That's ace. Good find.

Great stuff, anyone know where it's from? I wish Russell had given more interviews back in the day - he rarely fails to be interesting.

 

He really hasn't changed all that much in 20 years. On a 1987 radio interview with Jarvis on Hallam FM or BBC Radio Sheffield to promote Freaks, he described Sheffield,verbatim, how he does in this interview - the "grimness" of it etc. and how making music helped to create a bit of glamour amidst the dankness.

 

The part where he chides certain members   (Steve and Jarvis of course), for becoming...cocks basically after their relocation to London ties in with that. Russell could happily slag Sheffield off anytime I reckon but that only came from having a deep belonging to the place; whereas by the time Common People went supernova, other band members had been taken in all too readily by the delights that Camden supposedly had to offer that he felt they had lost all perspective of what made them individual and interesting in the first place.


Remember it was Russell that penned The Will To Power - and Pulp's essential philosophy of ''truth and beauty'' can be largely attributed to him. That many Pulp fans are so ambivalent to We Love Life (and to a lesser extent Different Class and This Is Hardcore) but love 99% of everything from Seperations-The Sisters EP makes perfect sense in this context. From late 1994 onwards Steve replaced Russell as Jarvis' sparring partner to bounce ideas off, and it appears that this not only caused a dynamic shift in how the group approached song-writing, but it also gradually precipitated Russell's disillusionment with the group (along with, to be fair, the success that came with Different Class) to the point that he eventually left two and a bit years later.

I seem to remember Rachell (Russell's sister) telling me about this interview when I was up in Sheffield in Feb of this year. Well done for finding it.

-- Edited by Havenhand at 16:31, 2007-08-22

I loved this interview! Russell hasn't changed a bit! Steve and Jarv might have been "London-trendy", but Russell was always "the snob".


-- Edited by Fuss Free at 02:34, 2007-08-23

Awesome interview!

Nice find.
And while his attitude may not have changed, I hardly recognised him.
Good job they kept splashing his name up every minute to remind me...


BR
JN

Wasn't he just a violinist anyway?

Seems like a decent guy, but it was foolish to leave a band that could have made him millions, which would have afforded enough money to live really well and send his kids to school anywhere he'd like. Still, it's admirable to be able to give up so much profit, and walk away if he wasn't feeling passionate.

Muldfeld wrote:

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Wasn't he just a violinist anyway?

Seems like a decent guy, but it was foolish to leave a band that could have made him millions, which would have afforded enough money to live really well and send his kids to school anywhere he'd like. Still, it's admirable to be able to give up so much profit, and walk away if he wasn't feeling passionate.

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I think Pulp made most of their money -before- Russell left the band, and the band always split  their profits evenly. So he still gets paid every time Common People or Disco 2000 airs on the radio. For that matter, Russell probably gets some residual money from This Is Hardcore (since he was involved in early recording sessions)... and he might even get some money for WLL.

So I don't think he's hurting for cash.

 

weener wrote:

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and maybe i'm wrong.... but as someone who was picketing at miner's strikes, would he send his kids to a fee paying school anyway???

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True weener, Russell's politics were always on the left.

Hi Fuss Free

No, I've never received a credit for anything I did with Pulp. I did once try to pursue it via Pulp's management but they wouldn't entertain it. It's a bit of downer but I still love Pulp all the same.

Steven

Sorry for the bump of this thread but I was looking for this interview again and it seems that it's been removed. Did anyone save it when it was still up?

i need to see this please...