Please introduce yourself and tell us about the moment you discovered Suede.

Hello everyone! My name is Marcos, I am a Portuguese Suede fan and also an avid collector since the 90’s. As far as I remember, Suede played here in Portugal 13 times (the first show was in August 1997 and I was too young to attend… my mother did not let me go to the festival *laughs*). The first time I knew of Suede's existance I was in Secondary School (I was 15… and now 15 AGAIN!!!). At that time I was still not a fan. I remember that a colleague lent the first Suede album to our Philosophy teacher but, to be honest, I did not show any interest, I was listening to other bands at that time, such as The Cranberries, James, REM, The Pretenders and some pop trash music from the radio stations. Time passed by and three years later (a Saturday night in August '96) I went to a disco with my cousins and some friends. We were drinking and having fun and suddenly a magic sound filled all the dance floor and that pure sound entered my veins in a blink of an eye. I remember asking my cousin “Do you know this song?” and she replied “It’s Suede”… (I said to myself “Suede??? Don’t know them”) and people were singing and shouting “Traaaaaaash, you and me”… The day after, call it fate or huge coincidence, I was listening to a local radio station in the living room and the DJ played a song from that same band (Suede, right?, I was thinking). I noticed it was the same voice but it was not the same song. At the end, the DJ said “Beautiful Ones by Suede”… I said to myself “God, the sound of this band is amazing! Tomorrow I will go to the record shop and I listen to their record”. 

And you can imagine what happened after this…

What & when was your first Suede purchase?

My first purchase was the Coming Up CD in September '96… Let me be honest, I told my mother I had to buy some books for school. I knew very well she would never give me one cent for music… I did not have enough money myself to purchase the album. The good thing is that my mother won’t be reading this for sure.

How do you organize your collection?

At my parent’s house, there’s a storage above the wardrobe in my bedroom where I keep all my CDs, cassettes, minidiscs, DVDs and VHS. CDs take up more than half the space obviously! All the CDs are on the left side in the following order: promo singles, singles, promo albums, albums. Cassettes follow the same order. All the vinyl records are in the living room because there is no space left in my bedroom. I also have two drawers with magazines, stickers, T-shirts, tour stuff and some other little goods… In the attic I keep all the posters and a broken drum head!

What's your most treasured item in your collection and why?

I started collecting Suede in 1997. I have been collecting for 25 years now… It has been a long journey with many wins and many losses mainly on eBay. I am very proud of my collection and every single item has a special meaning to me. Every item has a little story associated with it. It’s really difficult to select the most treasured item in my collection… Well, I will pick two because they are unique and very special. 

First, the giant Portuguese poster for the Head Music release has a very special meaning to me. The day of the release I went to my local record shop and I almost fainted when I saw it in the window… I immediately asked the staff to reserve it for me as soon as possible. One month later I took it home, walking the streets with a happy smile. 

Second, I was very lucky to get Simon’s drum head that was broken before their concert in 2011 in Porto.

Tell us about your most recent Suede purchase.

Autofiction album in all formats, sizes, colours and shapes… Even signed, unsigned… A new chapter have just begun for Suede collectors.

Is there any item that was in your reach and you now regret not buying?

Yes, a few… And I regret it now because I don’t find them anywhere… For example, the Japanese promo cassette for A New Morning and the US promo cassettes for Sci-Fi Lullabies.

What's on your wishlist for your collection?

Oh! Many Suede friends tell me I have got a huge collection but the truth is I'm still missing a lot of items… I will leave here a short list with the items I would like to get soon. I will appreciate if some Insatiable Ones can help me find them. Thank you.

- Coming Up reissue CD+DVD (Taiwan edition with obi-strip)

- Coming Up (Canadian cassette)

- Head Music cassette (Philippines edition)

- Singles CD (Chile edition)

- Albums + demos from Japan 2013 Teichiku Label (Suede teci-18684 / Dog Man Star teci-18685 / Coming Up teci-18686 / Head Music teci-18687 / A New Morning teci-18688)

- Reissues from Japan 2011 CD+DVD (Head Music and A New Morning).

I want to thank all the Suede fans I met over all these years, online and in person, from all over the world. Many of you have had a special impact on my Suede collection (my little empire, as I call it) and on my life, in some way, and I am really thankful for all your help and support. I really don’t know what my life would be like today without Suede and without all my Suede friends. Enjoy the pics of my Suede collection (sorry, there are a few items missing in the pics).

See you soon!

Marcos