After Dinner Speakers: Suede, Tom King, Peter Keen

In the Spring of 1993, with the fastest selling debut in a decade under their belts at home, Suede turned their attention across the Atlantic to the birthplace of rock'n'roll, the United States of America. A notoriously difficult market to break for British acts, Suede did surprisingly well in their initial offensive. The first spate of shows attracted a small but dedicated audience and album sales were higher than expected. The first stumbling block came not from American apathy but from a Washington DC based folk singer. Suzanne DeBronkart, who had previously recorded under the name Suede, was surprised to see sales of her albums rise unexpectedly and further disturbed by complaints from her fans who had apparently purchased an album of decidedly un-folky English guitar music under the mistaken impression that it was her latest release. Having trademarked the name some years before (ironically due to the existence of a porn writer using Suede as a psuedonym), it transpired that Ms DeBronkart held all the cards, being technically the legal owner of the name in the States. This left the band in the unhappy position of either being exiled from the US forever or changing their name. A shortlist was drawn up by DeBronkart's lawyers and "The London Suede" was chosen as the least unwieldy of a bad lot. The practical upshot of the consequent legal wranglings, is that all the band's subsequent US material, beginning with the Stay Together EP in April 1994, has been released under the name "The London Suede". And as of today, that is how the uncomfortable position stands.