Saint Etienne Disco
We Are Icerink Compilation 30 Listening Session
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"Pop is a Frozen Wasteland and we're going to set it on fire" Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley |
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"In The Winter Of '91 we were hungry, just barely alive. But inspired by the spirit of Italian House and the Human League's You've Lost That Loving Feeling we took a rebel stand" Daniel Curtis-Blow, Zagreb April 1994 We Are Icerink CD Booklet |
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Hi There. Anyone out there? Are you ready? Hard to believe its been 30 years since the release of the We Are Icerink Compilation |
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Icerink, a 'Golden' new label in 'Sensuround' sound was launched by Saint Etienne's Bob and Pete 30 years ago in 1992. Note: Bob and Pete's Angel Town label seemed to have morphed into Icerink |
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Icerink. "The lure of decadence, the need for escape" From an Icerink Ad from one of the music weeklies 1992 |
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"The Answers to the Prayers of the Blank Generation" Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs |
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In 1992, the Icerink label operated through Creation Records and was distributed by Pinnacle |
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In 1993, the label operated out of Bob and Pete's flat on Tytherton Road and was still distributed by Pinnacle |
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In 1994, the label was being promoted out of offices above Rough Trade Records at 130 Talbot Road in Notting Hill by Jo Metcalf and Sarah Lowe |
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Golden - Anglo American/Don't Destroy Me (Cat#: DAVO 1) (12 Inch) (1992) Written & produced by Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs |
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Sensuround - Blind Faith (Cat#: DAVO 2) (12 Inch) (1992) Includes a Saint Etienne Remix |
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Oval - Photograph (Cat# DAVO 3) (12 Inch, CD Single) (1992) Produced By Saint Etienne |
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Supermarket - Supermarket (Cat# DAVO 4) (12 Inch, CD Single) (1992) |
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Sensuround - When I Get To Heaven (Cat# DAVO 5) (12 Inch, CD Single) (1993) |
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Anthony Sweeney/Studio Treefrog Designer of all the Icerink packaging for the 10 singles and the one compilation |
| Warm Up: #icerinkcomp30 Listening Session begins in 30 minutes | "Unlike many of his peers, St Martin's graduate Anthony Sweeney had no great yearning to get into design for music. In fact, he started out designing annual reports. But his brother went to college with Bob Stanley of indie darlings St Etienne...and one thing led to another." |
| Warm Up: #icerinkcomp30 Listening Session begins in 28 minutes | Anthony was also the designer on a number of Saint Etienne releases in the nineties. Companies linked to Anthony over the years have included Studio Treefrog, M-Design, Fusion, Negativespace, & Superbird Creative. |
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Shampoo - Blister & Bruises (Cat# DAVO 6) (7 Inch Pink, 7 Inch Black) (1993) |
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Earl Brutus - Life's Too Long (Cat# DAVO 7) (12 Inch, CD Single) (1993) |
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Oval - Fantastique/Love Hour (Cat# DAVO 8) (12 Inch, CD Single) (1993) Includes a Saint Etienne Remix |
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Golden - Wishful Thinking (Cat# DAVO 9) (12 Inch, CD Single) (1993) Some Saint Etienne Production, Writing and a Remix |
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Shampoo - Bouffant Headbutt (Cat# DAVO 10) (12 Inch, CD Single) (1993) |
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'Who Do You Think You Are' "This was going to be a solo single by Debsey on Icerink but then she joined the group and within seconds we were all on Top Of The Pops singing Happy Talk." |
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Debsey Wykes's 1992 version saw the light of day via the fanclub release Nice Price in 2006. Wonder if there are any other Icerink destined Debsey tracks buried in the archives? |
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Interesting note: Bob & Pete tried to sign Pulp who were then without a record deal to Icerink but Creation wouldn't let them. |
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Hello Everyone. Welcome to the Saint Etienne Disco We Are Icerink Listening Session. Feel free to join the conversation at any time using the hash tag #icerinkcomp30. In about 10 minutes we will signal to you to hit play on your side of things. |
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We Are Icerink: "Numanesque electro nightmare music? Maybe." |
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We Are Icerink: "A frozen wasteland populated by robot musicians, constructed by and under the evil powers of pop svengalis? Probably." |
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We Are Icerink: "A fine selection of great big popmungus tunes, riddled though with more hooks than a pirate's convention? Definitely." |
| Warm Up: #icerinkcomp30 Listening Session begins in 2 minutes | May 2, 1994, Saint Etienne's Icerink Label released the 'We Are Icerink' compilation which was a "rough and ready document of two years in the life of one of Britain's most underrated pop labels." |
| Warm Up: #icerinkcomp30 Listening Session begins in 1 minutes | The CD compilation captured the spirit of Golden, Sensuround, Oval, Supermarket, Shampoo, and Earl Brutus. It also added in six new bands into the mix. |
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Hello Everyone. Welcome to the Saint Etienne Disco We Are Icerink Listening Session. Feel free to join in at any time using the hash tag #icerinkcomp30. Let's start. |
| Earl Brutus - Birth of Sharon (0:00-3:54) |  |
1) Earl Brutus - Birth of Sharon #icerinkcomp30 "Earl Brutus appeared in our office, chain smoking, claiming to be sales reps" |
| Earl Brutus - Birth of Sharon (0:00-3:54) | Earl Brutus were Rob Marche, Stuart Boreman, Nick Sanderson, James Fry a the time of this Icerink release. They released one single on the Icerink Label. Life's Too Long (Davo 7) in 1993. #icerinkcomp30 |
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Earl Brutus also released their Bonjour Monsieur single with the killer B-Side On Me, Not In Me on Bob Stanley's Royal Mint Label in 1995. #icerinkcomp30 |
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Bob and Pete remixed Life's Too Long for their 1996 re-issue of Life's Too Long on Deceptive Records. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Earl Brutus - Birth of Sharon (0:00-3:54) |  |
Earl Brutus would later morph into the Pre-New with guest vocals on their album by Sarah Cracknell and a remix by Bob and Pete. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Earl Brutus - Birth of Sharon (0:00-3:54) |  |
In 2021, Saint Etienne's cover of Earl Brutus' Midland Red was included on a Memorial tribute to Nick Sanderson of Earl Brutus. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Sensuround - When I Get To Heaven (3:55-8:28) |  |
2) Sensuround - When I Get To Heaven #icerinkcomp30 In 1994, Icerink described Sensuround as "Young Northern Starlets". In 2022, John Robb - "Young-ish!" |
| Sensuround - When I Get To Heaven (3:55-8:28) | Sensuround were John Robb, Adam Piper and Patrick Simons. They released two singles on the Icerink label. Blind Faith (Davo 2) in 1992 and When i Get To Heaven (Davo 5) in 1993. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Sensuround - When I Get To Heaven (3:55-8:28) | Vocals on When I Get To Heaven were provided by Katie Goddard #icerinkcomp30 |
| Sensuround - When I Get To Heaven (3:55-8:28) |  |
Vocals on When I Get To Heaven were also provided by Debbie Stephenson (actress, comedian, impressionist and singer) #icerinkcomp30 |
| Sensuround - When I Get To Heaven (3:55-8:28) |  |
A Couple of recent quotes from Sensuround's John Robb: "There were some demos of other tracks that are on cassette somewhere. Would have been great to have made an album prod by Greg Wilson but it never came to pass." "There were about 5 other songs." #icerinkcomp30 Photo by Peter Walsh |
| Golden - Don't Destroy Me (8:29-13:35) |  |
3) Golden - Don't Destroy Me #icerinkcomp30 "Soon these 3 birds turned up and told us they were stardust. They were Golden" |
| Golden - Don't Destroy Me (8:29-13:35) |  |
Golden were initially Canny Golden (Candida Richardson), Celina Golden (Celina Nash), and Lucy Golden (Lucy Gillie). They released Anglo American/Don't Destroy Me (Davo 1) on the Icerink Label in 1992. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Golden - Don't Destroy Me (8:29-13:35) | Sophie Golden (Sophie Nash) switched up with Lucy in 1993 and they released released Wishful Thinking (Davo 9) in 1993. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Golden - Don't Destroy Me (8:29-13:35) |  |
Lucy Gillie, not Moira Lambert appeared in the original video for Saint Etienne's Only Love Can Break Your Heart. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Golden - Don't Destroy Me (8:29-13:35) |  |
Celina Nash, a girlfriend of Bob Stanley, appeared on the album cover of Foxbase Alpha, introduced Sarah Cracknell to Bob & Pete, was the voice of the waitress on So Tough #icerinkcomp30 |
| Golden - Don't Destroy Me (8:29-13:35) |  |
3) Golden - Don't Destroy Me #icerinkcomp30 Celina also appeared with her sister Sophie in the Video for Pulp's single Babies. The video was filmed in Bob and Pete's flat in Tufnell Park. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Golden - Don't Destroy Me (8:29-13:35) |  |
What are they doing now? Candida is a Director of Photography & Filmmaker, Celina is an Educational Technologist, Lucy is working for an environmental organization and Sophie works in the education/health sector. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Golden - Don't Destroy Me (8:29-13:35) | Will we ever get to hear 'Traffic Lights' or 'Tubuler Bells' potentially buried in a vault somewhere asks the Saint Etienne Disco? |
| Elizabeth City State - Year Of The V-Neck 13:36-18:00 |  |
4) Elizabeth City State - Year Of The V-Neck #icerinkcomp30 "Icerink's long lost band, much talked of, never heard. "Manchester based trio who could never hold onto a singer for more than a week." |
| Elizabeth City State - Year Of The V-Neck 13:36-18:00 | The band was supposed to release an Icerink single sometime in 1993 but the single never appeared. Year Of The V-Neck may be the most popular Icerink track ever released. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Elizabeth City State - Year Of The V-Neck 13:36-18:00 | The track is credited to Catt, McTaggart, and Sweeney. Catt may be long time Saint Etienne producer Ian Catt. Sweeney may be Record collector Gareth Sweeney? #icerinkcomp30 |
| Elizabeth City State - Year Of The V-Neck 13:36-18:00 |  |
Mctaggart is likely Robert McTaggart (Tag) who lives in Denmark now. Tag helped Bob write up the final Caff Zine Ambrosia in the summer of 1990. He also djed with Bob at The Love Hangover night on February 15, 2009. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Elizabeth City State - Year Of The V-Neck 13:36-18:00 | Again all speculation and conjecture from years of digging around. Feel free to chime in if you have further information. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Supermarket - Supermarket 18:01-21.47 |  |
5) Supermarket - Supermarket #icerinkcomp30 "Supermarket had shaved heads and hailed from Odense" |
| Supermarket - Supermarket 18:01-21.47 |  |
"Two Young Boys From Denmark": Supermarket was actually Lawrence from Felt, Denim, and Go-Kart Mozart. He released one single on the Icerink label Supermarket (Davo 4) in 1992. #icerinkcomp30 Photo by Jamie Fry |
| Supermarket - Supermarket 18:01-21.47 |  |
Sarah Cracknell sang vocals on the very rare original white label 7 inch pressing of the track. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Supermarket - Supermarket 18:01-21.47 |  |
Denim released their Novelty Rock album and Summer Smash single on Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs's Emidisc Label in 1997. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Hard Muscle - (Why Don't You) Ring Me 21:48-26:04 |  |
6) Hard Muscle - (Why Don't You) Ring Me #icerinkcomp30 "Very Man To Man meets Man Parrish." "Emotionally charged by hot cops" #icerinkcomp30 |
| Hard Muscle - (Why Don't You) Ring Me 21:48-26:04 | John La Drue was given credit for writing the song. This inclusion on the We Are Icerink CD is their only known release. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Hard Muscle - (Why Don't You) Ring Me 21:48-26:04 |  |
Rumour is that Hard Muscle may have been a Pete Wiggs side project but it has not been confirmed. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Hard Muscle - (Why Don't You) Ring Me 21:48-26:04 |  |
They opened for Golden in late 1993 at Dingwalls in Camden, London. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Hard Muscle - (Why Don't You) Ring Me 21:48-26:04 | Does anyone know more? #icerinkcomp30 #hardmuscle |
| Oval - Love Hour 26:05-29:31 |  |
7) Oval - Love Hour #icerinkcomp30 "Walworth Terrorists" |
| Oval - Love Hour 26:05-29:31 |  |
Oval were Dylan Robertson, Jane Askew, and Robin Turner. They released two singles on the Icerink label. Photograph (Davo 3) in 1992 and Fantastique (Davo 8) in 1993. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Oval - Love Hour 26:05-29:31 |  |
Oval appeared in the I was Born On Christmas Day video. Jane Askew of Oval and Carolyn "Carrie" Askew of Shampoo are sisters. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Oval - Love Hour 26:05-29:31 |  |
Dylan Robertson went on to form 100% Ponies with journalist/author Sian Pattenden and release a 12 Inch single on French label Kung Fu Fighting. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Oval - Love Hour 26:05-29:31 |  |
Robin Turner (Turner Hall PR, Caught By The River) recently put together the Believe in Magic : 30 Years of Heavenly Recordings book #icerinkcomp30 |
| Oval - Love Hour 26:05-29:31 |  |
Word is that there were an album of songs in the pipeline. They were never released. Maybe one day? #icerinkcomp30 |
| Spring - Bob Cool 29:32-32:46 |  |
8) Spring - Bob Cool 3:14 #icerinkcomp30 "Spring are from Paris and idolise Felt, Mouton Cadet, and solvent abuse" |
| Spring - Bob Cool 29:32-32:46 |  |
Spring were Alex Pavlou, Daniel Dauxerre, Jean-Baptiste Garnero when they contributed 'Bob Cool' to the compilation. Spring were active from 1993-2000 and they released a number of albums and singles via Spanish label Elefant Records. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Spring - Bob Cool 29:32-32:46 |  |
Daniel left the band soon after Bob Cool to become the manager of DARLIN’ (better known later as DAFT PUNK). Alex Pavlou went on to form Suburbia in 2002 and release the stunning We Are From Suburbia album. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Melody Dog - Don't Worry Baby 32:47-35:38 |  |
9) Melody Dog - Don't Worry Baby #icerinkcomp30 "A psycho cover of the Beach Boys classic |
| Melody Dog - Don't Worry Baby 32:47-35:38 |  |
Katrina Mitchell and Pat Laureate were Melody Dog. Early in the nineties Melody Dog were rumoured in the UK press to be a future release on Bob's label Caff Corporation but it didn't happen. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Melody Dog - Don't Worry Baby 32:47-35:38 |   |
They did go on to release two 7 Inch records on K and Seminal Twang in the early nineties. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Melody Dog - Don't Worry Baby 32:47-35:38 | Katrina joined the Pastels in the early nineties and is still with them today. Pat started up a Independent rock label from Glasgow, Scotland called Vesuvius which was releasing material in the late nineties.#icerinkcomp30 |
| Shampoo - Bouffant Headbutt 35:39-37:47 |  |
10) Shampoo - Bouffant Headbutt #icerinkcomp30 "Shampoo Are Pop" |
| Shampoo - Bouffant Headbutt 35:39-37:47 |  |
Shampoo were Carolyn Askew and Jacqueline Blake. They released two singles on the Icerink label Blisters and Bruises (Davo 6) and Bouffant Headbutt (Davo 10) in 1993. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Shampoo - Bouffant Headbutt 35:39-37:47 |  |
Bob and Pete helped write a significant amount of the band's self released third and final album Absolute Shampoo in 2000. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Shampoo - Bouffant Headbutt 35:39-37:47 |  |
Cherry Red Records recently announced the release of a Shampoo Box Set (3CD/1DVD) titled Complete Shampoo. The Box includes all the Icerink material and the super rare Absolute Shampoo album. Out on June 28th. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Parallel Universe - Dub To The Stars 37:48-44:29 |  |
11) Parallel Universe - Dub To The Stars #icerinkcomp30 "New and electric" "Instrumental techno gear" |
| Parallel Universe - Dub To The Stars 37:48-44:29 | We're thinking this might be a Saint Etienne Side Project given it sounds quite like something from the Tiger Bay era. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Parallel Universe - Dub To The Stars 37:48-44:29 | The track is credited to: West London Institute Of Hardweight Recordings. #icerinkcomp30 |
| Parallel Universe - Dub To The Stars 37:48-44:29 | Feel free to chime in if you have further information on this outfit. #icerinkcomp30 |
| World Of Twist - New Electric Pop And Soul 44:30-47:29 |  |
12) World Of Twist - New Electric Pop And Soul #icerinkcomp30 "The Cheap Soul Of Teenage Manchester" |
| World Of Twist - New Electric Pop And Soul 44:30-47:29 |  |
Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne appeared in World Of Twist's video 'Sweets' in 1991. The song was taken from the band's only album Quality Street released in 1991. #icerinkcomp30 |
| World Of Twist - New Electric Pop And Soul 44:30-47:29 |  |
Bob also released a World Of Twist 7 Inch titled 'The Sausage' on his Caff record label in 1992. The single included vocals of Earl Brutus' James Fry who has also done alot of Saint Etienne photography over the years. #icerinkcomp30 |
| World Of Twist - New Electric Pop And Soul 44:30-47:29 | Although characterized at the time as the "long awaited return of World Of Twist", this was the last World Of Twist song ever released. #icerinkcomp30 |
| End | We are Icerink was the last release from the Icerink label. Melody Dog and Dolly Mixture albums were rumoured for release in 1994 but never were. #icerinkcomp30 |
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Why this great label closed we don't know. One year later Bob Stanley had started up the Royal Mint label but that's a story for another day. #icerinkcomp30 |
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Thanks Everyone! Nice to join all the fans in discussion around this compilation thirty years to the day later. #icerinkcomp30 |
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If interested head to the Saint Etienne Disco website for a full transcript of tonight's program and more information on Icerink #icerinkcomp30 https://www.saintetiennedisco.com |
| End | Note: Band Photos during the listening session by Jamie Fry, Stephen Pastel, Aude Prieur, Martyn Goodacre, Joe Dilworth, and Ian T Tilton #icerinkcomp30 |