As you may or may not know, Jarvis Cocker is kind of a big deal. He was in this little band called Pulp that started out small and eventually became ginormous. Sometime after Pulp and his other project Relaxed Muscle were put to bed, Jarvis began a lucrative solo career. His first single as a solo artist, Cunts Are Running the World was a smashing success and wasn't to far from the truth. He then released his debut album to much acclaim and did the usual rock and roll stuff only to retreat to his quiet surroundings to begin plotting album number two. A year or so on, Jarv has returned with his sophomore effort, Further Complications and as per usual it's quite good stuff.
Jarvis being the smashing guy that he is, asked himself a few questions and then took the time to answer them...here they are.
Question 1 - WHY CHICAGO? WHY STEVE ALBINI?
Last year we were invited to play at the Pitchfork festival in Chicago during July. Steve Mackey (he plays the bass, you know) suggested that we try recording some songs with Steve Albini whilst we were in town. This made sense on many levels - to go all that way just to play one show seemed a bit wasteful (eco-awareness) Plus, I had already decided that I wanted this record to be more of a group effort than the last one. So we had worked songs out in rehearsal rather than me delivering them fully-written & now I wanted to record them in an environment where we could all play at the same time & hopefully capture something of the spirit of a band all working together, all aiming in the same direction ( though at what I really couldn't say). Electrical Audio (Albini's studio) is specifically designed to record bands in that way. Plus, it was very cheap (until the pound collapse against the dollar).
Question 2 - WHO DOES WHAT?
The core band is:
Jarvis sings & plays various bits & pieces.
Steve Mackey plays the bass
Ross Orton plays the drums
Simon Stafford plays keyboards & sings backing vocals
Tim McCall plays the guitar in the right-hand speaker
Martin Craft plays the guitar in the left-hand speaker + occasional keyboards & backing vocals
Question 3 - HAS JARVIS GONE ROCK?
No - but during the course of touring his last record he discovered that , with this band, he COULD rock & so he'd be a fool not to. (When the situation demanded it).
Question 4 - WHAT ABOUT THE SONGS ON THE ALBUM?
I'll tell you a bit about some of the other songs we recorded. SLUSH is a song I wrote whilst aboard a ship that was sailing up the west coast of Greenland last year. I guess that slush will be the ultimate outcome of global warming. CAUCASIAN BLUES is an attempt to understand the pain of a man whose Honda Goldwing has run out of petrol. I NEVER SAID I WAS DEEP is the phrase that I would like carved on my tombstone & HOMEWRECKER! is an absolute racket featuring saxophone from Steve Mackay (he played on The Stooges' "Funhouse", you know).
Question 5 - WHAT'S WITH THE BEARD?
I grew it to keep my face warm in the Arctic & then I kind of got attached to it. (The amount of grey in it horrified me at first but now I think it acts as a handy reminder of my own mortality.)
Download: Angela
Jarvis being the smashing guy that he is, asked himself a few questions and then took the time to answer them...here they are.
Question 1 - WHY CHICAGO? WHY STEVE ALBINI?
Last year we were invited to play at the Pitchfork festival in Chicago during July. Steve Mackey (he plays the bass, you know) suggested that we try recording some songs with Steve Albini whilst we were in town. This made sense on many levels - to go all that way just to play one show seemed a bit wasteful (eco-awareness) Plus, I had already decided that I wanted this record to be more of a group effort than the last one. So we had worked songs out in rehearsal rather than me delivering them fully-written & now I wanted to record them in an environment where we could all play at the same time & hopefully capture something of the spirit of a band all working together, all aiming in the same direction ( though at what I really couldn't say). Electrical Audio (Albini's studio) is specifically designed to record bands in that way. Plus, it was very cheap (until the pound collapse against the dollar).
Question 2 - WHO DOES WHAT?
The core band is:
Jarvis sings & plays various bits & pieces.
Steve Mackey plays the bass
Ross Orton plays the drums
Simon Stafford plays keyboards & sings backing vocals
Tim McCall plays the guitar in the right-hand speaker
Martin Craft plays the guitar in the left-hand speaker + occasional keyboards & backing vocals
Question 3 - HAS JARVIS GONE ROCK?
No - but during the course of touring his last record he discovered that , with this band, he COULD rock & so he'd be a fool not to. (When the situation demanded it).
Question 4 - WHAT ABOUT THE SONGS ON THE ALBUM?
I'll tell you a bit about some of the other songs we recorded. SLUSH is a song I wrote whilst aboard a ship that was sailing up the west coast of Greenland last year. I guess that slush will be the ultimate outcome of global warming. CAUCASIAN BLUES is an attempt to understand the pain of a man whose Honda Goldwing has run out of petrol. I NEVER SAID I WAS DEEP is the phrase that I would like carved on my tombstone & HOMEWRECKER! is an absolute racket featuring saxophone from Steve Mackay (he played on The Stooges' "Funhouse", you know).
Question 5 - WHAT'S WITH THE BEARD?
I grew it to keep my face warm in the Arctic & then I kind of got attached to it. (The amount of grey in it horrified me at first but now I think it acts as a handy reminder of my own mortality.)
Download: Angela
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