SENSITIVE

RC:  But would you feel sensitive about mentioning heroin if you did take it, had taken it, or will take it in the future?
BA:  Yes, I suppose it in some way reflects on that.  I wouldn't justify anyone's so-called "knowledgeable opinions" with any sort of comment.

RC:  What interest me, and what I'm getting at, are the implications of somebody having said something like that.  Now you're having to clam up on something which you normally would talk about.  If that Damon comment hadn't been made, and I said, "Well, what do you think of heroin then, Brett?", you'd either say, "Yeah, I've taken it a few times" or "I've taken it a lot", or "I went through a phase of taking it, or "I never bothered".  You wouldn't have a judgmental attitude towards it, which you now, forcibly, appear to have.
BA:  Exactly.

RC:  But You've always liked the link between drugs and creativity.
BA:  No, I've never liked it.  I think it's something that isn't particularly there.  I think it's a bit of a myth.  I've ever heralded drugs as being a stimulus to creativity.

RC:  I got the impression that that was precisely what you were saying.
BA:  Not at all… I've said that I have appreciated drugs and appreciated music in altered states, but I've never said that I've dropped acid in order to write "Strawberry Fields Forever", or something like that.

RC:  On to the new album, "Coming Up".  The first surprise is that it sounds so fresh.  In many ways it has all the exuberance and vitality that you'd associate with a first album.
BA:  I don't know why.  It's just a fresh leaf, isn't it?  Two new members have come in.  It's a bit of a debut album and a bit of an experience third album, so it's got some of both.,  It's got that freshness.  I suppose it was partly a reaction to the last album, which was quite dragged down, so it was necessary to do something completely different.

RC:  It seems crammed full of potential singles: how many do you think you'll take from it?
BA:  Four or five.  Definitely four.

RC:  Which ones? "She" and "Lazy"?
BA:  Not "She".  "Lazy", definitely.  "Saturday Night", definitely.  And either "Filmstar" or "Starcrazy", probably.

RC:  To what extent is that marketing, and to what extent is that what you want to do?
BA:  It's totally what we want to do.  If we didn't want that to happen, it wouldn't happen.

RC:  Well, before you spoke of the inevitability of formatting and so I was wondering what your view was of taking singles from albums.  Are you happy to treat it like a Michael Jackson album, almost turning it into a greatest hits collection?
BA:  Everyone does it, don't they?  I don't think it's cynical. It's just a matter of getting your record into people's houses.  Whatever it takes to do that is quite an important thing.  I never feel guilty about things like that, because I don't feel we're conning people in any way.  I think if I was the Spin Doctors or someone like that… There are loads of singles that are good and you listen to the rest of the album and it's dreadful and all these people get coned into buying these awful pieces of plastic that they never listen to because they're rubbish.  I think with suede we make really good album and I want people to actually own them, whatever it takes.

RC:  Will you continue to do specially selected non-album singes in the tradition of "Stay Together"?
BA:  Yes.  Interim singles.  It's not something I've particularly thought about, but I quite like them.  I really like that sense of urgency when you stick out a single that isn't on an album.  The thing is when you write a pop album with a lot of singles on it, you do want the singles to be heard, because it's raising the consciousness of the band.  The single is always the most popular song on the album and it's going to be how you're judged.  So if you write a lot of good songs, why not have them out as singles?
 

CONTEXT

RC:  Was "Young Men" dropped because it was too dark in the context of the album?
BA:  It just didn't fit in the context of the album, really.  It just tipped the balance.  It was quite slow and quite heavy and rocky.  "Europe is Our Playground" was also possibly going to be on the album, but it didn't fit the mood either.  I just wanted the album to be really neat and compact.

RC:  One assumes that those songs will emerge as B-sides.
BA:  Oh yeah.  "Young Men" will be the B-side of the next single.

RC:  The writing credits attest to your prediction that after Bernard Butler you would be using more than one writing partner.  It's interesting to see that you'd written "Europe Is Our Playground" with Mat.  Had you written with him before?  Has there been other stuff that hasn't made it?
BA:  No, there hasn't, actually.  There's a couple of things I'm working on at the moment that are in a similar style.  But that's the first thing to make it onto record and the first thing we've done together.

RC:  Will that collaboration continue?
BA:  I think so.  It's part of the new regime of freedom in the band.  I'll work with anyone.  If Simon comes up to me and says, "What about this?", I'll go with Simon.

RC:  The idea of collaborating with Mat Osman is particularly appealing on one level because you go back so far with him.
BA:  It's quite strange, isn't it?  Quite topsy-turvy.  There were songs that had been written by us years and years ago, but nothing that you'd want to listen to.

RC:  At one point, it was claimed that 20 songs had been written for the album.  Is that about right?
BA:  It was near enough that.  There's a few knocking about.  We didn't have any problem writing four B-sides for the next single.  We already had three knocking around, so we just knocked together one more.
 

DRAMA

RC:  The  suede story is one of high drama in pop history.  Are you aware of the inherent drama in the current situation --  the highwire element, the sense of this being make-or-break time?  Did that get the adrenalin going or did you take a much wider view of things?  There was so much more expectation than there had ever been before.  Did you thrive on that?
BA:  A little bit.  When you've got a load of people out there not having any faith in you and being cynical, it naturally makes you buck your ideas up and make sure you've got a fuckin' good record to answer them with.  S, partly, yes.  But you can't keep making records for what other people think.  You've got to make records that you think are good and not worry about it too much.  So I do like to remove myself from it a little bit.  There's always that sense that you've got to be accountable… But, generally, you have to think about music for music's sake, I think.

RC:  You always seem at your most confident when a new album hits the shops: when the first album was issued you said "I feel invincible", when "Dog Man Star" was issued you said "I feel unstoppable", and with this one "I'm feeling pretty invincible.  I am superman".  Are there times when you feel more vulnerable?
BA:  All the time.  That's all just bullshit for the press.  No, it's not – it's a bit of both, isn't it?  Those comments sound funny, looking back on them, because they all sound like I'm bullshitting, but I don't bring a record out unless it turns me inside out and I love it.  I really don't… I make sure every record is a really good one, and it doesn't even get out of my head unless it's great.  It just doesn't work like that.  So I'm excited about everything we do.  The day that I'm not excited about it is the day we won't release a record.

RC:  Where next, stylistically?  Any ideas yet?
BA:  I'm just starting to think about it.  I think it's going to be a pop album again.  I'm getting really into Motown things.  I can't really describe it.  It's almost like I want the next album to be really rhythmic and really poppy, but really gritty with a lot more emphasis on the rhythm.  That's as far as I can describe it.  You know the way those Motown records are really human and really earthy and really poppy at the same time?  That's the only way I can put it.  I know that sounds really vague, but it's as close as I can get at the moment.

RC:  Could you see yourself recording a solo album in the future?
BA:  No.  I really like being in a band.

RC:  Recording a solo album at some point doesn't mean you have to leave them.
BA:  I'm not competent enough as a musician to record a solo album unless I get a load of session musicians in.  I can play instruments but I'm not good enough to get them on record.  It's not where my forte lies.  My forte lies in piecing together songs and coming up with the inspiration and the vibe for songs, and stuff like that.  So, no, I can't really see it.  It'd be a deviation for me.
 

TOURING

RC:  You once said: "We don't want to be a gigging band that achieves popularity through familiarity".  Is that still true, or will you take on a hard touring schedule?
BA:  No.  Much less hard than before.  This tour, I want to tour much less.  The last tour nearly killed us, both physically and mentally, and this one I want to be pretty short and sweet and personal, and that's it.  In and out, and then making the next record.

RC:  Are you anxious to get back into the studio, then?
BA:  Definitely.  As soon as possible.  We're just getting into our flow of writing at the minute.

RC:  So, another album in 1997?
BA:  Hopefully, yes.

RC:  You also said: "To be the most successful band in the world you have to get an element of blandness.  I don't think we could ever be at the U2 level.  Maybe it'd be a bad idea to try."  Is that statement still valid, post Oasis?
BA:  I think it is.  If you look at anything that gets really big, it is like that, isn't it?  Look at the really big bands nowadays and there is a blandness to them.

RC: Well, it depends.  If that album you just did suddenly became massive and somehow hit America later, you'd be caught up in the same process.
BA:  Well, maybe.  I don't know.  It's possible.  It's kind of like… that was probably said a few years ago in the climate when the big bands were slightly bland.  It's probably getting a bit more left-field and they're more interesting now.  But, we'll wait and see.

RC:  Finally, you once state that your ambition was to be "a thorn that you can never really get out".  Is that still the Brett Anderson of 1996?
BA:  No.  I've got much more harmonious views at the moment, really.  I'm not interested in rubbing people's back up at the moment.  I'm quite into just making good songs that go with the flow.  I've got this tetchy side, but I've got rid of it, I think.  I like songs to have an edge but I've felt I've spent too long battling against the tide, and it doesn't get you anywhere.