Suede will break up again if no new album is forthcoming
Suede The Beautiful Ones vocalist reformed Suede last year – seven years after they had originally broken up – and, while Brett says he has enjoyed performing on stage with keyboardist Neil Codling, drummer Simon Gilbert, guitarist Richard Oakes and bassist Mat Osman, he is unsure whether there is any future in this reformation, unless they can produce a new album.
The 43-year-old spoke to BBC Radio 6, stating that he doesn’t “know what the future for Suede is, to be honest”, although he added that he would “like to think there is a future for the band”.
However, Brett pointed out that he doesn’t “see that there’s much future in just going around playing the same set from the 90s year after year” – unless they can “make a new album”.
While insisting that he doesn’t “want to do that with my life”, Brett confessed that “it’s really important to look back sometimes, as well as look forward”.
But he enjoys “making new music” and has “just made a new solo album” called Black Rainbows – which will be released on September 26 – “and that’s what I’m going to be doing next”.
Fans of the band should not be completely disheartened, though, as Brett – who has now recorded four solo albums – added that “we’re going to try to make a new Suede album”.
There is a caveat, of course, with the Animal Nitrate hitmaker emphasising that, “if the magic is not there then no-one will hear it, that’s the truth” as he doesn’t “want to just put a record out just because people want us to – if it’s not right, it’s not right”.
On the other hand, Brett was at pains to point out that he has thoroughly enjoyed his time after reforming Suede – mainly because he reckons they had something to prove to the naysayers following their demise back in 2003, when fifth album A New Morning, released the year before, was met with disappointment among fans and critics alike.
Brett said that he believes the reunion “has worked” because “when we left the stage in 2003, we left on a low point and I think…it’s been about redressing that balance”.
He reckons that, “if you leave on a high point, it’s kind of harder to have a reunion that works really well”, but added that, “when Suede split up, it was our weakest album and a lot of people that might have cared about the band splitting didn’t care about it splitting”.
Ultimately, Brett believes that the band’s many fans were “reminded, ‘Oh actually, they were pretty good’”.
