Madness frontman Suggs warns Ed Sheeran 'you have to say something'

Madness frontman Suggs has entered into the Ed Sheeran controversy, saying: “Music is political whether you like it or not.” Sheeran broke down on stage in Philadelphia at the weekend, after his support acts all quit, following the sacking of rapper Macklemore from his Loop tour, for voicing pro-Palestinian views. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Suggs says: “The Gaza thing is very polarising. If you say you’re pro-Palestine, you can be blanked and cancelled, and a lot of people are scared of it. I can understand that. But Ed Sheeran…I think he’s got enough money not to be scared of it, personally. I’m not telling him what to do, but I think there are certain situations where you have to say something.” Since the furore blew up, Sheeran has insisted he has simply tried to avoid becoming a "political commentator". But Baggy Trousers singer Suggs says music is unavoidably political, adding: “You’re talking about the everyday lives of people and you’re communicating, whether it be love, peace, or whatever. Sometimes you have to say something.” Suggs, 65, is speaking ahead of the October 1 cinema release of Madness’ film Take It Or Leave It, which has been restored in super high resolution by the British Film Institute. It charts Madness’s rise from a pub band called The Invaders in Camden Town, through line-up changes and rows, to mainstream chart success. Directed by Dave Robinson, it features Suggs, who joined in 1977, alongside Madness members Mark Bedford (Bedders), Lee Thompson (El Thommo), Carl Smyth (Chas Smash), Dan Woodgate (Woody), Chris Foreman (Chrissy Boy) and Mike Barson (Barzo). Part-funded by the band, which was formed 50 years ago, Suggs says: “We thought we were going to be The Beatles.” Of the film, he adds: “I think it played in two cinemas at the time, but they blew the dust off the VHS and now it’s going into 150 - we’ve made it. “We look so young, we were kids. It’s charming. It's a sort of time piece of that period. We didn’t have a clue that we were going to survive for this long.” Born Graham McPherson, Suggs got his nickname at school, after sticking a pin in an encyclopaedia of jazz musicians and hitting Peter Suggs. And he will be with the seven-piece ska band, whose hits include Our House, House of Fun, and It Must Be Love, on September 27, when they join the next Artists for Gaza benefit, fundraising to rebuild Gaza's medical system. Suggs says: “I can’t see that it is even political. Hospitals are all bombed, they’ve got no medicine, people are doing surgery with no anaesthetic. That can’t be something that you don’t feel is wrong.” Happy to express political views, he praises Andy Burnham for speaking out on Gaza. He says: “I like Andy Burnham. I’d actually made a bet and put him down for Prime Minister, 100 to one, before Keir Starmer got in. His statement against the settlements on the West Bank, how horrible it is there, it’s a good start. Politics in general has been lacking anyone with any sort of moral backbone.” Meanwhile, he is scathing about Nigel Farage. He says: “I’m not the biggest fan of Farage, I don’t like him. I think he’s got about as much to do with the working class as anyone up there in the upper-middle class aristocracy. I totally understand people’s frustrations, working-class people in this country. But I just don’t think he’s the right representative of it personally. I think he’s a fake.” Madness have never shied away from tackling difficult issues through music. Their 1980 hit, Embarrassment, deals with inter-racial pregnancy and family rejection. Suggs, who lives in Camden, north London with his wife, rock singer Bette Bright, with whom he has two daughters, continues: “I wouldn’t be a politician, I feel sorry for them. They get a lot of hate. “I got involved in Camden Council for a while and it’s so convoluted, difficult, and you’re always being slagged off. People nose into every corner of your private life, too. My private life wouldn’t allow me to get any further than sort of being a traffic warden. I’ve got a platform as a performer to be able to hopefully influence things a bit.” Away from politics, friendship is an important subject with Suggs - and he says it’s the key to Madness’s continued success. He says: “We are still really good friends and enjoy each other’s company, and making music. We only do it when we really want to, and if we really want to, then it becomes fun, and on it goes. Long may it last.” Suggs sparked health fears this summer, after almost collapsing on stage at Hampshire’s Boomtown Festival. He says: “It was the hottest day of the year, it was 39, 40 degrees, and about three quarters through the set I started feeling a bit faint - heat stroke. I started to go sort of a bit blurry in my eyes, and then I fell over! “The band were laughing, they were going, ‘even though you were semi-unconscious, you were still singing!’ In the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘you can’t halt this set, no no no, we’ve got to get the money!’ In the end, they got me a chair, and I got this roadie with an umbrella over my head. I started feeling a bit like Queen Victoria. But I made it to the end of the set.” With 16 top 10 singles, three Glastonbury stints and four BBC bans from Top of the Pops, Suggs says of Madness: “We were more rock and roll than the rock and rollers. There were no stones unturned. We went full on. When Madness turned up, it was like, ‘oh f***, here they come!’ “We had a love-hate relationship with the Top of the Pops producer. We’d just have another number one hit, and he’d go, ‘Oh f***, I’ve got to have them back again.’ But it was just stupid stuff, like we got in the lift for Pan’s People. here were too many of us and the lift plummeted to the basement, so we missed our slot on the show. “There was a plugger at the time, who was working for the record company. She said, ‘you do realise, Suggs, that people would give their right arms to be on this show?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, but we’re just not right arm-giving people.’” Playing 35 festivals over the summer, despite turning 50, Madness are not slowing down. Suggs says: “We’re having too much fun to stop.” But, it won’t be screaming fans that the grandfather-of-four remembers on his deathbed. He says: “I’ll see my grandchildren. When you have your own kids, you’re so busy being responsible and paying for everything and all that. “When you have grandchildren, you just get this really great feeling of innocence and joy, which reminds you of what we all should be. But I’m a wayward grandad, because you don’t have to discipline them. You can just have a laugh, you can get them sweets and do all the things that they shouldn’t be doing.” *Take It Or Leave It, newly restored in 4K by the BFI, is in cinemas from 1 October and released on BFI Blu-ray/DVD on 19 October.