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issue 1 june 2004

neil codling – keyboards
despite having effortlessly installed himself as a just seventeen and smash hits readers’ fave, the man they don’t call molly remains something of a mystery. we know he’s simon’s cousin, hails from the land of shakespeare, plays everything from kazoo to flugelhorn and used to be in some kind of weird jazz-punk outfit under the moniker of the fit drunks.

he appears to have joined suede completely by accident, making a nuisance of himself by humming along with brett at rehearsals until someone gave him a piano to play with. then before anyone could shout  “robert is your mother’s brother”, neil plucked two beezer tunes from nowhere and suggested that his new found chums should give them a listen. 

the songs were "tiswas" and "gbh" which respectively became the spittle-flecked "starcrazy" and swoonsome "chemistry between us". here was someone who could sing, play and compose, with the added benefit of being young enough to keep the band’s average age on the right side of thirty. 

suede had become a five piece.

neil codling lives on a diet of brown rice. he is the proud owner of the finest cheekbones in pop.