Simon Gilbert (born 23 May 1965) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

and member of the

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was fir ...

, one of the 'Big Four'

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

bands of the 1990s, along with

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

, Blur and

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

. Gilbert is the third-longest member of Suede, and along with founders

Brett Anderson Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted The Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004- ...

and

Mat Osman Mathew David Osman (born 9 October 1967) is an English musician and author, best known as the bassist in the rock band Suede. Osman and singer Brett Anderson are the only remaining founding members left in Suede, and along with the drummer Sim ...

appear on every Suede album.

Biography

Gilbert was initially drummer for English

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band Dead to the World. By June 1990 he was working at the

University of London Union Student Central was a students' facility of the University of London. It was previously the students' union of the federal University of London, known as the University of London Union (commonly referred to as ULU, pron. 'yoo-loo'), which was clo ...

(ULU) alongside

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...

, who was also managing the then unknown and unsigned Suede. After Gervais played him a demo, Gilbert asked to audition as the band were relying on a drum machine at the time. After seeing the group perform at an ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' show in January 1992, Saul Galpern approached the group with a view to signing to his independent record label

Nude Records Nude Records is an independent record label, established in August 1991 in London. The label was set up and operated by Saul Galpern, who had previously worked with artists such as Simply Red, The Fall, Julian Cope, The Triffids, The Slits and ...

. In 1994, following the departure of Suede's guitarist

Bernard Butler Bernard Joseph Butler (born 1 May 1970) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the first guitarist with Suede, until his departure in 1994. He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his ...

, Gilbert heard singer

playing through audition tapes and mistakenly believed one to be an early Suede demo. It turned out to be the work of 17-year-old Richard Oakes who was subsequently hired as Butler's replacement. In January 1996, the band was joined by new member

Neil Codling Neil John Codling (born 5 December 1973) is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the keyboardist, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and co-songwriter for the alternative rock band Suede. Early life Neil Codling was raised in Str ...

, a cousin of Gilbert who played keyboards and second guitar until early 2001. Suede's last concert before their hiatus took place at the

London Astoria The London Astoria was a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England. Originally a warehouse during the 1920s, the building became a cinema and ballroom. It was converted for use as a theatre in the 1970s. After further develop ...

on 13 December 2003 and was a two-and-a-half-hour marathon show, split into two parts plus encore, after which Gilbert became the drummer for a Bangkok band named Futon, with

Into a Circle Into a Circle (also as In Two a Circle and In2a0) were an English new wave duo, formed in April 1985 by Paul "Bee" Hampshire and Barry Jepson, two former members of the band Getting the Fear.Lazell, Barry (1998) ''Indie Hits 1980-1989'', Cherry R ...

's Paul Hampshire. Following persistent rumours, Saul Galpern officially announced on 15 January 2010 Suede would be playing together again at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

in London as part of the

Teenage Cancer Trust Teenage Cancer Trust is a cancer care and support charity in the UK that exists to improve the cancer experience of young people aged 13–24. Founded in 1990, the charity's key service is providing specialist teenage units in NHS hospitals. It ...

shows on 24 March of that year. Planned as a 'one off', the reception to the band's reformation prompted several tours in Europe and Asia as well as three more albums. Gilbert had collected a considerable amount of Suede footage spanning the band's career, much of which featured in a major definitive feature-documentary ''Suede: The Insatiable Ones''. The film was directed by the acclaimed Mike Christie, whose film-making career began while working with Suede during the band's 1993 collaboration with

Derek Jarman Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...

. Aside from vocalist

and bassist

, Gilbert is the longest tenured member of Suede, and appeared on every band's studio albums.

Personal life

Simon Gilbert is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

; in a 1994 interview with ''

Attitude Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value * Metaphysics of presence * Propositional attitude, a relational mental state connecting a person to a pro ...

'' where

described himself as "a

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

man who's never had a homosexual experience", Gilbert replied with "I've called myself a bisexual person who's never had a heterosexual experience".

Discography

With Suede

* ''

'' (1993) * ''

Dog Man Star ''Dog Man Star'' is the second album by English alternative rock band Suede (band), Suede, released in October 1994 on Nude Records. The album was recorded in London at Master Rock studios in early 1994, and was produced by Ed Buller. It was th ...

'' (1994) * '' Coming Up'' (1996) * ''

Head Music ''Head Music'' is the fourth album by English alternative rock band Suede, released by Nude Records in May 1999. Produced and mixed by Steve Osborne, ''Head Music'' features a more electronic sound, which was a new approach for the band. The rec ...

'' (1999) * ''

A New Morning ''A New Morning'' is the fifth studio album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in September 2002. By the time the album was released, public interest in the band had waned, as shown by the poor charting of both the album and single ...

'' (2002) * ''

Bloodsports A blood sport or bloodsport is a category of sport or entertainment that involves bloodshed. Common examples of the former include combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, and some forms of hunting and fishing. Activities characte ...

'' (2013) * ''

Night Thoughts ''The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality'', better known simply as ''Night-Thoughts'', is a long poem by Edward Young published in nine parts (or "nights") between 1742 and 1745. It was illustrated with notable engrav ...

'' (2016) * '' The Blue Hour'' (2018) * ''

Autofiction In literary criticism, autofiction is a form of fictionalized autobiography. Autofiction combines two mutually inconsistent narrative forms, namely autobiography and fiction. An author may decide to recount their life in the third person, to mod ...

'' (2022)

References

External links

Suede official website

Interview with Simon Gilbert from 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Simon 1965 births Alternative rock drummers English rock drummers British expatriates in Thailand People from Stratford-upon-Avon Suede (band) members Living people Britpop musicians English gay musicians 20th-century LGBT people