It's really hard for us to take other bands out on tour. There's just no-one we can get on with or like, really. We're such an insular band, and musically we just seem poles apart from anybody. Lyrically also. We've just got nothing in common with anyone. I think that's because people are scared to do what we're doing.
Nicky (1993)
I don't look forward to touring... I don't like it. I don't like travelling and I can't sleep in hotels. I hate flying, actually. I don't know why I do it, really.
Nicky (1996)
(Supporting Oasis) is a good experience. You can't help but be proud when you hear the Oasis crowd sounding like they're at a schoolboy international, except there's lots of girls there too. It's humbling all the same. It puts you in your place.
James (1996)
We used to walk on to a recording of Howl by Allen
Ginsberg. Not many bands did that in 1990. Not many bands do it now. I'm glad we did those things. They made us different. Most people thought we were pretentious wankers, which undoubtedly we were.
Nicky (1996)
Any other group in the world would get the audience to do this (claps hands above head) during the quiet bit of 'Roses In The Hospital' but we physically can't do it. We can't bond with the audience.
James (1994)
Doing the Suede tour in Europe was probably the worst time of my life. Richey wasn't well and I fell ill. I had all these pains. I flew home and went to a Harley Street doctor who said 'You want to watch the fruit out there; they don't wash it, these foreigners'. Fucking Harley Street doctor!
Nicky (1996)
When we released Generation Terrorists we didn't play 'Motorcycle Emptiness' (live) for six months, because Richey and I couldn't play it.
Nicky (1996)
I feel very sad. This is the first time we've done concerts for a while. The last time we were really excited, talking among ourselves all the time. Now we sit on the four back seats of the tour bus, nobody really talking, playing computer games, listening to our CD players.
Richey (1991)
The first gig at the Whisky A-Go-Go in LA was just abusive; non musical. Totally and utterly nonsensical to the Americans. Made us realise that to break America is just about the hardest thing to do, especially if you're a British band.
Nicky (1994)
It's quite glamorous being associated with such a mad tour (Oasis). People not turning up, people disappearing. It's good that it wasn't us for a change. We were dead normal, professional. Didn't say a word.
Nicky (1996)
The more touring you do, the less you remember you have to talk to each other - but I think we'll have the dignity to get out before we turn into wretches.
Nicky (1993)
I used to have that Barfly mentality. It made it worthwhile travelling all this way to have almost Zen-like insights by meeting a stranger at a bar and having a good old yap. But even I've gone off that romanticism.
James (1996)
I feel much more comfortable in Europe now. There's just that general air that people have a bit of intelligence and a bit of humour. Even Germans have some sense of humour compared to (Americans). So I do feel really comfortable in Europe. Not happy, but comfortable.
Nicky (1996) |
|
I'm enjoying Bangkok. I've never been on an 18-30s holiday before... I just feel like a complete lad. I don't feel any need to be accepted by women whatsoever, which is the way I've always felt,
so it's reassuring to be me for once.
James (1994)
Tonight the gig was total shit. It's not that I need to bond with an audience at all, but I want it to be a good show, a spectacle. If things go wrong then it's all a waste of time and you might as well be a bloody travelling salesman. But I suppose it feels good to be wanted. That wasn't always the case.
James (1996)
When you go abroad there's so much pressure for you to experience things, to go out for these fancy meals every night, and I find it really boring. I don't mind going to an art gallery, or looking at the odd bit of architecture, but... I don't think food is culture.
Nicky (1997)
The thrill of it isn't stardom. It's not all down to ego, 'cos I lost a lot of ego a long time ago. The thrill is that we're going to be playing to all these people on the tour. Just the fact that you think 'I could do something tonight that might change somebody's life.
Nicky (1996)
I suggested that I wouldn't play on stage anymore, but I would carry on writing words and doing the artwork and stuff. I convinced myself that was what I wanted. But it's not enough for me just to do the words. I think I'd be cheating them, 'cos the touring part is the worst bit - the bit that no band really enjoys. It's the thing that makes it feel like a job because you know what you'll be doing in three months time at two o' clock in the afternoon.
Richey (1994)
Glastonbury just seemed like the worst gig we'd ever done, it was like a cabaret for post-degree students.
James (1994)
In Thailand, definitely for Richey and me, something just snapped. It wasn't that we weren't getting on. We went to Portugal and had a terrible time and then Richey's friend from university hung himself and, from then on that summer, it got worse.
Nicky (1994)
Playing live without Richey is one thing that's incomprehensible. Recording's not a problem. We are incredibly arrogant, we still think we're the best group in the world, we still think that we write the best songs. But without the visual iconoclastic weight of Richey, as well as missing him, it's not right.
Nicky (1996)
For me, being in a band is about expression. It used to be through image and nastiness, but now it's just through the lyrics. I love listening to music but I just get bored. I get utterly bored sometimes being in a band. I don't know how people can actually enjoy being on-stage in terms of playing. I still say the best five minutes ever of us being in a band was the last gig with Richey at the Astoria when we smashed everything up. That's the most enjoyment I've ever had onstage. It says something about myself.
Nicky (1996)
We're caught in between markets. We're not pop. we're not metal - our rockisms have always been a bit too synthetic for American tastes - and we're not alternative enough.
Nicky (1996)
I still think touring's one of the worst things you can do. I'd much rather be at home now watching the Welsh rugby match tonight. I'm just not into the experience, really. TV is such an integral part of my life and when you go abroad there's nothing you can watch.
Nicky (1996) |