These interview/photo are taken from the SIS Fanzine issue#17,the interview is done by Sam from the fanclub.
the little drummer boy...
in an attempt to put something remotely interesting
in the fanzine, we interview Simon Gilbert about Sci-Fi
Lullabies.
He`s great, he`s sound, he`s five feet ten off the
ground - he`s Simon Gilbert. He`s just moved house,
he`s got a lovely dog called George and he`s the
member of Suede who`s most likely to say yes if I
were to ask for an interview. Based on that fact alone,
I phone him and ask for an interview. True to form, he
says yes and it is for that reason that I love him so.
After Brett and Neil, he`s everyone`s favourite member of Suede. Taking
over the helm of the Suede drums when the drum machine quit saying that
Brett drove it insane or something, Simon joined the band in April 1991.
Since then he`s pounded his way through more than six years of drum duties
and it would seem that there`s plenty more where that came from. The old
joke of "What do you call someone who hangs out with musicians?" (A : a
drummer, in case you didn`t know) is definitely not on the guest list here
and if your name`s not on the list, then you`re not coming in!
live tracks are easier you know
Suede have just released Sci-Fi Lullabies - a collection of B-sides
amassed over the past five years. Even though you`ve all got the songs
anyway, it still managed to enter the charts in the top ten. In April the
band entertained you all with a B-side only gig at the Forum. This would
have been slightly difficult if Suede had resorted to slapping a few live
tracks on as B-sides, a practice which often happens these days. So why
don`t Suede just fob us off with a few live tracks then? "Well, we have
done that in the past with Neil Tennant on Saturday Night and Rent but
that was because it was a special event," explains Simon. So it`s not just
a cop out then? "No it wasn`t. It sounded really good and went down well
on the night. It wasn`t going to be released on video and everyone knows
about it. And anyway, it sounded so good. It is a cop out when bands rely
on live tracks but this was slightly different. We did it once before (New
Generation CD2) but that was more a record company decision to be honest.".
who cares about the b-sides anyway?
Give n that the live or re-mixed B-side is a popular option these days
it`s fair to assume that the B-side is regarded as an after-thought. Do
Suede approach their B-sides with the same importance as they afford their
album tracks? "Definitely, yeah. We need a certain amount of songs for
an album and the singles that we`re releasing so we just put a batch of
songs down. We think of then as a whole so we don`t seperate the songs
and say "These are album tracks and these are B-sides." Everything gets
the same attention. We do put a lot of effort into them because we`re not
into relying on the marketing crap.".
young men don`t fit !
Most reviews of the SFL album have mentioned that some B-sides are better
than the A-sides. "Oh definitely," he agrees. "My Dark Star - my favourite
B-side - is much better than the A-side." So do you ever have fights when
you come up with a brilliant B-side and someone thinks it should be an
A-side? "We did once but I can`t remember what it was for! Normally we`re
in agreement." A perfect example is Young Men : that was originally intended
for the album but was eventually relegated to a B-side. Why was that? "Simply
because it didn`t flow with the rest of the album. It`s quite a dark track
in relation to the rest of the album which is more upbeat. You can tell
if you listen to the Japanese version of the album ; the track just doesn`t
fit in with the rest of the album. It`s an extra track and it stands out
as an extra track.
interesting trivia coming up
The Coming Up singles saw some B-sides being resurrected from days before
the Drowners was written. As you may know, Implement Yeah (which never
actually made it on to a B-side in the end) stems from the days when Justine
was in the band. WSD also first reared it`s head in the days of Justine.
Another No One was originally planned as a B-side for New Generation. In
those days it was known as Elaine Page but was shunted off in favour of
Bentswood Boys. It was shelved in order to allow two new Anderson / Oakes
compositions to be leashed onto the world. Sam and Have You Ever Been This
Low? were recorded during a stop off in LA when the band toured America
in early 1995. They were originally intended as B-sides for the fourth
single from Dog Man Star (trainspotters will want to know that the single
was going to be The Power). That fourth single was shelved so that the
band could get on with writting and recording new material in the new post-Bulter
guise. Do songs get shelved because they`re no good and if so, what`s the
point of releasing them a few years later? Simon defends the tactic: "Sometimes
songs are only half finished and aren`t ready to be put out. They hang
around for a few years until we have time to play with them. I thought
Have You Ever Been This Low? was a brilliant track. I love it - when we
did it I thought : "Wow, I can`t wait for this to be put on a record,"
but unfortunely it wasn`t, because not everyone was happy with it. At the
time it didn`t really fit with the record that it was intended for."
covers
The press release for this album states amongst other things, that Suede
don`t do cover versions (with the exception of Rent I guess!). This is
a popular trick for bands and gives them a chance to play around with their
favourite songs. Suede have done it with Brass in Pocket on the NME Ruby
Trax compilation tape (now unavaliable) Shipbuilding on the Help album.
More recently they covered Noel and Coward`s Poor Little Rich Girl with
Raissa on wails / vocals. This track will be released on the Red Hot Blue
charity album next Spring. To date, nothing like this has been on a B-side.
Is there any chance that a cover version will make it onto a B-side? "We
always do cover versions in soundcheck but that`s just because Richard
and I like playing Clash songs," explains Simon. Sex Pistols, Beatles and
Bowie tracks often feature in soundchecks to make the ordeal less boring.
"Playing She, Trash and By the Sea twice a day in a soundcheck gets a bit
boring after a few weeks. Imagine doing it everyday for a year? I don`t
think we`ll release anything as a B-side though."
changes in europe
With time ticking away we moved on to Europe Is Our Playground. The
song was the only track on the SFL album to be re-recorded. Why do that
when it was only recorded last year? "It seemed to grow and grow when we
played it live. When we listened to the studio version it just didn`t do
the track justice so we decided to re-record it. The version on SFL is
much closer to what you hear live."
simon the director
Simon has also directed a special video for Europe is Our Playground.
It seems strange to go to the effort of making a video for a song that
won`t even be released as a single but the idea is to service the video
to MTV for something different to play. Who knows if it will be seen. The
video is made up of footage shot by Simon of the band around the world
and mixed in with live shots of the band performing Europe. "It was filmed
over the past few years," says Simon. "I take my camera with me
every where we go and annoy the rest of the band like shit!" Is that
just because you can`t be bothered to write a diary? "Yeah, it is actually.
I used to keep a diary up until a few years ago but then I discovered the
joy of video cameras..." Can we expect a Simon Gilbert film featuring Suede
and their crew sitting around looking bored? "Who knows? I`ve got lots
of stuffs. I find it really interesting filming us in an airport. Whether
anyone else will find it interesting, I don`t know!" So how was it doing
your own video? "It worked out really well. I enjoyed actually directing
a video - that was so much fun and is very easy to do!" Bearing in mind
that it is going to be very difficult for people to see this video, do
you think it will ever make it on to some sort of Suede video compilation?
"hopefully there`ll be one out at some stage but it`s not really been discussed."
one more thing...
As the interview draws to a close there`s only one other question needing
to be asked : What do you call someone who hangs out with musicians? Smirking
with a kind of look that says "If you weren`t a girl I`d beat you up" Simon
replies with restraint : "John." "Not a drummer then?" I enquire. With
another deep breath he replies : "I will not bow to your impertinence!"
I`ll get me coat then!
Having decided that I quite like my nose in the middle of my face, I leave it there and suggest that we make haste to see Astronaut at the Water Rats. A drink later he`s forgotten about my rude taunt cos that`s just the kind of lovely bloke he is - I always did prefer him to Brett and Neil anyway!