The Tears

The Tears
The Tears performing at Roskilde Festival in Denmark in 2005
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Alternative rock, Britpop
Years active	2004–2006
Labels	Independiente
Associated acts	Suede, McAlmont & Butler, The Fratellis
Past members	Brett Anderson Bernard Butler Will Foster Makoto Sakamoto Nathan Fisher

The Tears were an English rock band formed in 2004 by ex-Suede bandmates Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler. The duo were a much anticipated reunion and music critics praised their first concerts and debut album, Here Come The Tears. However, the project was short-lived as they disbanded in 2006, which allowed Anderson to focus on his solo career and Butler to become a full-time producer.

In 1994, when Bernard Butler walked out of Suede, they were the biggest new band in Britain. He was pilloried in the music press and characterised as "demanding, difficult and egotistical" by Brett Anderson. "When he left the band we pretty much hated each other as much as two people can hate each other," admitted Anderson in an interview with The Times. The pair parted company in July 1994 while recording Suede's second album Dog Man Star, which resulted in a major fallout due to musical differences and Anderson's hedonistic lifestyle. As Suede soldiered on and Butler forged a solo career, both with varying degrees of success; they continued to snipe at each other in the press. Though Butler and Anderson had not spoken to each other for nine years, Anderson claimed getting back in touch with Butler was not difficult. The band decided on being named after a line from a Philip Larkin poem, Femmes Damnées, which ends with the line: "The only sound heard is the sound of tears".

The band played their first ever live show on 14 December 2004 at the Oxford Zodiac. Things went as expected for the "new" band, and most new songs were received well by those attending the first set of shows. When asked during a concert by a fan to play Suede song, "The Drowners", Anderson replied saying, "Did somebody say they wanted to hear The Drowners? You’ve come to the wrong gig, mate."

Apart from relatively minor reviews of the first clutch of live shows, The Tears first press, a review of "Refugees", interview with Anderson and a poster was in The Sun on 15 April. The next major article was by Alexis Petridis in The Guardian, which ended on an extremely optimistic note: "the pair seem artistically reinvigorated by each other's company. Anderson talks excitedly of Tears songs like the ballad Asylum, inspired by his father's struggle with depression, as having moved away from "Suede cliches or Brett Anderson cliches ... it's not, you know, opiated fop territory."