Foxbase Alpha, the title of Saint Etienne's
breathtakingly promising summer LP, sounds like it came to Bob during
one of his more warped dream-state moments. Actually, it's an amalgam
of "Moon Base Alpha" - from Space 1999 - and the word Bob
and Pete ascribe to the more attractive of the male/female species.
"There are foxy boys as well as foxy girls," explains Bob, sitting up on
the bed. "Foxes are beautiful people, gorgeous people. You don't have to
BE beautiful, you just need to LOOK
beautiful."
I ask what constitutes a foxy outfit. Bob says, "Foxy people wear the
clothes they look brilliant in." And he and Pete assemble a list of de
rigeur foxy fashionwear: vivid rainbow-coloured skinny-rib tops ("For
girls, not boys"); turtle-neck jumpers; red socks; postmen's uniforms ("We
were going to dress up as postmen for our new video, but we couldn't afford
the gear"); brogues; cords; Fred Perry polo shirts; no ties
("Never" [Hmmm... check the U.S. Tiger Bay sleeve, lads]);
hats; ("For girls only - white woolly ones with peaks, like Maltese
fishermen wear").