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

I'm Shawndra Hayes-Budgen, and I discovered Suede after seeing Velvet Goldmine, and working my way back from all the members of various bands who contributed to the soundtrack.

And I'm Simon Budgen, and I suspect my first awareness of Suede was reading about them in one of the inkies; they then played a pre-Drowners secret gig in Liverpool's legendary club-and-surprise-band night, Temptation 2. The bands were seldom a surprise, as Liverpool can't keep a secret...

What & when was your first Suede purchase?

SHB: The Everything Will Flow CD single, sometime in 1998.

SB: It would have been The Drowners, but genuinely can't remember if it was the day of release or the following Thursday; it would have depended on where I was in the signing-on-and-Giro cycle that week.

How do you organise your collection?

SHB: <Laughs manically> What is this ‘organisation’ you speak of? You might notice that there are some obvious things missing in the photos. I’ll be damned if I know where my copy of The Words has gone, as one example.

SB: Shawndra staged an intervention, and forced me to alphabetise our CDs, although Suede gets a shelf to itself. But after we moved into this house, everything is still a bit up in the air - I've spent the last day trying to find my folder of 90s clippings which used to be with all the others, but the Suede file appears to have been put somewhere "safe"... A bit too safe, it turns out.

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

SHB: The setlist from Cambridge, because it marks that magical moment when we got invited onto the stage; and the bits and pieces from the dinner at The Idler where we got to sit right behind Brett.

SB: I have a copy of Suedehead, an early fanzine produced by an American fan who ran an article I wrote about the various types of people who you'd find at Suede gigs, which was the first time someone I didn't know and had never met liked something I'd written enough to publish it. I've also got a CD from a company called the Marketeers who would send radio stations pre-packaged interviews on things like pension planning and energy efficiency with the idea that under-resourced channels would stick them out to plug gaps in programming. They'd also include a 'track of the week', and one week Suede had been chosen (by god knows what process) - it's the weirdest promo item I've come across.

Tell us about your most recent Suede purchase.

SHB: The Record Store Day release of Love and Poison …unless you count the airfare to Luxembourg for next May (I’m feeling hopeful!)...

SB: It's a unified collection now. I guess the last thing that wasn't a joint purchase was when I got Shawndra the Japanese Simon CD as a gift a couple of birthdays back.

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

SHB: There's still a couple of box sets I regret letting pass me by...

SB: I can remember sitting at a table in the Duchess of York in Leeds, next to the merch table, with what I suspect were the first run of Metal Mickey t-shirts on the wall. Physically in my reach, but financially...

What's on your wishlist for your collection?

SHB: More gig ticket stubs; more autographs gotten while chatting with the boys; and a *tonne* of Suede 9 merch.
…And finding all of my missing things, most of which still aren’t unpacked after our move.

SB: I really want to find my old cuttings again! Especially the Brett in purple silk Face shoot...