Straight Down The Line

STRAIGHT DOWN THE LINE

SUEDE BASS MAN MAT OSMAN CALLS UP TO GRACIOUSLY ACCEPT OUR AWARD FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE MAKER'S WRITERS VOTING "HEAD MUSIC" AS BEST RECORD OF '99?

"I just heard - that's great! It's kind of a strange record. We're normally a bit more organised than we were last year. We normally do a big tour, but the album kind of got left on its own. We got it out so late and didn't manage to tour it straight away, but I feel quite protective towards it, d'you know what I mean? I'm really proud of it and pleased other people think it's good. It's not as easy as the rest of our records. I'm always pleased when I hear about other people loving it."

WILL THE NEXT ALBUM BE OUT THIS YEAR?

"I really, really hope so. We want to record it as quickly as possible. We're planning to start writing this month, just go away and do it, lock ourselves in a room. We really enjoyed touring this time. We've got better as a live band, but you wouldn't know it from the record. The last one was a pure studio record.”

GOT ANY NEW SONGS?

"Brett's got loads, Neil has got a lot and Richard is writing at the moment, he went straight into a home studio. We're gonna try and do a lot of stuff together, just disappear up a mountain somewhere."

THERE WAS TALK OF THE NEXT ALBUM BEING CALLED "GRAFFITI"…

"It's a title Brett really likes. He said he was going to decide the titles for the next four albums and track listings, and write songs to fit. We say these things... Once we've got five people in a room with five ideas, something will happen that we didn't expect. There won't be any more singles from 'Head Music', It's time to start anew."

HAS PLAYING LIVE KEPT YOU INSPIRED?

"Yeah, it might be the best tour we've ever done. The last gig in Madrid was one of my favourite Suede gigs ever. It was only 3,000 people, but it was like the whole audience was on strings, just bouncing from front to back."

YOUR 10TH ANNIVERSARY'S COMING UP, ISN'T IT?

"Well, it's 10 years since our first gig. We've been lucky in a way, because we've attracted new fans since ‘Coming Up'. I've never felt that we've particularly matured like a lot of bands. Stuff like 'Elephant Man' is as infantile as you can get. I still get a kick from the purely physical side of being in a rock band. We've just about reached adolescence.”

WILL NEIL CODLING'S RECENT ME DIAGNOSIS AFFECT SUEDE'S PLANS?

"He's still not at his best. We rest him. It's like being a football manager. It's important that Neil's fit and well for writing and recording. He sounds fine, but we don't want to risk anything. He'll be fine."

PLAYING ANY FESTIVALS?

"It depends how far we get with the album. We'd especially like to do a few European festivals."

HOW DO YOU THINK THE NEXT ALBUM WILL SOUND?

"I think it will sound a bit harder and rockier. Not because we're not happy with 'Head Music', we just don't want to spend that much time working in the studio, waiting for things to happen. There's a lot of records - mainly American records - that sound really rough. Not that they aren't tight, but they have an edge to them and I think that's something that's probably been missing from our sound."

ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED "HEAD MUSIC" DIDN'T SELL MORE?

"Because we were doing V99 and could not tour Britain straight away, we were pretty sure that was going to happen. It doesn't really worry me because I'm really proud of it. The songs have done well in such bizarre places, though, `Everything Will Flow' was Number One in Peru. I'm quite proud of that"