With one foot in 60s pop and another in 90s chill-out club culture, Saint Etienne have outlived the similar Dubstar and Mono by more than a decade (a shame - I liked Dubstar) and still court respect and attention whenever they play.

Having toured the best-selling "Foxbase Alpha" album reissue recently, the trio return for a short tour in the winter in support of imminent redux-versions of the albums "Good Humor" and "Tales From Turnpike House", as well as showcasing the rest of their popular catalogue. "Good Humor" originally came out in 1998 and spawned a hit with "Sylvie" while "Turnpike...." was their most recent studio set, released in 2005 with the minor hit "Side Streets". Each redux will include drawer-loads of archive tracks as per usual.

The three dates, under the banner "Thank Christ it's Christmas", take place in Glasgow (16th Dec as previously reported), Manchester (17th) and London (18th). Tickets have just gone on sale this morning (we sneaked a little Tweet out earlier) with prices between £17.50 and £22.50 (plus usual fees). Demand is expected to be high and special guests and DJs for the evenings will be announced later on.

Meanwhile, you can catch Bob and Pete from the band spinning some classic retro 50s, 60s and 70s chintz, Northern Soul and beat-pop at the Vintage at Goodwood 2010 weekend - tonight, in fact.