And very good words they are too. Over the past two months, the band and their close associates – that’s the four musicians you know plus longstanding friends, relations, associates and touring members – have worked with us to present an unrivalled and strongly-flavoured picture of the nearly 50 years of their life in music.
Their influences. Their first tentative steps on the stage. Their favourite records and their memories of making their own…this is a place in which Pulp have with our help looked into themselves and located some surprising treasures. A unique and at times hilariously self-critical group, Pulp have been to the top and come back down, only to go out and reclaim their glory in front of a new generation of fans.
It’s an incredible story. In the following pages, you’ll read about key events in the group’s astonishing 2025 – and hear about the roots of their comeback. Peering deeper into their history with a characteristic candour and insight, Jarvis Cocker and the group ponder the path that has led them back here. Pulp’s members are a thoughtful and entertaining bunch of people so you are certain to enjoy their recollections.
How the group’s classic lineup was formed while attempting to mislead a stray dog. When a wardrobe first became a key element in Jarvis’s emotional landscape. Wet fish marketing techniques? How breaking your pelvis can help you work an audience? A plate of fake excrement? It’s all here. Not to mention who wasn’t dancing to “Disco 2000” on Millennium Eve.
Insightful words also arrive from the band’s visual consultant, the illustrator Julian House, who has wisdom to impart about how the group uses material from the 1970s. “Pulp would put this stuff in, that in other cases might be seen as kitsch,” he tells Mark Beaumont. “But with them it always felt like there were strange and dark undercurrents.”
Read on. There’s even more Pulp inside than you might expect…
It’s in shops next week, but you can pre-order your copy – with a free, exclusive double-sided poster – here.
