Sonic Youth singer Thurston Moore: Stoke Newington rocks

Kool things: Thurston Moore, likes Stoke Newington’s shops, pubs and parks
Luca Carlino/NurPhoto/REX
Miranda Bryant1 September 2015
The Weekender

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He co-founded pioneering rock band Sonic Youth in New York - but now Thurston Moore has declared himself an anglophile.

The singer and guitarist made London his home a few years ago following the end of his marriage to bandmate Kim Gordon and the subsequent break-up of the group. He says he loves living in Stoke Newington.

Moore, 57, got to know the area in the Eighties when he stayed on a friend’s sofa while in Sonic Youth. He said: “When I see blue plaques for Marc Bolan in my neighbourhood that’s really cool. So, yes, I am an anglophile. I have my box of PG Tips teabags in Brooklyn. I drink it strong, with no milk, it’s pretty hardcore.”

He added: “I figured that’s [Stoke Newington] the best place for me. I hang out at the library, I like the pubs there, the used book stores, the record store Lucky Seven. It has all the amenities of a beautiful London existence.

Home from home: Thurston Moore loves Stoke Newington
BARRY PHILLIPS

“Clissold Park, the beautiful Catholic church St Mary’s, the high street has the best fish and chips in London ... It’s all part of the Hackney experience.”

Formed in New York in 1981, Sonic Youth parted ways in 2011 — a month after co-founders Gordon and Moore announced their divorce. Asked whether he missed America, Moore said: “Oh God, no. I grew up there. I’m a resident of the United States so it’s in my DNA but I don’t miss it, no.”

He is performing with The Thurston Moore Band at the first Mirrors festival in Hackney in October and said his new album, due for release next year, co-produced by Paul Epworth and recorded at The Church in Crouch End, is “a very London record”.

He said: “The record sort of carries a genuine emotion from living there [London]. It has much more, penetrates the music a bit more succinctly.”

Also on the line up for Mirrors — at Hackney Church, Hackney Round Chapel and Oslo Hackney on October 31 — are Rhye, Nadine Shah and The Wytches.

@mirandeee

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