Interview: Deep Dive Live - a new way to experience your favourite artists
The first Deep Dive Live event will explore the making of the debut album by Suede
Ahead of their first event at TOM, we caught up with Deep Dive Live’s Don Pawley to find out a bit more about the night, what to expect, and the difference between DDL and a regular playback event…
What is Deep Dive Live?
Deep Dive Live is a live event series built around classic albums and the producers and artists who made them.
Each night focuses on one landmark record, with the producer or key creative figure behind it guiding the audience through how it was made – from the early ideas and studio experiments to the decisions that shaped the final sound. It’s part conversation, part listening session, part storytelling.
We’ve taken a lot of inspiration from those moments in music documentaries where a record producer sits at a mixing desk, pulls apart a track, and suddenly you hear or see something you’d never consciously noticed before - but once it’s pointed out, you realise how crucial it is to the finished record. That sense of discovery is at the heart of what we’re trying to do.
It’s designed for people who love music not just as something to put on in the background, but as something they’re genuinely curious about – how it comes together, why certain records endure, and what was really happening in the room when they were made.
How did the idea come to fruition?
It grew pretty organically out of a lot of long conversations.
Wez and I have been friends for years and are both the sort of people who can disappear down rabbit holes talking about albums. We’re fascinated by the circumstances around the recording of a record, why a certain song works, or why something made decades ago can still feel so powerful.
At some point we realised there wasn’t really a live space for that kind of deep, nerdy curiosity – especially where the people who actually made the records are the ones telling the story, and can literally show you how things were built. So Deep Dive Live came from that: wanting to create an evening that feels intimate, knowledgeable, and genuinely revealing, rather than just promotional.
Starting with Suede’s debut album felt right because it’s such an important British record, and Ed Buller’s perspective on that period is fascinating.
What makes Deep Dive Live different to a normal playback event?
Most playback events are about celebrating the finished record, which is great. But Deep Dive Live is more about the process behind it.
Instead of simply listening through an album from start to finish, the night is structured as a journey through how the music came into being: the false starts, the breakthroughs, the technical choices, the creative tensions, and the moments that changed the direction of the record.
Having the producer on stage makes a huge difference too. You’re hearing from someone who was in the room while it happened – someone who can pull up a demo, isolate a part of a track, or share something from their personal archive – not just someone looking back from the outside. It turns the album into a story, rather than just a set of songs.
What do you want audiences to take away after a Deep Dive Live night?
Ideally, two things.
First, a deeper connection to an album they already love – hearing it differently, noticing details they hadn’t before, and understanding what went into making it what it is.
And second, a renewed appreciation for the craft behind records in general. How much thought, trial and error, and human decision-making sits behind music that can sometimes feel effortless when you listen to it.
If people leave feeling inspired, slightly more obsessed with music than when they arrived, and keen for the next Deep Dive Live, then we’ve done our job.
Suede: Deep Dive Live takes place at TOM on 2 April - click here to book tickets