Suede have shared with NME that they are “deep into” progress on their next album, which they describe as their “anarcho-punk” record.
The band were speaking to us from the red carpet of the Mercury Prize 2026 in Newcastle, where their 10th album ‘Antidepressants‘ was shortlisted alongside records by the likes of Jade, Kojey Radical, Nia Archives and Florence & The Machine, but ultimately lost to Raye’s ‘This Music May Contain Hope‘. Ahead of their performance of ‘Dancing With The Europeans’, the alt-rock veterans shared that they didn’t think too much of their chances of winning anyway, especially having already taken home the Mercury back in 1993 for their seminal self-titled debut album – not that they remember much about it.
“The thing is, we didn’t think we were going to win and you didn’t have to perform if you won, so we started partying quite early that night,” said bassist Mat Osman of their big night in ’93. I can vaguely remember giving quite an incoherent speech. After that, everything is a bit of a blur.”
Drummer Simon Gilbert also recalled “drinking most of the bar that night, while frontman Brett Anderson had fond memories of being booed. “I thought that was great,” he admitted. “I like a bit of antagonism. In the early ‘90s, all the bands hated each other. I liked that.”
Was there more love in the room at the 2026 Mercury Prize?
“Maybe it’s because we’re old now, and people aren’t intimidated by you because you’re the elder statesman,” Anderson replied. “It’s a different role we have now. That’s as nice as well, but in the early ‘90s it was funny.”
Seeing as the Mercury Prize is all about celebrating the art of a great album, and as Suede have made quite a few of them themselves, we had to ask what the secret was to the magic of classic LP.
“That’s a huge question and it’s unanswerable, but I do know that it’s probably my biggest obsession in life: creating albums,” replied Anderson. “It’s always something that I’ve thought about. I’ve always loved the experience of listening to other people’s albums. I always listen to them as a whole piece, I love putting a record on: the first side, the first song, the middle, track seven (which is very important), the second to last song, the closing song – they’re all really, really key positions on an album.”:
Anderson continued: “Writing an album is very different from just writing a single track, writing a couple of tracks or an EP or something like that. You have to have gear changes, but at the same time, the album has to take you somewhere. All of my favourite records, they take you somewhere and they leave you there. It’s not necessarily a nice place to be, but you’re there. Something like [Joy Division’s] ‘Unknown Pleasures’, it takes you to this dank, dark world and it leaves you in that place. Something like [Brian Eno’s] ‘Music For Airports’ takes you to a different place, [Sex Pistols’] ‘Never Mind The B*******’ takes you somewhere, and they leave you in this world.”
The frontman added: “That’s what I’ve always wanted to do with our records as well. The creation of an album is a truly great artform. Probably the greatest artform of the 20th Century, and I think it’s fantastic that the Mercury recognises the discipline of making an album specifically.”
Speaking of great records, it looks like Suede fans won’t have long to wait for another as the band told us that they’re already “deep into” writing their 11th album – intended as the last in another “triptych” after the punk ‘Autofiction‘ and post-punk ‘Antidepressants’.
“It seems to be kind of along those lines but maybe a bit more anthemic,” said guitarist Neil Codling. “We’re trying to make song-based stuff with simple, anthemic songs but kind of along the same lines as the last two records. We’re deep into writing and hopefully we’ll start recording soon.”
Anderson went on: “So the record we’re making now is the third in the trilogy. It’s going to be another punk-based record. I don’t quite know what I’m going to call it yet – well actually, I do know what I’m going to call it – but I don’t know how I’m going to define it yet. The first one [‘Autofiction’] I said was our ‘punk record’, the second one [‘Antidepressants’] I said was our post-punk record, the third one I’m going to call our ‘something’ punk record.”
Future punk, perhaps? “Anarcho-punk?” suggested Anderson, before Gilbert threw in the idea of “steam punk”.
“When we started writing it, it was a bit like anarcho-punk actually,” Anderson admitted. “That’s what I thought was the parallel, but I don’t know yet. I think it’s important to message very broadly and say that it’s a genre because it helps people understand these things. When you’re talking about a record, when you’re messaging a record, it’s got to be in very simplistic terms. It’s a very broad brush, it’s a very blunt instrument..
“Obviously we didn’t just make a punk record, obviously we didn’t just make a post-punk record, obviously this won’t be an anarcho-punk record, but it’s a broad place for people to position it.”
Asked about the lyrical character of the album, the frontman said that “there are a lot of songs about tribes and belonging on it”. Now, Suede’s own tribe may get the chance to hear a bit of the record when they hit the road for a co-headline UK arena tour with Manic Street Preachers next week, with the band teasing that one or two songs may be debuted in the setlist.
Do they have a message for the Manics? Some kind of competitive banter for the Welsh icons to bring their A-game?
“No, it’s difficult actually because they’re just watching sport all the time,” replied Isman. “They’re glued to the darts and the rugby so they don’t really care!
“We don’t need to do it via you because they’re lovely boys and we always have such fun being on tour with them,” said Anderson. “We’ve known then since 1994 or something like that. It’s an interesting package because we’re similar but not too similar. There’s an interesting overlap with Suede and the Manics.”
Gilbert added: “It’s like going on holiday with your mates.”
Suede and Manic Street Preachers’ co-headline UK arena tour kicks off at Glasgow OVO Arena on Wednesday October 28. Visit here for tickets and more information.
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