Mat Osman is a founding and current member of the band Suede, along with Brett Anderson, and is the author of two novels. ruinsReleased in 2020, it is about a modern-day murder mystery about estranged siblings. His last Ghost TheaterIt is set in Elizabethan London and tells the story of the Blackfriars Boys, a real-life Elizabethan theater troupe made up of children who were often snatched off the streets to perform in popular plays of the time. They are joined by Shay, a young female “Aviscultan”; A worshiper of birds, with whom he communicates as he climbs city rooftops while evading his enemies. The book received critical acclaim and Guardian selected it as one of the novels of 2023. Osman is the older brother of fellow TV presenter and novelist Richard Osman and lives in north-west London.
It’s not the kind of book you’d think a musician would write…
I hope this is true. My first novel was about a musician and brothers and stuff and [my] experience. [With The Ghost Theatre] I was really aware that I wanted to write something without the safety net, where I had to make up for everything. Because I want to be a writer, not a musician who wrote a book.
Where did the idea come from?
I came across a story about a child who was kidnapped for the stage in 1601. Children of all kinds were stolen from the streets to perform. Everyone in London went to the theater the entertainment and these kids were incredibly famous, performing for the Queen. But they were also basically property. They were bought, sold and pimped. I just wanted to know what it felt like. That’s how it started. But halfway through, it turned into an adventure story, a kind of historical romp that I didn’t actually plan on writing.
Where did Shay and her community of bird worshippers come from?
Like most things, from a conversation on the tour bus. I’m talking about religions that worship only animals: cats, bulls and the like. There doesn’t seem to be anyone who worships birds. It seemed strange to me because they seemed so worshipful. You know, they live in the sky, they are indescribable. Beautiful and cruel. And we don’t really understand them. I mean, they create perfect gods.
I was the flashy one at Suede; my mother was a teacher
The book is a love letter to London. You Grew up in Haywards Heath – What was your first experience in the city?
When I first came to London I came to see Simple Minds with a friend and her father. Must be in Hammersmith [Odeon] because I remember coming from Hammersmith Bridge. To be honest, I was in love with London before I came here. I mean, I swallowed everything [to do with it]. The Sex Pistols, the Jam – I already had a kind of musical London in my head. I’ve lived here for 35 years and I still love it. But I wanted to write about a real London, a dirty, dangerous, working-class London. You know I was the coolest in Suede because my mom was a teacher. When we started here, no one had money, not a single group that I knew… it was kind of a working-class quest, an ordinary person’s quest. And that no longer exists. It’s not really like that.
Can you recommend other books by musicians?
There’s a guy named John Darnielle. An incredibly talented guy who is the lead singer of a great American band called Mountain Goats. He wrote several books, The Wolf in the White Van And Universal Combine HarvesterBoth are absolutely perfect. Universal Combine Harvester – if anyone reading this is from Netflix or Amazon – they’re like a smart adult Stranger Things It should be turned into a movie or TV series as soon as possible.
Which authors do you always return to?
Michael Chabon, but also Michel Faber and Iain Banks, made me feel like I could be a writer, because nothing is off-limits in terms of style. I love writers who cross boundaries, whose ideas are too big for a single genre. This is one of the things I find frustrating about publishing; these little boxes that are put inside. Ghost Theater to be [classed as] Historical fiction. It’s just a fiction set in that period.
What is your next book about?
After the apocalypse, a tech billionaire and his team are trapped in a bunker. I’ve spent the last six months scaring myself by looking at these underground bunkers built by everyone who has a stake in our future.
Your brother Richard toofamous, A writer. Which one is your favorite? Thursday Murder Club your book?
Last [The Last Devil to Die]. So I like them all. It’s not the kind of thing I would normally read, but when I read the first sentence of the first one – he sent it to me six months before it was published – it was like: ‘Okay, he knows what he’s doing. ‘ But the last one was really nice, I thought. The descriptions of dementia and coping with it were clever. It’s really sad but not sentimental; It’s a difficult thing to do.
He said your books were dark with a mainstream twist, while his were the exact opposite. Do you agree?
Yes completely. It’s always been like this. While we were growing up, he was into television, golf and billiards on Saturday nights; He had always loved the mainstream. This is not an affectation. He has a general taste, whereas I’ve always been obsessed with all things cool. This is why most people start a group. Not for reasons that really matter to me right now; The sense of community, touching people. Because I wasn’t very cool and I wanted to be.
Why were the Ottomans so successful?
I really have no idea. We both marvel at this every now and then because I think if you had met us when we were 15 you would have thought: well… good luck to those two!
• Ghost Theater This book by Mat Osman is published in paperback by Bloomsbury (£9.99). To support Guardian And Observer Order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply