Suede share single ‘That Boy on the Stage’ about ‘the people we become’

Suede have released ‘That Boy on the Stage’, the latest cut from their ninth album Autofiction which arrives later this month.

Singer Brett Anderson explained of the new single: “It’s about persona. It’s about the people we become.”

‘That Boy on the Stage’ hears him embody an “outer view” of the alter ego he adopts for live shows.

“He speaks of love and power / And all those pretty things / You know the voice that flatters you / It’s not the voice that sings,” go some lyrics in the first verse.

Autofiction, which is the follow-up to 2018’s The Blue Hour, has so far been previewed by ‘She Still Leads Me On’ and ’15 Again’. It’s released on 16 September via BMG (pre-order/pre-save here).

Suede, who enjoyed platinum-selling success at the height of the Britpop era in the 1990s, are to return with what Anderson has proclaimed it to be their “punk record”.

“Autofiction is our punk record,” Anderson said in a press release in May. “No whistles and bells. Just the five of us in a room with all the glitches and fuck-ups revealed; the band themselves exposed in all their primal mess.”

The album was recorded live at Konk Studios in North London, with long-time collaborator Ed Buller on production duties.

Suede will support the release of their new record with a UK record shop tour this month and an intimate UK and European tour in October. See dates below.

SEPTEMBER:
15 – Banquet Records, Kingston, UK (live performance) – SOLD OUT
16 – Rough Trade East, Shoreditch, UK (live performance) – SOLD OUT
17 – Crash Records/Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK (live performance) – SOLD OUT
18 – Rough Trade / Fleece, Bristol, UK (live performance) – SOLD OUT
19 – HMV, Liverpool, UK (signing and Q&A) – SOLD OUT
19 – HMV, Manchester, UK (signing) – SOLD OUT
20 – Bear Tree Records, Sheffield, UK (signing) – SOLD OUT
20 – Rough Trade, Nottingham, UK (signing) – SOLD OUT
21 – Truck Records, Oxford, UK (signing) – SOLD OUT
21 – Fopp, Cambridge, UK (signing) – SOLD OUT
22 – Vinilo, Southampton, UK (signing) – SOLD OUT
22 – HMV, Portsmouth, UK (signing) – SOLD OUT

OCTOBER:
05 – Electric Ballroom, London, UK – SOLD OUT
06 – Electric Ballroom, London, UK – SOLD OUT
08 – Melkweg – Oude Zaal, Amsterdam, Netherlands – SOLD OUT
10 – La Maroquinerie, Paris, France – SOLD OUT
11 – Gloria-Theatre, Cologne, Germany
12 – Gruenspan, Hamburg, Germany