Saint Etienne announce Manchester date ahead of huge UK tour

Saint Etienne

Saint Etienne announce a summer date in Manchester and Getintothis’ Banjo is here with the details.

Twenty seven years after the release of their debut album, Saint Etienne are embarking on a UK tour, including a date in Manchester.

Their tour promotes new album, Home Counties, which is their first since 2012’s Words and Music by Saint Etienne.

On paper, Saint Etienne shouldn’t work. Formed by two music journalists, originally with no fixed vocalist, preferring a 60s based sound just as the indie dance boom was starting to kick into gear and with a debut album inspired by OMD’s Dazzle Ships, the signs were not good.

However, their debut album, Foxbase Alpha, was released in 1992 to near universal acclaim and established them as one of the coolest bands around. Their USP was expertly combining the old and the new to create something that somehow dovetailed perfectly with the times.

There was a charm and a humour to Saint Etienne’s songs that helped them to stand out. Film samples from British classics such as Billy Liar and Oscar Wilde (“I never take off my hat, except when I’m out of doors!”) added to their allure. The film samples tended to be from old black and white films, which also linked them to the past while they looked to the future.

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After recording Nothing Can Stop Us, Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley asked the song’s vocalist Sarah Cracknell to join the band on a full time basis and it is now hard to think of Saint Etienne without Cracknell as their stylish singer.

Subsequent albums saw them develop their sound, taking in Folk, Soul and further nods to 60’s Swinging London.

Their tour promotes new album, Home Counties, which is their first since 2012’s Words and Music by Saint Etienne and marks a remarkable 27 years since they formed. One of the few survivors of the indie dance boom, Saint Etienne are always a band it is worth catching up with and these dates are ones not to be missed.

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