Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker: “I never wanted to grow up. I didn’t see the point of it even as a kid.”

Why now? And more of what? Pulp, one of the great Britpop bands of the nineties, authors of anthems like Common People , releases a new album after 24 years. It's titled More . More. And it's released today. "More Pulp. Yes. More of us. More music. Simply more," summarizes Jarvis Cocker, sitting at a Madrid hotel bar with drummer Nick Banks. A relationship hiatus and two deaths—that of his mother and that of bassist Steve Mackey at 56—prompted Cocker to write songs in which he makes peace with his feelings. An album about the passage of time and our role in all of this.

“It sounds a little morbid, I guess, but when people die, you realize you only have so much time left to live. And if you're working creatively, there's only so much you can create. I try not to have regrets, but I do regret that we haven't made as much music, mainly because I'm slow,” Cocker confesses. He explains that after the band reunited in 2023 after a decade of silence, “we decided, after touring, to play a new song, Hymn of the North , and have a good experience, see how far we could take it.”

“I’ve enjoyed my life more without the pressure of youth to have to go and experience it.”

They completed the album in three weeks. “Towards the end of Pulp, everything took forever,” Cocker admits, “because I always tended to leave it to the last minute. Our most successful album, Different Class , was a very quick one; it came about because we released Common People and it was a huge hit. We only had three songs, but we felt like that one had to come out then. And once it was a hit, we asked ourselves, ‘Where’s the album?’” “The history of Pulp up until Common People ,” Banks reflects, “had been plagued by music that wasn’t released when it should have been. With this new album, it’s worked well to do things quickly and without overthinking.”

Cocker believes the theme of the new album “isn’t that different from other albums, but we are looking at it from a different perspective. There’s a line in the song Slow Jam that says, ‘You’ve gone from everything you can be to everything you once were.’ That’s what happens when you reach a certain point and realize you’ve done most of it,” they laugh. And Cocker continues: “But that doesn’t have to be depressing. I’ve enjoyed my life more when I don’t feel the pressure of having to go and experience it. When you’re younger, it’s hard to decide what to do because there are so many different things in the world I could be or I could try… Where do I start? And you’re running around and you can’t concentrate on anything because you think, well, maybe they’re having a better time over there. Did I make the right decision?”

“More options means less happens sometimes,” Banks agrees. “Yes, the tyranny of choice. So it's good to realize you made decisions, some good, some not so good, but you're still alive and can still make one or two more. And there's not as much pressure now because you know a little more,” Cocker says.

And in one of the new tracks, he writes that “the secret of life is not to get bored with the good things.” “You can become dissatisfied with something because you fantasize that it would be better if you were with someone else or lived somewhere else, and before you know it, you’ve broken up with someone or ruined something. Humans, when they have something, always undervalue it because they take it for granted. Maintaining interest is something you have to work at a bit,” Cocker says.

“The gangs are disappearing”

“Bands are disappearing,” reflects Nick Banks. “It seems like everyone is a solo artist, either because AI, where you can press a button and something happens, or simply because music technology allows you to do everything yourself without having to go into a dark room with three idiots to create music,” he smiles. “That’s why,” Cocker concludes, “I’m really glad we made a new record. There aren’t that many bands, and certainly not many that aren’t tech-enabled. They’ve disappeared. A band is made up of people trying to make their personalities work together. And the strengths and weaknesses give it a certain sound beyond the individuals in the band. It’s a very human thing. And I listen to a lot of things and I don’t hear that. It just sounds like someone trying to sound like someone else or trying to make some money, but not trying to express anything.”

And he acknowledges that the album is an attempt to come to terms with his feelings. “I lived in my head for so long... it was all about ideas about the world, what I thought about the world, instead of accepting it for what it was. That's probably why when fame came, I didn't like it, because I had an idea of ​​what it was going to be and what it was going to do for me. And it didn't match that. It was me and my expectations that were wrong,” the singer notes.

Now they're grown up. “When you're young, you look at older people and think they know how life works, and when you get older, you realize they don't. I never wanted to grow up. I remember thinking that as a kid. I didn't see the point. Older people seem to have to take life seriously, have responsibilities, and all that,” Cocker reflects. And Banks suggests that perhaps “being in the band is a way of suppressing the aging process, of remaining a kid.”