By his own admission, Anderson is a contradiction.
The elegant singer is able to perform and express.
His band’s ninth studio album, Autofiction, is a towering accomplishment.
Anderson says it’s a loud, noisy, nasty rock record but with the vulnerability of being an older man.
Thirty years after his debut, the 54-year-old is aware of the loss of youth.
He said that without wishing to blow his own trumpet, he would say something pretty arrogant.
Many artists don’t make interesting music.
We have found ourselves on a career path where we can still make a living.
Anderson is a person who is always out of reach for perfectness.
He says that his motivation to keep going comes from looking back at things that have gone wrong.
A man who sailed through the Nineties on the crest of Britpop’s wave in a band feted for a series of acclaimed albums…
‘A LOT TO PROVE’
Anderson is speaking from the home he shares with his wife Jodie and their children.
He thinks that the band hasn’t achieved the godlike status of the artists who inspired them.
He says he wants to think we might get there eventually.
We have a lot of prove. Even if it’s an illusion, we have to look for something better.
“We try to make a great record but it’s never as good as I want it to be.”
The band had their ups and downs and broke up in 2003 under a cloud of disillusionment.
Since it reformed in 2010, it has been a more stable ship and has released four studio albums.
Anderson says splitting up was the best thing they’ve done. You become lazy when you become successful.
The shock of finding out you can’t coast was a good thing.
Being with a few blokes in a room, bashing bits of wood and smashing bits of metal, your child side takes over
I didn’t know what Suede was anymore, we ran out of ideas.
The renaissance began with their return to the stage for a Teenage Cancer Trust gig.
We shouldn’t do it again because we threw something away which was precious. Some of our best music is due to that.
In order to make their new album armed with 50 songs written over four years, they need to convene at a rehearsal space in London.
It was like uncorking a bottle of fizz, a release of energy and renewed commitment, as the Covid epidemic waned.
Anderson says that fiction is supposed to be a raw, primordial howl of a record. We were going to burn it to the stubble.
When you make a lot of noise, it’s exciting for a musician.
The child side takes over when you are with a few guys in a room bashing bits of wood and smashing bits of metal.
The process is similar to William Golding’s tale of a group of boys stranded on an island and the wild behavior that ensues.
I can’t listen to too much music. Anderson told me that it bores him.
I want to hear music made by a human being, and it sounds like it was made by a computer.
The record is flawed but beautiful.
I want the listener to feel like they are in a rehearsal.
The pace of the album sets a cracking pace in stark contrast to the complexity of the previous album. Anderson thinks every record is a response to the last one. The blue hour was odd and arty.
The pendulum swung back after we went as far as we could. We wanted to make something that was fun.
The band consisting of Mat Osman (bass), Simon Gilbert (drums), Richard Oakes ( guitars), and Neil Codling (keyboards) have a resemblance to the early days of the band.
Anderson didn’t want to be nostalgic That was the most important thing.
A rock record was made by a 54-year-old man who is not in his twenties.
Rock music is the preserve of young people.
You get the impression of a rock star with his audience in the palm of his hand when Anderson is performing.
The songs are about the cracks in the mask. As you get deeper into life, you are confronted with the complexes, the flaws, the neuroses, the fears and the insecurities.
People think that you get more comfortable as you get older.
I have a family who I love and I am well-off, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges.
A family is not easy to maintain. It can be a huge burden if you have so many responsibilities.
No life is easy, life is hard, and I always look for tension in my work.
I don’t let darkness into my reality as a father and husband but as a writer and an artist.
‘My amazing mum’
Anderson believes that the themes explored on Autofiction make it one of his most personal albums, partly inspired by his recent memoirs Coal Black Mornings and Afternoons with the Blinds Down.
He thinks that the album is more open. Musically and emotionally, it’s much more stark.
I have tried to confront things about myself face-on.
She Still leads me on is a moving tribute to Anderson’s late mother, but it also strikes a forward-facing tone.
He wants it to be about loss but not grief.
He is talking about someone who is still having a positive effect even though they have left.
Anderson’s mother was an amazing woman. She is still my guide three decades later.
She is the most important person to me or at least in the top three. Isn’t it your mother, your wife and your children?
He wrote She Still Leads Me On as a companion piece to Life Is Golden. He says that one is written from parent to child and the other from child to parent.
I love my family the most. It’s all about girlfriends when you’re in your 20s.
Anderson has edginess to his personality disorder and shadow self.
He takes a long hard look at himself on That Boy On Stage, which he says contrasts with his real self. The two sides are drifting further and further apart.
15 Again is about letting space at the table for your younger self.
The song is about a state of mind that can happen at any time in your life. When you’re 50, you can feel 15.
If I wasn’t very different to the person I was 40 years ago, it would be a huge failure.
I like to think that I have evolved a bit.
These songs are about the cracks behind the mask
There is a moment of reflection among the chaos.
The singer says that they can write interesting ballads despite being called apunk record.
Drive Myself Home and Shadow Self want to take it down so you can take it up again. It wouldn’t be a Suede record if it was a single tone all the way through.
‘Stumbled on stage’
Turn Off Your Brain And Yell is a great example of how fiction ends.
Anderson says there is a child inside you who just wants to scream. It allows you to act like a child.
When it comes to singing live, he is still like a kid in a sweet shop, he says. You can use your experience to understand the psychology of the crowd if you keep yourself in shape and last 90 minutes.
I was thrown into the deep end of a swimming pool when I stumbled on stage. The band and audience start going on a loop.
Next up for the band is a string of album launch events followed by two live shows at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, as well as European and American dates.
We are going to live in the world of autofiction for a while but we have already begun writing the next record.
I want it to be very surprising and avant-garde.
I asked this restless soul if he wanted to pick a creation.
He said The Wild Ones on Dog Man Star would be his choice.
Dog Man Star is a great record, but it is not perfect.
I will try to make that perfect record.
SUEDE
Autofiction
★★★★★
She’s still leading me.
There is a personality disorder
15 times in a row
There is only one way I can love you.
A boy is on the stage.
I’m going to drive myself home.
The ice is black
There is a shadow self.
It is always the quiet ones.
I don’t know what I would do without you.
You should turn off your brain and yell.