PROBE

Saint Etienne       
Interview by Rada Djurica     

    (continued) 

Rada: Is your music different now from the album done 10 years ago?

Sarah Crockwell: We changed during the years, we spent some time doing this album.

Rada: Some people compare your music with drum and bass rave?

Sarah Crockwell: I think it sounds more punchy now, I love working with drum and bass but you can never get too punchy, can you, with that?

Rada: Are you pleased with your gigs on the Saint Etienne European Tour?

Sarah Crockwell: We are very pleased with what we did. We did a British tour, a European tour, and we did have a film to show tonight but sadly the guy who supposed to come down to do it let us down. We are much more into dance music, well, much more electronic than it was before.

Rada: You just had a gig on the stage. That is unusual for a band like Saint-Etienne to have. How does it feel doing it onstage?

Gerard Johnson: When Sarah was on the stage [on the reversal], ahead of her, it was just a flat floor. So when we got back tonight to do the show, in front of Sarah suddenly there was 10 meters of stage. So that was a bit of surprise. She was so far back, so far away from everybody.

Rada: Are you used on that by now, playing on different festivals on different stages?

Gerrard Johnson: It was fine, great, we enjoyed it, we played on the same sized in one place in London, back on end of the UK's Tour back in October. That was a really good show, as well. We've always been scared of the big places because we usually are doing a gig where everybody stands and dances. But tonight the atmosphere was great. We felt really good from that warmth coming from the audience.

Rada: Did you feel different while the audience was sitting? Usually for a band that's discouraging.

Gerrard Johnson: We usually do gigs while the audience is standing, at the different festivals, some the same size as this one. When the audience is sitting, we need to get used to people just sitting there watching us. Public could stand up to see us. About half of the show, most of the Belgrade's public was standing. And dancing. In some places security comes to make audience sit down. I'm kind of getting used to that feeling, because most of the places had big screen projection behind us, so the public can watch what's going on on the screen. But it's kind of a strange thing because its something behind you that the public is staring at. And it was so annoying that it didn't work out tonight.

Rada: How old is your average audience?

Gerard Johnson: I can't say because it wasn't a classic audience very much tonight, but in the rest of Europe and in America we have an audience of quite an age range. We've got people in their 50s and those who are 18. I think that it's the same feeling as it was before.

Rada: How do you bill yourself at festivals, as pop or dance?

Gerard Johnson: It is quite a range, as well. In 1998 we played at a festival with Robin Williams and the Pet Shop Boys, bands like that. At such places there are always dance tents. For example, on the festival in Spain we were in the dance tent, because bands like us have a dancy kind of pop energy and then, another band played another thing…. I don't think that young people necessarily want to dance, they're looking for a different kind of music. In Britain now you have the revival of Limp Biskit and that kind of thing. We also have manufactured pop music in Britain, as well. And pop idols are very manufactured. We have something in common with manufactured pop. But we don't have someone to say you've got to say these things or to wear this clothing. We dress ourselves. I think that this is what makes us a more serious band than other manufactured bands.