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After Bernard's
disappearing, Suede had to find
themselves a new guitarist. In August 1994, after placing "guitarist
wanted" adverts in the music press, they found the perfect replacer
for Bernard in Richard Oakes from Poole, Dorset, at the time only 17 years
old(!) At this time, Richard had one year of studies ahead of him before
A-levels, and he had resigned himself to university. When he saw that
Suede needed a guitarist, he sent them a tape. Out of 500 applicants, six
were given auditions and after having played 'Heroine' with the band,
everyone knew Richard was the boy for the job. They wanted someone who
could play the songs from 'Dog Man Star' and 'Suede', who appealed to them
as a person, and who could become their prinicpal writer of music.
Richard had to suffer a lot for replacing Bernard, since the latter has many supporters in early Suede fans, and you can still hear some (read all) of them nagging about it. But Richard is confident in himself. In the letter he included with his demotape, he wrote: "I'm great. Let me join. You'd be foolish to say no." etc. He also had to go on tour playing nothing but someone else's guitar parts. But he's still standing and he's taller than ever. Suede were actually the first band Richard had seen in concert, but he liked Suede for musical reasons and hadn't really paid attention to Brett's lyrics. Within weeks of joining, he had written some songs that have turned up on 'Coming Up'. For example 'Picnic by the Motorway' which I think is one of the best songs on the album. After that he wrote 'Together' and 'Bentswood Boys' together with Brett for the 'New Generation' single. Today he has co-written a lot of songs on 'Coming Up' and most of the b-sides as well. They are simple, pleasant songs that will gain many new fans for Suede. |
