Bob from Brockley has correctly identified Saint Etienne as the great London band - but has described them, shock horror, as a North London band. Well it may be true they were living in Camden when their career really got going, and they certainly express a love of London on both sides of the river. But let the record show that band founders Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley actually grew up in Croydon (Wiggs went to Whitgift School, not sure about Stanley), where they first formed the band in 1988. Stanley actually worked for a while on Croydon market: 'At 15, I took a Saturday job on Surrey Street market, selling Danish eggs past their sell-by date, because it was two doors away from Beano's' (the famous second hand record emporium).
The sublime Hobart Paving, arguably their best song, takes its name from a Croydon based company.
Their video for their 2005 song Side Streets was actually filmed in Croydon:
At their 2003 Xmas show (which I was lucky enough to attend) they gave out a CD with a track called 'Marcie Dreams of Deptford'.
I feel so ignorant. How did I not know?
ReplyDeleteIn my defence, as I said on my blog, it's the fault of "London Belongs To Me".
Still, any linking's good linking: feed that wikio machine!
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear Marcie Dreams of Deptford. I often dream of Deptford, even though I can just look at it out of the window. It's slightly less grubby in my imagination.
ReplyDeleteMarcie Dreams of Deptford isn't one of the great Saint Etienne tracks, it's a slightly noodly instrumental.
ReplyDeleteI was in a band called Pre-Dog years ago. We sent our demo with a song called Like A Motorway to Bob Stanley. Later on there was a St Etienne song called Like A Motorway. Where do i claim my prize from?
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