In 1995, Suede, to the outside world, were done. After being left on their skinny arses upon completion of the sprawling Dog Man Star album by the departed guitar hero Bernard Butler, few would have expected the group to rise again, and certainly not with a record as fresh and as effervescent as their third, Coming Up. If you were a fan of music in that era, you will know what happened next. And yet what did happen, that glorious rebirth, is a story not told often enough.
Early last year, Jane Savidge, the group’s PR – and one half of legendary Britpop era PR firm Savidge & Best - saw her second book Here They Come With Their Make Up On: Suede, Coming Up And More Adventures Beyond The Wild Frontiers, published by Jawbone Press. And what a great book it is too, rammed full of insider knowledge and delivered with fannish, yet crafted prose. In this episode I talk to Jane about her book, about Suede’s rebirth with the Coming Up album, but also about that heady era, the book about Pulp that she’s writing now, and about her thoughts on music publicity in 2023. Jane was and is, one of my favourite British music industry figures – if we had another ten of her, we wouldn’t be in such a boring mess. And yet she really is a one off, as I’m sure you’ll agree after spending this episode in her company…
