INTERVIEW: SAINT ETIENNE IN CONVERSATION WITH PETE WIGGS
Interview by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Ending on their own terms! After 35 years of reimagining British dance and alternative pop music, Saint Etienne band members Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Cracknell are hanging up their cool as f@#k vocals, lyricism, samples and synthesisers for good.
“Yes. I was the last member of the band to know the plan,” mused Pete Wiggs. “But it’s exciting in a way. We have the last album, ‘International’, and everyone has liked it, and that’s been great. Now we are touring the new music, and some older songs, and it has been fun. What we don’t want is to go out like we are flogging a dead horse. We have a great new album, and doing the retirement thing gracefully is better. It would be sad to end on a bad album, if we went on.”
That is one thing Saint Etienne cannot claim: 2025’s album ‘International’ is a joyous final party. The songs are a vibrant farewell with their distinctive lush indie-dance beats and sharp lyricism, with socio-political undertones.
“The album was fun to write,” explained Pete Wiggs. “We worked out this list of people we'd wanted to work with, and everyone said yes. It was incredible! Everybody we got in touch with said they wanted to do a co-write, or a duet. It was amazing really. And the album reflected the plan of giving fans a bit of everything we've done over time, wrapped up in one record, and I think we've done that.”
Saint Etienne built their music and reputation by combining club culture, electronic music, classic British pop songwriting and references to film, fashion and everyday life, creating a catalogue that has remained influential over the last 35 years.
“I am still really into club music or dance music,” stated Pete Wiggs. “Wherever I go, I end up at a rave or dance club. I have friends who DJ, and there is a great community of music sharing and joy in listening to dance music. I cannot remember all the musicians, but if I like what I hear, I will find it. That Northern Soul sound is so back.”
However, time moves on, and Saint Etienne have announced a farewell tour of Australia and New Zealand for November and December 2026. It will be the band’s final visit to the region, and Perth will be the last concert in Australia.
“We are going to bring the party show,” said Pete Wiggs. “We haven’t been back to Australia since the 1998 Good Humour Tour, where we just played Melbourne and Sydney. This time we will play in New Zealand and other Australian cities. We would like to see the countryside, the cities and some Australian animals. The setlist for the tour is going to be a mix of everything. We would like every album to get at least one song out there – our “hits”! – as we see them.”
The farewell tour is significant not only for long-time fans of Saint Etienne but also for music fans of a broader generation of British alternative pop music. Cool Britannia was a thing. And the band’s influence during that period reached far and wide, as their cleverly blended electronic production with traditional songwriting impacted musicians’ work across the globe.
Saint Etienne helped establish a template that remains common in contemporary pop and indie music.
“We were lucky to be writing music in the 1990s before the World Wide Web exploded,” clarified Pete Wiggs. “There wasn’t the instant gratification you get now. Music had to be worked at. We weren’t paralysed by choice. But if you had told me about ‘streaming’ back then, I would have loved the idea. But like all things in life, there is the good and the bad in it. It’s amazing that the band’s legacy will live on.”
“We are (as a band) generally happy people, and we’ve been lucky to have lovely fans and write music for 35 years without burnout or people hassling us in the supermarket,” pondered Pete Wiggs. “Mind you, I would have liked a little bit of that hassle. But yeah, we stayed friends. Saint Etienne’s been a massive part of my life and it’s been incredible.”
Saint Etienne formed in 1990 as a group of friends interested in the indie dance scene of the early 1990s with disparate influences from rave and club culture and a deep love of 1960s pop. Pete Wiggs said with some consideration:
“We look at the world and music of the past with rose-coloured glasses. The 1960s sounds were important in the 1990s and now those sounds are back again in 2026. We forget the bad things and love the music. The wheel turns.”
What’s next for the members of Saint Etienne?
“I don’t know,” Pete Wiggs said quizzically. “I don’t have a plan. Of course, we are touring until we finish in Europe in 2027. I might do some solo work, or collaborations, or work with music charities. I mean the question is: Do I want to sit in a darkened room?” When teaching is suggested, “I’d be rubbish,” Pete Wiggs stated with laughter. “I tried it, and it was all this work, and a webinar and it was stressful. I made 60 quid! So, no. There is a poetry thing I have always wanted to do – I just do the music not the poetry – that might be fun.”
There were a few laughs as Pete Wiggs talked about the Gen X bands and musicians reaching that delicate time: hard retirement or bowing out gracefully? But dancing it out was advised as the pathway forward.
For Saint Etienne and their Gen X and newer fans, this last tour will be bittersweet, but they are set on going out at the top of their game and with a dance-induced bang! Fans will realise just how inventive and influential Saint Etienne has always been, as they head for the last curtain call.
This will be a farewell Tour not to miss. Ticketing information for Saint Etienne’s concerts is available from Ticketmaster and Destroy All Lines.
Friday, 20 November – Powerstation, Auckland, NZ
Saturday, 21 November – Meow Nui, Wellington, NZ
Monday, 23 November – The Gov, Adelaide, SA
Thursday, 26 November – Forum, Melbourne, VIC
Friday, 27 November – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Sunday, 29 November – The Tivoli, Brisbane, QLD
Tuesday, 1 December – Freo. Social, Perth, WA
