Saint Etienne talk going out with a bang on final album ‘International’ & more in BV podcast interview

“We didn’t get the memo,” Pete Wiggs jokes on Saint Etienne‘s decision to call it a day with their 13th album, International, in a year when so many of their contemporaries are back. “It is weird, we’d planned this album out a year ago. We didn’t realize all these other people would be back. Suede’s album is the same day as us. Oasis, obviously, Pulp. The Beta Band.”

No regrets though. They’ve gone out with a bang and International features collaborations with Confidence Man, The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands and Doves’ Jez Williams, Haircut 100’s Nick Heyward, Erasure’s Vince Clarke, and more. It’s a terrific album.

I talked with 2/3rds of the band, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Cracknell, on the decision to bring Saint Etienne to an end, their many great collaborators on International, what their kids listen to, touring America (including a memorable early gig at New York’s infamous Limelight Club), having Oasis open for them in 1994 (“they were incredibly loud,” says Sarah), their 2026 farewell tour, and more. The whole interview is on the latest episode of the BrooklynVegan interview podcast and you can listen below.

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