Q+A BOB STANLEY
WITH SAINT ETIENNE SET TO RELEASE A DREAMY CONCEPT ALBUM ABOUT A SO-CALLED GOLDEN PERIOD IN BRITISH HISTORY, BOB STANLEY TELLS CLASSIC POP WHY THE BAND ARE NOT INTERESTED IN MAKING NOSTALGIC MUSIC
GARY WALKER
From left to right: Sarah Cracknell, Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley, 2021
“EVERYTHING LEADING IN TO BRITPOP, WE WERE KIND OF PART OF – BANDS LIKE SUEDE, DENIM, WORLD OF TWIST AND PULP, BUT IT GOT BOILED DOWN TO GUITAR MUSIC THAT SOUNDED A BIT LIKE THE STONE ROSES OR PAUL WELLER”
Described by its co-creator Bob Stanley as “very high concept and/ or pretentious”, I’ve Been Trying To Tell You is a captivating reflection on memory and how it can play tricks on you. Saint Etienne’s 10th studio LP recalls the long-since faded sense of national optimism between 1997 and 2001, a period bookended by Labour’s general election victory and the September 11 attacks. The band’s first album since 2017’s Home Counties is a chimerical wonder, animmersive dreamstate inspired by YouTube vaporwave montages and crafted out of transportive found sounds and samples from that supposedly golden period.
How did the idea of making a record about the late 90s come about?