Britpop Revival: Suede

Showing posts with label Suede. Show all posts

Thursday, 30 October 2014

The Bernard Butler Interview

We love having guests on The Britpop Revival Show but being tucked away down here in Devon it does mean that most of our interviews are on the phone. So when we learned that Bernard Butler would be playing as part of the Ben Watt Trio in the Phoenix Centre where we broadcast from, we knew that we had to try and get him into the studio.

Bernard was a real gent and very generous with his time. He made it clear that he didn't want the interview to be about Suede and Dog Man Star's 20th anniversary. However he did talk freely about his entire career, including his ongoing working relationships with Brett Anderson and David McAlmont, his new band Trans, his production work and his sheer love of music.

He reveals that he will be working with Brett again at some point, that the Union Chapel gigs with David McAlmont this year were his best ever, that when he and Brett formed the The Tears there was strong pressure to call the band Suede and that his Top 10 hit Refugees was originally written for Sophie Ellis-Bextor! You'll just have to give it a listen really...

This interview was recorded live in the Phonic FM studios in Exeter on 23rd October 2014. An edited version of this interview was broadcast on our show on 29th October.

The Bernard Butler Interview: Full and Unedited by Britpop Revival on Mixcloud

Saturday, 17 May 2014

She's In Fashion - BBC4 want your Britpop Fashion memories

We're a very stylish bunch here at the Britpop Revival Show and our sartorial elegance and chiseled good looks are perfect for radio... So it came as no surprise when a researcher for BBC4 got in touch, wanting us to help them find some like minded fashionistas for their documentary.

Seriously though, if you like your fashion as well as your Britpop, get in touch with Lucy.

Were you a fan of Britpop in the 1990s?

We are looking to speak to people who lived through the early years of Britpop in the 90s for a BBC 4 documentary on the history of music and fashion in post-war Britain.

We are particularly interested in hearing from people who perhaps took fashion inspiration from bands of the time and may still have some clothing from that period or people who were influenced in any other ways by the emergence of Britpop.

If you can identify with this and wouldn’t mind speaking to a member of the team about your experiences please contact ljoyner@oxfordscientificfilms.tv

Suede - She's In Fashion (No 13 in 1999)

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Our Albums Of The Year 2013

I know that on our shows we play a lot of old music but we've always got one ear open to new releases. This year has seen encouraging signs that guitar music is starting to come to the fore once again and as well as some exciting new artists we've also seen some great new material from more established bands.

Hell even David Bowie came back in 2013, and it was good! Not quite good enough to make our top 5 releases of the year though. So here are our, highly subjective, top 5 albums of the year. We limited it to British artists, seeing as how our shows are all about British music. And yes, perhaps there is something of a bias towards older bands but I'd like to think that through our new band of the week feature we give at least a little bit of exposure to bands who are coming through.

So our top 5 albums are:

Suede - Bloodsports
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Sulk - Graceless
Primal Scream - More Light
Frank Turner - Tape Deck Heart

And whilst there may have been much debate over here at Britpop HQ about what albums should make the top 5, the number 1 spot was never in much doubt. It is fair to say that Bloodsports was much anticipated here coming as it did after an 11 year recording hiatus and following on from 2002's disappointing A New Morning. It did not disappoint. From the free download teaser of Barriers and throughout the album there is not a duff track. An album that sounds contemporary and yet sparkles with the Suede swagger and grandeur of old. Truly a compelling return to form and a worthy choice for our album of the year.

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Our Alternative Best Of Britpop

Don't despair Jarvis, we have an alternative!

Recently the NME had a Britpop issue and selected the 100 Greatest Britpop songs. The songs were all good, I've played most of them on the show, but to be honest it was all a bit predictable. So I asked our followers on Facebook and Twitter for what they considered to be the best of Britpop, but avoiding the behemoths. Yes, we could still have Blur, Pulp, Oasis, Suede etc. but no Wonderwall, Common People, Parklife - you get the picture.

And did they respond? Oh yes - hundreds of songs were suggested. Plenty of them were hits in their own right but some unexpected songs from well known bands (Last Day Of The Miners Strike by Pulp for example) and even some bands I'd not heard of; The High, Headswim & Nancy Boy!

As it happened our monthly Phonic FM show was coming up and that seemed like the perfect opportunity to play some of these songs in our own highly subjective Alternative Best Of Britpop!

Now I'm normally very prepared for our monthly live Britpop Revival Show. I have most stuff laid out on my laptop in advance, with a back up on my phone just in case and finally in reserve a big bag chock full of assorted Britpop CDs. I load a couple of CDs into the players in the studio just in case, but not this week. No, the laptop always worked so why bother?

I get everything plugged in, settle down, say hello to the listeners, "and we'll kick off with this from McAlmont & Butler"!

S I L E N C E

Dead air, the cardinal sin - even at this level.

I start pressing buttons, more in hope than expectation. Okay, time to switch to CDs - the Alternative Best of Britpop idea going out the window, I just need to play something. Why didn't I pre-load a couple? Where is my big bag of CDs? Of course the ones on top are my recent purchases, stuff I haven't even listened to yet; Warm Jets, Smaller, Geneva's much ignored 2nd album. I dig deeper and pull out Symposium's Farewell To Twilight, I've played it not long ago but it'll do. I cram it into CD drive 2, apologise to the listeners, fade up and relax. But no, still silence and now I get the feeling that I am doomed. Fortunately Spencer, the presenter of the previous show, is still in the studio and calmly points out that I've simply selected the wrong CD drive. Fade up, music plays and offer many, many thanks to Spence whilst we finally get the laptop working.

Phonic is a community station, run on a shoestring by volunteers. There are no engineers or producers (well not for most of the shows) and when things go pear-shaped you realise how little you know about how the studio works. So my objective now is to get to grips with all this gear properly.

After all that the rest of the show went smoothly enough, apart from cutting short Oasis' Slide Away with some bongos. The joy of live radio.

Thanks to everyone who suggested tracks or who got in touch on twitter during the show.

Track Listing:

Farewell To Twilight - Symposium
Yes - McAlmont & Butler
History - The Verve
You're Always Right - These Animal Men
Sale Of The Century - Sleeper
She Said - Longpigs
Here Comes A Soul Saver - The Charlatans
Twisterella - Ride
Dragging Me Down - Inspiral Carpets
Olympian - Gene
Tourniquet - Headswim
Tranqillizer - Geneva
Dolphin - Shed Seven
Window Pane - The Real People
Slide Away - Oasis
Being Brave - Menswear
This Feeling - Puressence
The Wild Ones - Suede
End Of A Century - Blur
I'm So Lonely - Cast
Box Set Go - The High
Last Day Of The Miners Strike - Pulp
Cocaine Socialism - Pulp
Step Into My Word - Hurricane #1
Untouchable - Rialto
Sleep - Marion
Love Is The Law - The Seahorses

The Britpop Revival Show broadcasts on the 3rd Sunday of the month, 2pm to 4pm, on Phonic FM (106.8FM in the Exeter area or online at www.phonic.fm)

However you can hear our weekly Vapour Trails show every Monday 3pm EST (8pm UK time) on Strangeways Radio, www.strangewaysradio.com

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

It starts and ends with Suede

Suede at The Alexandra Palace, 30.03.13

There is something in the timing of this event. 20 years to the day (well, almost) since the release of their eponymous decade defining debut and just a month after they put out their first new album in 11 years, this feels like a key moment.

There is a lot of money to be made on the nostalgia circuit and the 20th anniversary of a classic album would be reason enough for many bands to hit the road one more time. However with Bloodsports sitting in the top 10 of the albums chart and garnering glowing reviews, this could not be more different. Suede have always had an arrogance and a swagger to them and with the new album on display they have both in abundance. The scene is set, not for the 90s or even just a gig, but, given that we are in a palace, for a coronation.

When Fred Macpherson of Spector, ends his band’s support set by saying “And let us not forget that we are gathered here this Easter to witness the resurrection of our lord... Brett Anderson”, he is joking but also assessing the mood of the sold out crowd. This needs to be good, no it needs to be glorious. Nothing less will do.

The PA incongruously blasts out Sabbath and then the Pistols, an amalgam of album artwork backdrop illuminates the stage with an unknown (to me) classical surge of violins that lasts for what seems like ages but is probably only a minute. Then they take to the stage, all dressed in Sleeperbloke black apart of course from Anderson. Still skinnier than any other 45 year old I know, still moving like Jagger, he and the band have aged well. I’ve seen other 90s bands where the years have left them looking, well like many fortysomethings, with retreating hairlines and expanding waistlines. Still good bands but looking... old. Suede just look like Suede.

They tear straight into Barriers the opening track from Bloodsports and the crowd reacts as if it was their biggest hit. The first three songs are from the new album, all driving intensity such that when they follow them with Animal Nitrate and Metal Mickey, the big hits from that debut, it just fits. An incredible opening salvo of 5 songs that are 20 years apart but are equals in candour and fervour. Even the back of the hanger-like Ally Pally is bouncing like they are down at the barriers.

Brett spent quite a bit of time down by the barriers himself, disappearing for entire songs at a time into the front rows, wanting to be part of it. I half expected to see him crowdsurfing his way to the back. It must have been a great experience for those at the front, for the rest of us it left us watching what felt like an empty stage until his return.

White shirted in the spotlight, striking messianic poses or windmilling his mic with a ferocity that would make a health and safety inspector cry, he commands your attention. There is no ‘banter’ but plenty of communication and an hour and a half has already passed before we realise that Trash and Beautiful Ones can only mean the end of the set. “Sing along with this one. You know the words and if you don’t know the words then why are you here?” he asks. Everyone knows the words.

Thank you and goodnight!