Britpop survivors play Taipei

Suede will perform in Taipei tomorrow. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SONY MUSIC

After 13 years, a tabloid news-making line-up change and countless rumors of drug-addiction, kick starters of the Britpop movement, Suede has out-witted many of its critics.

After releasing its fifth album, A New Morning, late last year, the band effectively quashed all rumors of any pending demise and has instead gone on to achieve almost cult status both at home in the UK and the US with a new very un-Suede upbeat sound.

Although it's been four months since the album hit record store shelves, Suede will be bringing its rejuvenated self to Asia over the coming weeks with a tour that will see the band performing in Taipei, Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong and China. The tour begins tomorrow night when Suede takes to the stage of NTU Stadium (台大綜合體育館) in Taipei.

Formed in the late 1980s, Suede hit the music scene like a ton of bricks in 1993 when the combo's self-titled debut album broke all previous records and became the fastest-selling UK debut of all time. The band's problems, however, were never far away.

While vocalist Brett Anderson and guitarist Bernard Butler have been credited for bringing back the long-forgotten three-minute single as well putting the mystique back into British pop music, the song writing partnership was almost as fiery as that of Joe Strummer and Mick Jones.

The well-publicized feuding came to a head during the recording of the band's second album, 1994's Dog Man Star. Butler left the band before the album had been released, which, if the tabloid-styled UK music press is to be believed, was the reason the album was a commercial flop.

Although it would be three years before Suede was to record another album, Anderson and his combo battled on without Butler. Replacing him with a 17-year-old guitarist by the name of Richard Oaks in 1994, Suede went back on the road and finally into the studio to record Coming Up in late 1995.

Turning the tables on pro-Butler cliches, many of which suggested that without the pragmatic guitarist Suede was dead in the water, the album became the band's most successful release of all time -- and proved that even without Butler, Suede was a band with a sound to be reckoned with.

Entering the UK album charts at number one on its release in 1997, Coming Up spawned a remarkable five Top Ten singles -- Trash, Beautiful Ones, Saturday Night, Lazy and Filmstar.

Ditching longtime producer, Ed Buller a year later, Anderson called on the talents of ex-New Order and Happy Monday's producer, Steve Osborne for the group's 1999 release, Head Music. The result was an album that attempted to rekindle Suede's early glam/Britpop signature sound.

A sound that Suede fans in Taiwan came close to hearing. The 921 earthquake in 1999 scuttled the band's plans to play in Taipei, however, and the gig was canceled at the last minute.

The band's latest studio venture and the sounds that will be reverberating through NTU Stadium, sees Anderson and company veering away from the tragic and dark musical days.

Instead Suede has cooked up a collection of rather upbeat tunes packed with glam-rock smarts, indie/pop riffs and some oddly un-Suede-ish acoustic numbers.

While the band is keeping mum about the set-list, fans of early post-Butler departure classics such as the Bowie-esque Heroine or the glam-rock riff-laden Metal Mickey could be in for a treat tomorrow night, however.

Suede will performing in Taipei at 7:30pm tomorrow evening at NTU Stadium (台大綜合體育館), which is located at the corner of Hsinhai Road (辛亥路) and Hsinsheng South Road (新生南路). Tickets for the gig cost NT$1,800 and are available from ERA ticketing outlets nationwide.