Pulp is back for More with first album in 24 years

Pulp has returned with a new album, their first in 24 years. Who could've predicted that?
Not even the band, it turns out.
The ambitious Britpop-and-then-some band emerged in the late-'70s in Sheffield, England, artistic outsiders with a penchant for the glam, grim, and in the case of Cocker, the gawky. Fame alluded them until the mid-'90s, and then it rushed in with Cool Britannia.
Their songs varied wildly from their contemporaries, like the recently reunited Blur and soon-to-be back together Oasis. Instead, Pulp's David Bowie-informed synth-pop arrived with humour, ambiguity and intellect - songs about sex and class consciousness that manage to be groovy, glib, awkward and amorous all at once.
Then, and in the decades since, Pulp has inspired devotion from loyal fans across generations. They've charmed those lucky enough to catch band members in their heyday before a kind of careerism led to a hiatus in 2002 - and those who saw them for the first time during reunion tours in 2011 and 2022.
With all that reputation on the line, it's reassuring that the band has decided to give its audience More, due for release on Friday.
There were a few catalysts for More.
The first: "We could get along with each other still," jokes drummer Nick Banks. "It wasn't too painful." The second: The band worked a new song into their recent reunion show run - The Hymn of the North, originally written for Simon Stephens' 2019 play Light Falls - and people seemed to like it.
The third and most significant: The band's bassist and core member Steve Mackey died in 2023.
"It made me realise that you don't have endless amounts of time," Cocker says. "You've still got an opportunity to create things, if you want to. Are you going to give it a go?"
And so, they did. Cocker assured his bandmates Banks, guitarist Mark Webber and keyboardist Candida Doyle that the recording process could be done quickly - in three weeks, lightspeed for a band that has infamously agonised over its latter records, like 1998's This Is Hardcore.
The 11 tracks that make up More are a combination of new and old songs written across Pulp's career. The late Mackey has a writing credit on both the sultry, existential Grown Ups originally demoed around This Is Hardcore, and the edgy disco Got to Have Love, written around "the turn of the millennium," as Cocker explains.
Maturation is a prevalent theme on More, delivered with age-appropriate insight.
"I was always told at school that I had an immature attitude. I just didn't see any point in growing up, really. It seemed like all the fun was had by people when they were younger," said Cocker.
"But, as I said on the back of the This Is Hardcore album, it's OK to grow up, as long as you don't grow old. And I still agree with that, I think. Growing old is losing interest in the world and deciding that you're not gonna change. You've done your bit and that's it. That doesn't interest me.
"You have to retain an interest in the world and that keeps you alive," he adds. "So, you grow up. And hopefully you live better, and you treat other people better. But you don't grow old."
Pulp has returned with a new album, their first in 24 years. Who could've predicted that?
Not even the band, it turns out.
The ambitious Britpop-and-then-some band emerged in the late-'70s in Sheffield, England, artistic outsiders with a penchant for the glam, grim, and in the case of Cocker, the gawky. Fame alluded them until the mid-'90s, and then it rushed in with Cool Britannia.
Their songs varied wildly from their contemporaries, like the recently reunited Blur and soon-to-be back together Oasis. Instead, Pulp's David Bowie-informed synth-pop arrived with humour, ambiguity and intellect - songs about sex and class consciousness that manage to be groovy, glib, awkward and amorous all at once.
Then, and in the decades since, Pulp has inspired devotion from loyal fans across generations. They've charmed those lucky enough to catch band members in their heyday before a kind of careerism led to a hiatus in 2002 - and those who saw them for the first time during reunion tours in 2011 and 2022.
With all that reputation on the line, it's reassuring that the band has decided to give its audience More, due for release on Friday.
There were a few catalysts for More.
The first: "We could get along with each other still," jokes drummer Nick Banks. "It wasn't too painful." The second: The band worked a new song into their recent reunion show run - The Hymn of the North, originally written for Simon Stephens' 2019 play Light Falls - and people seemed to like it.
The third and most significant: The band's bassist and core member Steve Mackey died in 2023.
"It made me realise that you don't have endless amounts of time," Cocker says. "You've still got an opportunity to create things, if you want to. Are you going to give it a go?"
And so, they did. Cocker assured his bandmates Banks, guitarist Mark Webber and keyboardist Candida Doyle that the recording process could be done quickly - in three weeks, lightspeed for a band that has infamously agonised over its latter records, like 1998's This Is Hardcore.
The 11 tracks that make up More are a combination of new and old songs written across Pulp's career. The late Mackey has a writing credit on both the sultry, existential Grown Ups originally demoed around This Is Hardcore, and the edgy disco Got to Have Love, written around "the turn of the millennium," as Cocker explains.
Maturation is a prevalent theme on More, delivered with age-appropriate insight.
"I was always told at school that I had an immature attitude. I just didn't see any point in growing up, really. It seemed like all the fun was had by people when they were younger," said Cocker.
"But, as I said on the back of the This Is Hardcore album, it's OK to grow up, as long as you don't grow old. And I still agree with that, I think. Growing old is losing interest in the world and deciding that you're not gonna change. You've done your bit and that's it. That doesn't interest me.
"You have to retain an interest in the world and that keeps you alive," he adds. "So, you grow up. And hopefully you live better, and you treat other people better. But you don't grow old."
Pulp has returned with a new album, their first in 24 years. Who could've predicted that?
Not even the band, it turns out.
The ambitious Britpop-and-then-some band emerged in the late-'70s in Sheffield, England, artistic outsiders with a penchant for the glam, grim, and in the case of Cocker, the gawky. Fame alluded them until the mid-'90s, and then it rushed in with Cool Britannia.
Their songs varied wildly from their contemporaries, like the recently reunited Blur and soon-to-be back together Oasis. Instead, Pulp's David Bowie-informed synth-pop arrived with humour, ambiguity and intellect - songs about sex and class consciousness that manage to be groovy, glib, awkward and amorous all at once.
Then, and in the decades since, Pulp has inspired devotion from loyal fans across generations. They've charmed those lucky enough to catch band members in their heyday before a kind of careerism led to a hiatus in 2002 - and those who saw them for the first time during reunion tours in 2011 and 2022.
With all that reputation on the line, it's reassuring that the band has decided to give its audience More, due for release on Friday.
There were a few catalysts for More.
The first: "We could get along with each other still," jokes drummer Nick Banks. "It wasn't too painful." The second: The band worked a new song into their recent reunion show run - The Hymn of the North, originally written for Simon Stephens' 2019 play Light Falls - and people seemed to like it.
The third and most significant: The band's bassist and core member Steve Mackey died in 2023.
"It made me realise that you don't have endless amounts of time," Cocker says. "You've still got an opportunity to create things, if you want to. Are you going to give it a go?"
And so, they did. Cocker assured his bandmates Banks, guitarist Mark Webber and keyboardist Candida Doyle that the recording process could be done quickly - in three weeks, lightspeed for a band that has infamously agonised over its latter records, like 1998's This Is Hardcore.
The 11 tracks that make up More are a combination of new and old songs written across Pulp's career. The late Mackey has a writing credit on both the sultry, existential Grown Ups originally demoed around This Is Hardcore, and the edgy disco Got to Have Love, written around "the turn of the millennium," as Cocker explains.
Maturation is a prevalent theme on More, delivered with age-appropriate insight.
"I was always told at school that I had an immature attitude. I just didn't see any point in growing up, really. It seemed like all the fun was had by people when they were younger," said Cocker.
"But, as I said on the back of the This Is Hardcore album, it's OK to grow up, as long as you don't grow old. And I still agree with that, I think. Growing old is losing interest in the world and deciding that you're not gonna change. You've done your bit and that's it. That doesn't interest me.
"You have to retain an interest in the world and that keeps you alive," he adds. "So, you grow up. And hopefully you live better, and you treat other people better. But you don't grow old."
Pulp has returned with a new album, their first in 24 years. Who could've predicted that?
Not even the band, it turns out.
The ambitious Britpop-and-then-some band emerged in the late-'70s in Sheffield, England, artistic outsiders with a penchant for the glam, grim, and in the case of Cocker, the gawky. Fame alluded them until the mid-'90s, and then it rushed in with Cool Britannia.
Their songs varied wildly from their contemporaries, like the recently reunited Blur and soon-to-be back together Oasis. Instead, Pulp's David Bowie-informed synth-pop arrived with humour, ambiguity and intellect - songs about sex and class consciousness that manage to be groovy, glib, awkward and amorous all at once.
Then, and in the decades since, Pulp has inspired devotion from loyal fans across generations. They've charmed those lucky enough to catch band members in their heyday before a kind of careerism led to a hiatus in 2002 - and those who saw them for the first time during reunion tours in 2011 and 2022.
With all that reputation on the line, it's reassuring that the band has decided to give its audience More, due for release on Friday.
There were a few catalysts for More.
The first: "We could get along with each other still," jokes drummer Nick Banks. "It wasn't too painful." The second: The band worked a new song into their recent reunion show run - The Hymn of the North, originally written for Simon Stephens' 2019 play Light Falls - and people seemed to like it.
The third and most significant: The band's bassist and core member Steve Mackey died in 2023.
"It made me realise that you don't have endless amounts of time," Cocker says. "You've still got an opportunity to create things, if you want to. Are you going to give it a go?"
And so, they did. Cocker assured his bandmates Banks, guitarist Mark Webber and keyboardist Candida Doyle that the recording process could be done quickly - in three weeks, lightspeed for a band that has infamously agonised over its latter records, like 1998's This Is Hardcore.
The 11 tracks that make up More are a combination of new and old songs written across Pulp's career. The late Mackey has a writing credit on both the sultry, existential Grown Ups originally demoed around This Is Hardcore, and the edgy disco Got to Have Love, written around "the turn of the millennium," as Cocker explains.
Maturation is a prevalent theme on More, delivered with age-appropriate insight.
"I was always told at school that I had an immature attitude. I just didn't see any point in growing up, really. It seemed like all the fun was had by people when they were younger," said Cocker.
"But, as I said on the back of the This Is Hardcore album, it's OK to grow up, as long as you don't grow old. And I still agree with that, I think. Growing old is losing interest in the world and deciding that you're not gonna change. You've done your bit and that's it. That doesn't interest me.
"You have to retain an interest in the world and that keeps you alive," he adds. "So, you grow up. And hopefully you live better, and you treat other people better. But you don't grow old."

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Perth Now

2 hours ago

• Perth Now

Noel and Liam Gallagher's mother 'instigated' end of feud

Noel and Liam Gallagher's mother was the "instigator" of their reconciliation. The brothers hadn't spoken since Oasis split following a series of rows in 2009 but they are currently preparing for their reunion tour, and though Peggy Gallagher urged them to put their differences aside, she insisted she couldn't have made them do anything they didn't want to do. She told Ireland's Mail on Sunday newspaper: "I was the instigator, yes. But sure, wasn't it always going to happen at some time or other? "It was their choice, of course. "Look you can't force them to do things they don't want to do. "You just have to say, 'Get on with it' and I said that." The 82-year-old matriarch is relieved her warring sons have finally made up. She said: "It's great, because nobody wants their kids falling out, do they?" Peggy is looking forward to seeing Noel and Liam back on stage with Oasis over the summer. But she admitted: "I'll be glad when it's all just over because it makes me get too stressed." The Irishwoman is hoping to travel to Dublin to see Oasis perform in Croke Park, but she has just had a knee replacement operation so is currently unsure as to whether she will be fit enough to make the journey from her home in Manchester, North West England. She said: "I'm hoping to get to the Oasis concert in Dublin in August if I can hobble around. That's my plan anyway... it will be great. "I know the Irish fans are thrilled about it. There's great excitement in Ireland about the reunion tour and it will be lovely to see family there, also my sister Kathleen. I am really looking forward to the Dublin one." Peggy - who also plans to see her sons at their homecoming shows in Manchester - knows the road to recovery will be long. She said: "It's still sore. I'm sick of bloody exercising it, up and down the stairs, they say it takes anything up to nine months to be right again... I am finding it hard going up and down the stairs. Still, we have to get there, we have to get on with it."

The Australian

2 hours ago

• The Australian

Oasis: from clash to cash

Fifteen years after their explosive split, British music legends Liam and Noel Gallagher are reuniting for an Oasis tour that promises not only Britpop nostalgia but also staggering revenues. While Liam has insisted that money is "way down the list" of reasons for the feuding brothers' reunion, British press reports have suggested that each sibling could pocket around £50 million ($67 million). Matt Grimes, a music industry expert at Birmingham City University, offered a slightly more conservative estimate of around £40 million per Gallagher for the 17 UK dates alone. Oasis, whose hits include "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Champagne Supernova", kick off the reunion tour on July 4 in Cardiff before playing several dates in their home city of Manchester the following week. Almost 1.4 million tickets have been sold for the UK shows, generating an estimated £240 million, according to Barclays bank. And that's just the beginning. Merchandise sales, from T-shirts and puzzles to baby clothes and tableware, plus six pop-up shops across the UK and Ireland could push total revenue to around £400 million, Grimes said. The 24 concerts outside the UK, including in Buenos Aires, Chicago, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto, will drive revenues even higher. - Comeback tour- Still, the money from the return of Oasis is dwarfed by Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour, which grossed $2.2 billion from ticket sales alone across 149 shows worldwide. It was "a much bigger logistical event or sets of events than Oasis are proposing", Grimes said. There was a chaotic scramble for prized Oasis tickets when they went on sale in August last year. But fans were left outraged by exorbitant ticket costs that saw sudden price hikes -- known as dynamic pricing -- based on overwhelming demand, in some cases from £150 to £350. Ticketmaster, one of the official sales websites, said the pricing decision was made by the "tour organiser". Oasis pointed the finger at their promoter. The Gallagher brothers' promotional plan, however, was minimal: two posts on social media -- one to tease, the other to confirm. "The fact that they announced a reunion after many, many years of 'will they, won't they' is enough to make the press interested," Chris Anderton, professor of cultural economics at the University of Southampton, told AFP. - £1 bn economic boost - For Oasis there's no new album to promote, just classics to revive. "In the 1970s, even maybe the 1980s, you went on tour to sell albums," Anderton said. "Now you go on tour to make money and the album is something on the side -- if you make one at all." "Definitely Maybe", released 30 years ago, climbed back to the top of UK sales charts on the back of the reunion tour announcement. Each Oasis concertgoer will spend an average of £766 on tickets and outgoings such as transport and accommodation, according to Barclays. That is set to inject £1 billion into the British economy. Two key shifts help explain the rise of mega-tours, said Cecile Rap-Veber, managing director at the French artists' rights group Sacem. On one hand, streaming "doesn't bring in as much money as the CD era", prompting artists to look at how to make money elsewhere, she said. On the other, "the public's appetite for live shows" surged after the lockdown years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Those factors make fans more willing to spend big. Grimes sums up the choice: "Do I go to... Spain or maybe the south of France for a week's holiday that's going to cost me £600? Or do I go and see my favourite band?" zap/ajb/jkb/js/pst

News.com.au

2 hours ago

• News.com.au

Oasis: from clash to cash

Fifteen years after their explosive split, British music legends Liam and Noel Gallagher are reuniting for an Oasis tour that promises not only Britpop nostalgia but also staggering revenues. While Liam has insisted that money is "way down the list" of reasons for the feuding brothers' reunion, British press reports have suggested that each sibling could pocket around £50 million ($67 million). Matt Grimes, a music industry expert at Birmingham City University, offered a slightly more conservative estimate of around £40 million per Gallagher for the 17 UK dates alone. Oasis, whose hits include "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Champagne Supernova", kick off the reunion tour on July 4 in Cardiff before playing several dates in their home city of Manchester the following week. Almost 1.4 million tickets have been sold for the UK shows, generating an estimated £240 million, according to Barclays bank. And that's just the beginning. Merchandise sales, from T-shirts and puzzles to baby clothes and tableware, plus six pop-up shops across the UK and Ireland could push total revenue to around £400 million, Grimes said. The 24 concerts outside the UK, including in Buenos Aires, Chicago, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto, will drive revenues even higher. - Comeback tour- Still, the money from the return of Oasis is dwarfed by Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour, which grossed $2.2 billion from ticket sales alone across 149 shows worldwide. It was "a much bigger logistical event or sets of events than Oasis are proposing", Grimes said. There was a chaotic scramble for prized Oasis tickets when they went on sale in August last year. But fans were left outraged by exorbitant ticket costs that saw sudden price hikes -- known as dynamic pricing -- based on overwhelming demand, in some cases from £150 to £350. Ticketmaster, one of the official sales websites, said the pricing decision was made by the "tour organiser". Oasis pointed the finger at their promoter. The Gallagher brothers' promotional plan, however, was minimal: two posts on social media -- one to tease, the other to confirm. "The fact that they announced a reunion after many, many years of 'will they, won't they' is enough to make the press interested," Chris Anderton, professor of cultural economics at the University of Southampton, told AFP. - £1 bn economic boost - For Oasis there's no new album to promote, just classics to revive. "In the 1970s, even maybe the 1980s, you went on tour to sell albums," Anderton said. "Now you go on tour to make money and the album is something on the side -- if you make one at all." "Definitely Maybe", released 30 years ago, climbed back to the top of UK sales charts on the back of the reunion tour announcement. Each Oasis concertgoer will spend an average of £766 on tickets and outgoings such as transport and accommodation, according to Barclays. That is set to inject £1 billion into the British economy. Two key shifts help explain the rise of mega-tours, said Cecile Rap-Veber, managing director at the French artists' rights group Sacem. On one hand, streaming "doesn't bring in as much money as the CD era", prompting artists to look at how to make money elsewhere, she said. On the other, "the public's appetite for live shows" surged after the lockdown years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Those factors make fans more willing to spend big. zap/ajb/jkb/js/pst