You pestered him about Blur, alluded to child sex and sales slumps.  Touche!  The suede singer skipped adroitly around your heroin probes and parried your weight jibes.  Threeche!  Meet the people, albeit gingerly, Brett Anderson.

"Give me a minute," says Brett Anderson.  Just back from doing a day's promo in Sweden, he will leave tomorrow morning for a tour of Japan.  His upmarket London house is a recent purchase; framed portraits of a Victorian couple hang on the wall of the airy living-room - "the previous owners", he smirks - and there's no orange juice in the fridge.  While he fetches two glasses of water, Q peruses his CD collection: a preponderance of Prince and The Fall, funk and reggae box sets, suede works-in-progress.  "It's a funny market in Britain at the moment," he says, batting away suggestions that Head Music has, despite charting at Number 1 in its first week, sold sluggishly since.  "The UK market is a tiny percentage of our market, to be honest."  Spoken off-handly, as though the concept of commercial plateaux hadn't occurred to him, it's a typically Andersonian response to any question he deems tricky or impertinent, as we shall see.  A black cat wanders in, pads around and vanishes.  Perhaps it could pose for some photographs later with its owner?  "Nah," says Anderson.  "He doesn't get out of bed for less than fifty grand."  Talking of which....

Do all the members of suede get paid the same?  Sally Edwards, Cardiff
No.  We're pretty democratic about things, but it comes down to writing.  However a song is written - if anyone has contributed to any part of it - then they get an amount.  We take each song as separate case, we don't just split  it equal ways.  If tomorrow Richard wrote all the words and everything else, then he'd get more money than the rest of us.

How Many times over the years have you sung "Aaa-howww" in a song?  Jack Money, Borders
Probably most of them, I should think.  It's just a little device I have.  It's one of my little trade-marks, I suppose.  It  probably a bit of a boring after a while.  There's probably a bit of a fine line between developing a style and it becoming laboured.  Maybe I've trod over that point sometimes maybe I haven't.

Could you explain the fascination with fuel in your lyrics?  The theme of diesel, gasoline and petrol runs through various suede tracks.  Serena Burns, Dorset
I think I use it as a sort of metaphor more than anything.  When I talk about being "high on diesel on gasoline", it's more the rush of the city being something than gives you a high.  That's how I use it.

In Savoir Faire you mention a female who smoke crack and is a "fucking machine".  Is this someone you really know or were you just looking for some lyrics that sounded good?  Johnston Farrow, USA
Most of the songs are based around people I know, but they're not specifically about anyone.  It's always very neat to attribute the words of a song to one particular person, but I don't tend to do that with my writing.  When I'm writing about characters, it tends to become an amalgamation of different people.  Bits of real people and bits of fantasy.  Isymbol 146 \f "Times New Roman"ve very rarely written songs about specific people apart from a good friend of mine called Alan, who I wrote Lazy and High Rising about.

On Radio 1's All Back To Mine, you said that track seven on any album is the best song.  Can you tell us the songs that prompted this observation?   Martin O'Brian, Newport
Certainly can.  I've got a whole list of them.  (Getting Up)  I'll go through my CDs, right?  That's such a good question.... (Leafing through CDs) Here Comes The Sun is number seven on Abbey Road... it generally works... here's one: Play It Cool on the Super Furry Animals' album Radiator... Here's another one: Our Lips Are Sealed on Waiting by Fun Boy Three... Pop Life on Around The World In A Day.  Lots of them.  Everyone should go through their favourite albums and see which track is number seven.  (Sits down again)  It's a magic number, isn't it?

Did you have sex with a 10 year old?  Tori Johnne Lau, Underlia
No, I didn't.

Have you ever taken revenge on someone, and if so, what did you do?  Michaela Heidrich, Hamburg
No, I've never taken revenge on anyone.  I've never been that way inclined.  I think by taking actual, bitter, aggressive revenge on someone, it's like taking revenge on yourself.  The only revenge you can take on people is to transcend wanting to take revenge on them, I suppose, and succeed in your own right.  So no, my mind doesn't really work that way.

Quite a few years ago, Q printed a photograph of you sitting on your bed surrounded by lots of LPs.  I noticed one of them was Bruce Springsteen's The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle.  Are you partial to a bit of Bruce?  Louise Obeirne, Havant
I love Bruce Springsteen.  He's made some great records.  I used to love Born In The USA when I was 15 or 16.  There's a couple of really good tracks on that, Darlington County and I'm On Fire.  And I like some of the ones like The River, hungry Heart.... That album, The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle, is one of those perfect albums you can just listen to as an album.  So yeah, I think he's excellent.

Have you ever been seriously stalked?  Ivanvajellos De Frutos, Madrid
Well, sort of.  I had some problems a few years ago when I was living up in Ladbroke Grove.  Someone got my hold of my address, and for some reason they decided to daub my address everywhere - up and down the street, all round the tube stations in London.  "Brett Anderson lives at this address.  Go and bother him."  I'm not really sure who it was, but I've got a few ideas.  Things do get out of hand sometimes.

If you were stuck on a desert island with the rest of the band, who would you eat first?  Joanne Fowler, Cambridgeshire
Ha ha... I think Richard's got the most meat.  I don't think I'd eat Mat.  Mat would be very stringy and he's also got very bad levels of personal hygiene.  Mat's got the worst-looking feet you'll ever see in your life.  So Mat would be last.  Mat's safe.

Bernard Butler once said that if Brett is ever asked his opinion about a band he really dislikes, he makes a point of saying, They're alright.  What do you think of Bernard Butler's solo career?  Phil Redmund, Glasgow
It's alright.

You always wear a really cool black and silver ring.  Who gave it to you?  Ida Angelica Taraldsen, Tromso
(Holds up knuckle)  That one?  I bought it.  It's silver and green.  Actually, I bought it from a shop called Agnes B.  It's a very standard, run of the mill, high-street ring.  I'm not sure if you can still get them, but you're welcome to try.

Is it true that when you were doing Dog Man Star, Bernard Butler moved to another studio and sent his parts on tapes that included whispered taunts?  Sandra McClean, Swansea
Yes, it is true.  Oh.... taunts?  There was some whispering on it.  I'm not sure if they were taunts.

How long did it take you to rhyme "she live in a house" with "she stupid as a mouse"?  Carl Luperalla, Park Ridge
Absolutely years and years.  It's one of the cleverest rhymes ever written.  No, I mean, I keep getting stick for this thing and it's starting to piss me off a bit.  I've spent so many years writing lyrics and poring over them, and the second I write a really throwaway lyric I get jumped upon.  I just don't believe that every single moment of pop lyrics should be looked into like that.  Lyrics don't necessarily have to have a meaning on their own.  Lots of Prince's lyrics are really throwaway - "baby, yeah" and stuff like that.  It's just using the voice as another instrument, and that's what I'm doing there.  It's just a series of sounds.

Have suede ever considered splitting up?  Jose Brown, London SE1
I don't think collectively we've ever sat down and thought,  We'll split up.  But I think when Bernard left it was pretty close.  It was a pretty heavy crisis in the band.  Obviously, we'd tried to get on with it and stuff.  But, of course, at the back of my mind, Bernard was a very important part of the early phase of suede, and I didn't know whether we could carry on without him.  I think, yeah, at the back of all our minds we considered splitting up at that point.

If heroin is good enough to write a song about, why did you stop taking it?  Charlie Thorley, Wiltshire
Well, that's a strange question.  For a start, the song isn't actually about hereoin the drug - if they're referring to heroine on Dog Man Star.  I write songs about a lot of things that aren't particularly nice, but that doesn't mean... I don't know.  I don't see the point of the question.

Espresso machine, cafetiere or jar of Mellow Birds?  Julia Squire, Reading
Espresso machine without a doubt.  I'm an absolute coffee addict, the stronger the better.  I love shots of espresso.

Was it daunting taking the stage at V99 after the Stereophonics, bearing in mind they are now more successful than you?  Lisa Davidson, London SE22
Not particularly, I didn't  have a problem with the Stereophonics.  I like lots of their songs and I've spoken to the blokes a couple of times, so it wasn't like a big antagonistic thing.  I knew they were a popular band and I thought what they were doing was good.  But honestly, I don't think anyone can compare to suede on a good day.  I was quite confident about it and I think it was a pretty good gig.

Richard Oakes.  Is it glandular?  Paul Menzies, Merseyside
(Laughing helplessly)  I can't answer that one.  I can't answer that one.

Do you always dress like you're in suede?  Jenny Pilling, London N2
Emmm... no, I don't really.  I wear lots of parkas and stuff like that.  When I'm just living my life, I don't ponce around in suede-y clothes particularly.  I like to sit around and eat curry and drink beer with my hood up.

What is the heaviest and the lightest you've ever weighed?  Paul Carter, Peterborough
God, I don't know.  There's lots of questions about fatness in this thing here, isn't there?  I really don't know, I don't have a pair of scales.... I know I looked like a lump of dogshit for a while, and I probably weighed over twelve stone then.  I only weigh ten stone now.  Exactly ten stone.  I probably weighed less than that in the past.  I probably weighed about nine stone.

I'm an ornithologist who's never had a bird-watching experience.  Doesn't this mean I'm not an ornithologist at all?  Terry Sullivan, Newcastle
Yes.

You studied architecture at university.  Tell us about a really great building.  Yvonne Cascade, Southampton
There's a church in Ronchamp, France which was built by Le Corbusier.  It's almost like this fairy-tale thing.  It's got a huge, oversized roof which looks like it's much too heavy for the building, and these tiny little coloured windows.  It looks like something out of Hansel And Gretel.  It's really charming design, and I'm sure architecture students who knew more about it than me could go into detail about why it's much more than just a charming design.  But Ronchamp is the pinnacle of architecture so far.

Did you and Damon Albarn really leave love bites on Justine Frischmann as a weird from of communication?  Tony Dakers, Warrington
No.

What do you think of Elastica's new stuff?  Sarah Simpson, Morden
I think the album's great.  There's a couple of great tracks on the album.  It's not so Fall-y at all.  But I really like How I Wrote Elastica Man, I think it's really vibey track.  It's a funny one for them, coming back after years and years.  They're never going to be able to slip back into it, like they wanted to.  It's always going to be a bit of a difficult one, but I think the album's really strong.

You don't like smile in photos.  Is it for dental reason?  Gareth Fitzpatrick, Cricklewood
No, I've got a good set of gnashers.  My teeth aren't too bad.  I just don't particularly like myself when I smile.  I look a bit ... a bit sad.

What is your favourite Blur album and why?  David Whelon, Woodbridge
I don't know any of them.

Do you think any PR is good PR?  Janne Egeland, via e-mail
No, not at all.  I think lots of PR is really bad PR.  In the early days of suede, it was that whole thing of not being experienced enough and we did a lot of things that we should never have done.  Lots of awful interviews and lots of things we were pushed into.  But we'd basically walked off the dole and it was really exciting, so we did it.  We were having a good time.

What was the first rude word you learned?  Gavin Whitham, Northampton
Wanker.

How much would you pay for the negatives of that first suede picture with you in the stripey top and Justine wearing tracksuit bottoms?  Nigel Harris, London N2
Ha Ha!  Why, have they got it?  Is that from a photographer?  I don't think the photo is that bad.  There are some worse ones.  There's a cover of the Melody Maker where I was with the girl from Silverfish, and I'd pay quite a bit for those negatives.

You're eating in tonight.  What are you cooking?  Simon King, London N1
My favourite thing to cook is blackened tuna.  It's something I discovered in the Caribbean.   It's one of the nicest dishes in the world.  Put paprika on the side of tuna and stick it in a grill.

Have suede officially given up on America?  Paul Hanrahan, Manchester
Emmm... no, not officially.  We've just got other fist to fry.  No plans to go there this year.

What are scarier: spiders or snakes?  Toni Partridge, Lancs
Probably snakes.  I have no fear of spiders whatsoever.  But snakes can be pretty grim.  It's quite scary to go swimming in the sea and see a sea snake.  The idea of treading on one...

Is it true that Mat has had his tongue pierced like Mel G?  Gina Starlet, Stretford
(Loudest laugh of the day)No, he's had his knob pierced, though.

Which is better: drugs or brown rice?  James Brown, Kidderminster
Brown rice.  Without a doubt.

At Hayward's Heath Sixth Form College you used to swan around pretending to be David Bowie.  Popular, were you?  Gavin Merchant, Maidenhead
What are your readers like?  I've never swanned around pretending to be anyone.  I just used to wear a yellow suit.  I think I looked more like Cliff Richard than David Bowie, actually.  But yes, I was popular.

Did you look at the photos of Kevin Rowland and think, That's a bad idea?  Fiona Wilkinson, Peterborough
I don't know, it's a difficult one, isn't it?  He's trying to express himself and that's commendable, but it looks a bit creepy.  If someone's going to dress how they want that's totally fine, but I'm not sure if it's having the effect he wants.

Have you ever been in an orgy?  Valerie Hunter-Jones, London N10
(Sniffs) Might have been.