Suggs chats to I Like Music

Fun-loving British pop legends Madness and hip-hop hero Sway unite for the first time on collaborative new single Sorry, an exuberant and joyous song devoted to the hardest word to say. Madness' own chart-topping, gig-rocking antics stretch back to a time before Sway or Baby Blue (who also features on the track) were even born, and the band's ongoing presence is still very much all around us. The spirit of Madness was viral back when spam arrived in a tin rather than an email, and now their music not only lives on but flourishes with more vigour than ever before.

Although an incongruous and unlikely musical match at first glance, Madness and Sway all share a strong sense of humour, an unmistakable cheeky chappie sensibility and a love of their hometown London. Plus there's history to this pairing�

I Like Music caught up with Madness frontman, the lovely Suggs, to talk about the story behind the Sway collaboration, London, Lily Allen and the Liberty of Norton Folgate.

"I like music because� it's given me a tremendous career, it's a very joyful way to make a living, and it's the soundtrack to all of our lives." SUGGS, MADNESS

ILM: You and Sway unite for the first time on collaborative new single Sorry, an exuberant and joyous song devoted to the hardest word to say. Can you describe the track and its whole vibe, how it came together etc?

SUGGS: Last year Madness, we went and did a lot of small gigs under another name, we called ourselves the Dangermen and we did a lot of old ska and reggae covers because that's the kind of music we started out playing, whenever that was� 1923 [laughs] and it's music that we love. And it was just to get us back in the mood really, because we haven't been doing a lot the past five or six years. And it really did. Then we thought we'd write another album of our own stuff, because we're back in there, we're in the groove, doing it again, and that was about January last year, but the trouble with Madness is there's seven of us, so it takes about a year to get everyone in the same room, never mind actually doing something together and the album was just dragging on and we got a new manager, and he said, 'Suggs, look you've just got to put a record out, even if you haven't got your album ready, just get on with something.

And we had this track up and running and it just needed a bit of something. And, funnily enough, my kids played me Sway's album, I've got two 20 year old daughters, which I thought was really great and I think there's a lot of great things going on in British Hip Hop at the moment, they've found a way of doing it that isn't just copying Americans and that seemed to really suit what Madness is all about, because we're a very British band

And then I read an interview where Sway said one of his favourite bands was Madness, and one of the first records he had was a Madness record, and he loved Driving In My Car because it mentioned Muswell Hill, where he grew up. So it all just made sense. So we were in the process of recording the album, so we just thought we'd give him a ring. It's not something we normally do, collaborate with other people. And he just said, yes straight away. I'll write a little something and I've got a friend of mine, Baby Blue, and we'll just do a little funny conversation and it just worked out really well.

Also, he didn't tell me, but someone else did, that he was about ten and moved into a flat and there got hold of Madness greatest hits which had been left there, or something� do you know the story?

ILM: Yeah. Sway inherited the possessions of a neighbour, including a record collection consisting mainly of Madness vinyl.

SUGGS: Yeah, that's it, so it was the first music he started listening to.

ILM: Yeah, he told us in an interview last year that top of his wish list of collaborations would be Madness and now it's like he's achieved that ambition, which is great.

SUGGS: And that's so nice; he had all his mates there and he was filming it and all that. But that was just him doing a little something on our record, so we'd actually like to do something together now and sit down and write something together, so hopefully that'll happen.

ILM: You and Sway all share a strong sense of humour, an unmistakable cheeky chappie sensibility and a love of their hometown London. Can you tell me the best and the worst thing about London?

SUGGS: The best thing is the people, the diversity of the people, you can hear every kind of music, you can eat every kind of food and talk to people from every single part of world, just walking down your own street. The worst thing is�it's not such an obvious thing, the worst thing, because London is such a massive place, it's different from area to area. It's that old thing of, you can get up one day and someone will give you a smile and you think it's the best place in the world, and the next day, someone will try to ram you off the road with their car and you think it's the worst place in the world and it's because there's so many people in it, you never know who you're going to bump into next, but I wouldn't take the bad out, because that's what makes it what it is. It's got a slight edge, and it's a bit dangerous, but that's life.

ILM: When you performed Sorry during 2006's sell-out 9 date UK arena live dates, many of the fans already knew every word. Does it still feel amazing when fans sing your tunes back to you?

SUGGS: Very much indeed, of course it does, yeah. The difficult thing of being in Madness as I mentioned is, there are seven us so it's hard to get the momentum going, when one gets in the van another one gets out. So we don't play that often, but when we do it really is a revelation. We did ten dates before Christmas and hadn't played together for nearly a year, but it is still a revelation that people enjoy what we do so much, and consequently we enjoy it ourselves.

The whole principal of Madness when we first started, as you can see from all the old videos, was that we were really having a good time. We were friends to start with, so the premise of the band has always been our friendship first and the music would come because we get on together, and it's still like that.

ILM: I can see you all when you're in your eighties still knocking out some tunes, because you'll still be friends.

SUGGS: Definitely! Moaning about all that bloody modern music. At the Buena Vista Social Club there's the Cuban Guys, a couple of them died unfortunately, but they were in their 80s and I saw them play and they were fantastic, really well turned out with brilliant gear and still having a great time in their eighties, so why not.

ILM: What songs do you enjoy playing live the most?

SUGGS: It Must Be Love, it's such a simple song and a pretty niaive view of things, but when you get a bit older like me, you do realise that love is indeed the best, and that's what the song says, and people really love it. It's been played at weddings, funerals, birthday parties. Especially when we play live, it might be the first record they met their girlfriend to, so it has memories people and it always goes down really well that song.

ILM: Madness songs are part of the soundtrack to so many of our lives. You are pop ska legends - How much of a sense of achievement do you wake up with each day? And what ambitions do you still have to achieve?

SUGGS: I'm not arrogant about it, but definitely. I get so much good will from people in the street and I don't know if everyone in this business does, but I certainly do.

That's one of the joys of having done what we did. Great pop records, and I've seen it in my own kids, they'll hear a song they heard when they were 15 and they'll suddenly go mad, and it reminds them at some rave they were at or something, one night of madness. Because music is there innit? It's your favourite track for a couple of weeks and then it's gone and you don't hear it for a few years. And then suddenly you hear it again and you remember that time.

ILM: It takes you back.

SUGGS: Yeah, exactly.

ILM: The Madness influence can be heard in the music of many newer artists, with The Ordinary Boys, The Bees, Lily Allen and Jamie T, which must be quite flattering for you guys. Are there any current or new artists that you currently rate?

SUGGS: Yeah, I think there's a lot of really great music around at the moment, yeah. And of course it's flattering, yes. But I really like the fact that there seems to be a lot of great songwriting around at the moment, especially lyrics, a lot of funny quirky stuff, which maybe went away for a while, and I like that. I don't think people should be fools, but I like that, not being too serious about yourself is a good thing. I really like that Jamie T album, I think that's great and Lily Allen's album when it came out, that's great. There's loads of really good music coming out every five minutes. The Kaiser Chief's new album is brilliant, really good lively kind of up stuff. It's a great time for music.

ILM: Searching YouTube for Baggy Trousers generates countless clips of homemade interpretations and versions - do you ever browse to have a look?

SUGGS: Yeah, I do, I was looking at it last night. It's amazing what's out there, there's bloody tones of it. I put in Madness and about 25 trillion things came up andI realized if you wanted to you could make a whole concert out of what people have filmed on their mobile phones, find every song and clip it all together.

I saw those guys, The Real Deal Clan or something they're called, they did Baggy Trousers and they've not done a bad job at all, so it's nice to be appreciated.

ILM: Following the release of Sorry on 5th March on Madness' Lucky Seven imprint, the band will begin to unveil material from their new album and announce some very special live plans. Can you tell me a bit about the album, including which track did you have the most fun making in the studio?

SUGGS: Sorry is pretty much a straightforward up tempo ska track that you might play on a Friday night, but the rest is a mixture of stuff. Madness, if you listen to all the songs we did, Our House is very different to One Step Beyond and there are all sorts of different styles, and we're trying to get that in to the album, trying to get a really nice colourful mixture.

There's a song called Liberty of Norton Folgate, because when London was still a very small place in the 1700s or something, there was the City of London itself, right in the middle, just one square mile which had a wall round it. And newcomers to the city, they could never get in there, so they had this place called Liberties where the first immigrants to this country would go, the Irish, Welsh and Jewish people, and I was reading about it, and it sounded great. It was outside the law, the law was in the inside of the walls on the outside you could just do what you liked. So all the people on the inside on a Friday night would go to the outside and hang out with the newcomers and the crazy goings on. And I think that's a great analogy for the way London is, it's always been like that. Especially at the moment with people worrying about too many people coming into this country and stuff, but if you know anything about history, that's the way it's always been. There's always been people coming and going, with new people bringing in their ideas. And when people arrived there'd always be a bit of fear about who these people are, but if you know a bit about the history of London, it's like an enormous port and people have always come and gone. So we did this song and its quite long. It starts off with a Jewish orchestra and then goes into Irish and Welsh music and then at the end it goes into Bangra music because it's trying to follow all the people who have come and gone.

ILM: So it's like a story but with all the different styles of music weaved into it too.

SUGGS: Exactly, so it was really good fun to do, because it was quite complicated and quite a challenge, because we don't really write songs that are that long. We really had a laugh it was fun.

ILM: What tune or album do you stick on to instantly cheer you up and to chill out to?

SUGGS: To instantly cheer up: Hey Ya by Outkast is probably the most joyful song I've heard in the last few years.

To relax and unwind? I very much like Reggae music since when I was a kid. There's some great dub stuff, for just floating around in the background, there's a great album King Tubby and Augustus Pablo, two artists who worked together and made some great albums, and you don't have to strain your brain listening to them.

ILM: Any tips or advice for budding artists and producers starting out?

SUGGS: It's a great time. We never had You Tube when I was young. To make it was really hard. The great thing now is that if you have a great idea and you put it out you've got a chance that someone's going to pick up on it.

My only advice has always ever been, just to keep going. If you've really got that desire to do it, never give up. So many people get disheartened. Even if you're having to do some boring old job and you're doing your music or your photography and being creative in the evenings and weekends, you've got to keep going; that's the only solution. So many of my friends o are really talented but they gave up because they got downhearted.

ILM: Yeah you've got to be persistent because you never know what's round the corner.

SUGGS: Exactly, it's like Lily Allen. She started on My Space and someone heard it and someone else heard it, and they told their mates. If you've got the talent there's a chance it'll get out there eventually if you keep going. The other thing is to be yourself. Try and write from your own experience. The big mistake people do is they listen to the charts and try to emulate what they hear, but just write about your own life and do it your own way.

That's the way Madness do it. Madness featuring Sway, Sorry is out now, released March 5 2007.

Related links:

1. Madness featuring Sway + Baby Blue - Sorry
2. Sway chats to I Like Music
3. Divine Madness