The End of the Streets is Nigh

Mike Skinner’s work under the guise of the Streets is on many iTunes libraries up-and-down the country, especially mine [see below]. That said, those who feared the forthcoming fifth album, Computers and Blues, will actually be the Streets last might just want to sit down as Skinner reveals that the Streets will be closing for good…

In a candid interview with The Guardian’s Caspar Llewellyn Smith in London’s Shoreditch House, Mr Original Pirate Material confirmed that this will definitely be the final album from the Streets. “I think it would devalue it to say that it was cynical but I know what I'm doing with the Streets – I've been doing it for too long,” he divulges. “I don't want to do the Streets anymore. I should have moved on a long time ago.”

“It's obvious. I've been doing it for 10 years and I've always tried to do something different with each album,” he tells. “Some [of my work has] been amazingly received and some of it hasn't been, and I've run out of new avenues.

“As uninteresting as the Streets is to talk about, the most interesting element of anything is its death, so if you're going to talk about the Streets, ending the Streets is probably a good thing to talk about,”

He may be bored of talking about his time as the Streets but what will he miss? Studio time? Groupies? Mercury Music Prizes? Parties? Touring? "I don't know," he tells Llewellyn Smith. "I do really enjoy performing. Everyone's got their job and it's really nice to have a purpose. It's much better than any holiday. It's like a holiday with a purpose. It's a working holiday." We guess that’s a yes then.

So what will Skinner do after the fifth and final album drops? An actual holiday? Hang up the mic? Play Call of Duty until his eyes bleed? In the interview, long term friend Ted Mayhem suggests they’ll be making a film first and then a final farewell Streets gig will be on the cards… but Skinner himself stayed blasé about actual music. “If I was making another record, I'd just make it and stick it on the internet.” Nice. Our hard drives wait eagerly await your nonchalant decision.

For more from Mike check the-streets.co.uk