on stage and havepeople sing your songs back at you. stage your "It is one of therarest, most beautiful things that can happen to a person and I had gotkind of used to it. rest, most can nd I had hing's n Knowing thatsomething's fragile and that it can be taken away from you makes itall the more rewarding.

"You can't do it unless it's all-consuming and itgives you that buzz. At the moment I can't imagine ever not doingit but I would rather give it up than make a crap record and do a craptour. "So who knows? One of the things we are trying hard to do itnot really look more than 45 minutes into the future. Nowadays we aredeliberately incredibly disorganised."

we are deliberately incredibly disorganised."

.Suede play Belsonic on August 24 and Dublin's Olympia onOctober 28.

.Suede play Belsonic on August 24 and Dublin's Olympia onOctober 28.

'I would love to be able to say the five of us got back into aroom and the magic happened but it was a lot of hard work.'

CAPTION(S):

ORIGINALS: Suede line-up from 1992

REFORMED: Present Suede

BRING IT ON: Suede's Brett Anderson