Brett Anderson of Suede has written a memoir titled Coal Black Mornings. The 224 page hardcover book chronicles Anderson's childhood and formative years through early adulthood and beginnings of Suede. Anderson told The Guardian that he initially intended to write the book for his son, and his memoir stops at 1992 (prior to Suede blowing up) because the book isn't about success; it's about failure:
"I think the book is about failure, that sense of struggle, and as soon as you drift into the success years, you lose that."
Along with Anderson's struggles, he details his relationships along the way, including his relationship with his father, the death of his mother, and his intense relationship with ex-girlfriend Justine Frischmann of Elastica, who he says he is still "very fond" of.
Anderson and Frischmann were romantically linked and co-founded Suede in the late 80s. After the pair broke up, Frischmann went on to date Damon Albarn, but remained a member of Suede for a brief time. Anderson reveals things were a bit uncomfortable in the short term, but once Frischmann left to form Elastica it paved the way for Suede to make the magic happen. He told The Guardian:
"We had a fantastic time together, and young love is amazing. But it’s not conducive to creating interesting, tormented, passionate music, you know? I needed some sort of motor to get myself off my arse and have something to write about. The time between us splitting up and her leaving the band was a really odd, sticky, strange thing. Because she was asking lots of questions about the band, and there was a kind of disunity because of that.
She wanted Suede to be a different kind of band. And as soon as she left, it suddenly just… it’s like magnets. It wasn’t the missing piece, it was the removal of the piece. Suddenly we just linked, and all four of us, it became a little bit telepathic."
Anderson also revealed Suede didn't attain success at the beginning because they were "terrible" aside from guitarist Bernard Butler, and even after they improved musically it took some time for labels to warm to their sound.
Read the full interview with Anderson here.
Coal Black Mornings is available now in the U.K. and is set to arrive in North America on October 2nd. Pre-order through Amazon.
Published March 1st, 2018