Rough Trade Signing Postponed

Hi Folks, sorry but the Rough Trade East signing will now happen at a later date - the release date of London Conversations has been delayed because of supply problems. Grrrrrr

11:30 PM - 0 Comments - 7 Kudos - Add Comment

Burnt Out Car - out on Monday

Our first new single in 3 years is out monday - Burnt Out Car! Well it's not BRAND new of course, but it's a Xenomania-dusted version of our 1995 withdrawn single (a few of you might have the original tear-soaked promos).

It's on a limited 7" and two cds, one with b-sides (River and Night Vision), the other with Mark Brown's mix and his radio edit.

The show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on sunday was a lot of fun, with a system-smashing dance-off at the front which The Man just couldn't stop. Hope you liked our sexy new backdrops.

Thanks to our complicated deluxe packaging (yes, I know), London Conversations has been put back two weeks to October 13th. Too bad. On a happier note we've got a couple of verrry exciting (to us at least) new songs in the bag for our next album. We've been inspired by our splendid summer, obviously.

We'll be signing the albums and dj'ing at Rough Trade East between 7-9 on October 14th. Come witness the Tap moment.

More news v soon.

Bob

6:24 PM - 2 Comments - 15 Kudos - Add Comment

new single and album

And here I was thinking you knew all about this!

So, first up, BURNT OUT CAR is our new single, out on September 22nd. You can hear it and vote for it to gain some airplay here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/steve_lamacq/

It's a new Xenomania'd take on our mid 90s "lost single" and will be released on 7" and 2 cd's, with b-sides (River, Destroy The Building, Night Vision) and beautiful Balearic mixes from moptop hero Mark Brown.

A week later on the 29th of September comes LONDON CONVERSATIONS: THE BEST OF SAINT ETIENNE. It's our first official compilation since Too Young To Die in 1995, and comes as a single 18 track disc of all the hits, a double (with all the other singles and a few b-sides and album tracks), and a deluxe triple disc with a dvd. Oh yes. It'll be multi-regional with every video we've ever done.

We also have iTunes playlists on their way, and maybe the odd mention in the press too. I'll try to keep yous posted.

Meanwhile, VOTE FOR US!!! VOTE FOR US!!!

yrs shamelessly

Bob xx

3:16 PM - 0 Comments - 13 Kudos - Add Comment

new boots and panties

Sometimes I feel like the only person in the world who wasn't swept up by Ian Dury's fusion of jazz funk and pub rock, but if I want to read very clever people talking about him and other artistes I go here:

www.freakytrigger.co.uk/popular

Probably the only place in the world you can read incisive stuff on Lieutenant Pigeon and Kate Bush and Boney M and Alma Cogan. Take a peek.

As for our new news, well, I've put another pop documentary season together for the Barbican:

http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/series.asp?ID=597

And Burnt Out Car will be in the shops on Sep 15th, a day after the Heavenly 18th b/day party bonanza at the South Bank. Sorry, but the tickets for our show sold out in 2 hours. Very flattering, but a downer for anyone who wasn't on the blower as soon as it was announced.

We've lined up another corking single after Burnt Out Car which we're rather excited about. Just in case you thought we were going away...

fanx tara

Bob xxx

12:10 PM - 0 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment

dublin tonight

Well, I hope I'm proved wrong, but it looks like Boris Johnson will be mayor of London tonight. Never again will anyone in this country have the right to look at America and ask 'how the fuck did they let George W Bush become President?'. Ouch.

I'll be drowning my sorrows at Sassy Sue's Gogo Inevitable (The Sugar Club, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2) with the legendary Martin Green (Smashing etc) and our host, Dandelion.

We're on from 11 til 3, and I'll be spinning tough but melodic 60s soul and femme-pop to blast the Boris blues away... at least til tomorrow when I wake up with my bleach blond hair sticking up on end and a bubble saying "Cripes! I've privatised the lot!" coming out of my mouth.

Bob xx

4:17 AM - 3 Comments - 7 Kudos - Add Comment

spanish moss

Saw it hanging from trees in Savannah GA on me hols, but I wonder if you get it in Spain? Well we're going to drag ourselves away from the new series of Curb Your Enthusiasm and find out for ourselves!

I could be making a false claim, but I think I dj'ed at the opening night of Mond in Barcelona about 10 years ago. Now we're going to tango onto its hallowed stage once more. Always one of our favourite cities.

That's not to say we don't like Madrid too.....

Not sure if this is international public knowledge, but Boris Johnson, currently leading polls for the Mayor Of London, has referred to black people as piccaninnys. Several times! He has employed Lynton Crosby, the same PR who kept the repellent John Howard in power in Australia for years.

'If gay marriage was OK – and I was uncertain on the issue – then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog...' Boris Johnson acts like a buffoon, but is a nasty piece of work who would wreck a lot of what we take for granted in London at the moment.

More news as and when,

Bob xx

6:59 AM - 7 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

Sarah interview with Pop! Justice

With The Journey Continues clogging up the airwaves Pop! Justice, the site we affectionately call Smash-Hits-On-Sea, has got Sarah Cracknell on the blower. And - strike a light - the cat is truly out of the bag. Yes, Richard X was so enamoured of the theme to our last movie This Is Tomorrow that he has done a discotronic mix of it. More news on this as and when... In the meantime, feast your eyes on:

http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=
view&id=2123&Itemid=266

On a rather different "schmindie" note, I'm dj'ing at How Does It Feel To Be Loved at the 100 Club, Oxford Street, London on saturday night. The evening is a tribute to Morrissey, who will no doubt turn up to "scoff" and make caustic comments along the lines of "more Skrewdriver please, you clod." There may be a Manchester bias to my set. Deets here:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfmfuseaction=blog.view&friendID=30017918&blogID=339555326

Bob

6:53 AM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

coals to newcastle, and greece

We'll be celebrating the return of 'Wor' Kevin with an evening of Etienne festivities at Newcastle's tichy but exquisite Star And Shadow this Friday. Films, football, followed by records being spun by myself and Pete.

http://www.starandshadow.org.uk/shared/january2008/saintetienne

And we can confirm a couple of shows in Greece, as follows

Friday 8 Feb
Principal Club Thessaloniki

Sat 9 Feb
Gagarin 205 Athens

So, the Tyne or the Aegean? Which weekend break will you pick?

Bob x

3:24 AM - 6 Comments - 5 Kudos - Add Comment

At last! The Saint Etienne fan club box set

The much "vaunted" boxed set of Saint Etienne rarities - Boxette - is now available. It contains I Love To Paint (1994), Built On Sand (1999) and Asleep At The Wheels Of Steel (2001). All of these were very limited compilations of unreleased material made available to the Saint Etienne fan club, Lovers Unite.

Now they're back, boxed, and they're all numbered (in a run of 3,000), with exquisite new artwork care of Lora 'Turnpike' Findlay. What's more, you now get a fourth disc which mops up odd tracks from EPs and other giveaways over the years, plus six previously unreleased tracks. It's all 'appenin'.

Originals have been selling for "silly" money, so it will be a great relief to everyone (apart from the lank-haired bootlegger) that the whole set will now cost just £25 plus p+p.

You have to be a Lovers Unite member to buy Boxette - but, hey, it's free to join. Find out who, what, where, why and how at:

http://www.saintetienne.com/signup.php

And if you're an older Lover go straight to:

http://www.loversuniteshop.com

Because we're up against xmas post - and we want a lil break of our own - we're taking orders now but the boxes won't be shipped until January. And to stop Ebay Eric hogging them all, you can only buy a maximum of TWO Boxettes.

love, Bob x

4:09 AM - 12 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

this is tomorrow screenings

Greetings chums. Yes. We've been on our summer holidays, desperately waiting for summer to arrive. I discovered the joys of Riga, Latvia, so a hearty "hullo" to any Latvian supporters. I am in love with your Wild West late 19th century wooden houses.

Last time we wrote to you I think we were living under the thumb of the discredited leader Blair. Now the livin' is free 'n easy. Me and Sarah have since had the splendid honour of sharing an entire page in The Times of London - she reviewing Suzi Quatro, me Doc Pomus. We sat there waiting for Pete's thesis on Skeletal Family but he missed the deadline, blaming the housing market or something.

Sooo...... This Is Tomorrow is set for a week long run at the BFI Southbank, or the NFT as ordinary people still refer to it. First night is in NFT 1 on October the first. We'll be q and a'ing and the excellent Brief City plays support.

October 26th we'll be screening it, and DJ'ing, at the Tate Gallery in St Ives, Cornwall. Watch the waves crash onto the rocks as we play Stavely Makepeace's Slippery Rock 70s.

And a certain fashionable London mag will be coming with a free cover-mounted Saint Et 45 in the next couple of months. Brand new song shock horror exclusive! More news when we hear about it.

Our re-issue campaign has been stalled by the Universal/Sanctuary shenanigans so apologies to anyone desperate for the 2cd expanded edition of Foxbase Alpha. It's "imminent".

As for the Fan Club Box, our sleeve designer has gorn and got herself up the duff. But the re-mastering is booked for mid-Sep so it should be out before too long. Tom Vague would be proud of us.

lots of love

Bob xx

2:40 PM - 7 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment