Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Bar Italia Forum -> Bar Italia Forum -> Ask Jarvis...
Post Info TOPIC: Ask Jarvis...
Eamonn


The Only Way is Down

Status: Offline
Posts: 4497
Date:
Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

..'owt you like.

If enough of us send in questions it can do as Sturdy's ''new interview with Jarvis'' for the pending deluxe re-issue of Truth & Beauty wink. But do it quickly while you've still got the chance (cos the deadline's Monday).




Former Pulp leader Jarvis Cocker, is soon to be in the UNCUT hotseat, facing your questions for regular feature: An Audience With... So, what have you always wanted to ask Sheffields finest wordsmith..?

Does he regret mooning Michael Jackson in the light of recent events?

What was it like appearing on Question Time recently?

Whats the best thing about having come from Sheffield?

Send your questions to uncutaudiencewith@ipcmedia.com by 10am, Monday, August 3.

The best questions, along with Jarvis' answers will be published in a future edition of Uncut. Please include your name and location!

__________________

Tell mester to f*ck off!
Fuss Free


Sorted

Status: Offline
Posts: 43
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 


I think it's silly to take a list of questions into an interview with Jarvis. Just start off with a simple question like "read any good books lately?" and then let the conversation take it's natural course. Jarvis always has something interesting to talk about, and he seems to genuinely enjoy it when his interviewers are engaged in the conversation.

__________________
...she's as mad as a box of frogs.
Sturdy


The Only Way is Down

Status: Offline
Posts: 1715
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

So has anyone sent a question in for this?

There was a time when I'd have sent in something like "Hello Jarvis, I wrote a book about you a few years ago, did you read it and if so what did you think?" but I can't really be arsed these days.

Still, if anyone else wants to ask such a question, feel free!

__________________
"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
SarahAWilson


Legendary

Status: Offline
Posts: 1010
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

I sent this one.

Are you surprised/not surprised that "Fantastic Mr. Fox" was chosen as the opening film at the London Film Festival, considering who one of the programming advisors is?

__________________

"It is hammering it down!"
anet


Cocaine Socialist

Status: Offline
Posts: 569
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Sturdy wrote:
There was a time when I'd have sent in something like "Hello Jarvis, I wrote a book about you a few years ago, did you read it and if so what did you think?" but I can't really be arsed these days.
I'd hazard a guess that you are bitter about something?

__________________
I can't help it, I was dragged up
Eamonn


The Only Way is Down

Status: Offline
Posts: 4497
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

I don't think Sturdy is bitter but I wouldn't blame him if he was. Spending years researching a biog with a number of requests for a bit of Jarvis talk-time rebuffed, yet he gives interviews to all and sundry when he's on the promotion trail of his latest album.

The travesty is that Mark could talk to him about stuff that would realy pique his interst. I get the feeling he'd far rather talk about writing Freaks whilst living with the down and outs of Sheffield in the mid-80s than explaining, again, why Further Complications is not a mid-life crisis album.

I completely forgot to send a question but of the many things I'd like to quiz him on, Webbo's detachment from his life now (whereas he's in apparent contact from time to time with the rest of them), and perhaps from the group itself towards the end, intrigues me. So ''Does Mark Webber still lives quite close to your London home and did something happen towards the end of Pulp to leave him more dis-enchanted than others?

__________________

Tell mester to f*ck off!
Eamonn


The Only Way is Down

Status: Offline
Posts: 4497
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Just seen Sarah's question - nicely put. Room for a bit of Webbo talk in the answer to that too.

__________________

Tell mester to f*ck off!
SarahAWilson


Legendary

Status: Offline
Posts: 1010
Date:
Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

I was watching "No Sleep til Sheffield" on youtube the other day .It seems Mark was disillusioned by fame very early on in his "official" career.

Add to the fact from 1997 onward, things took a really bad turn for Mark, both in his personal life and with the band.

What didn't  help was the apparent antagonism between him and Richard Hawley (Richard blanks him on the "thanks too.." citations on his albums, but mentions the others.)

-- Edited by SarahAWilson on Friday 7th of August 2009 12:37:45 PM

__________________

"It is hammering it down!"
Mike


Quiet Revolutionary

Status: Offline
Posts: 474
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

During the We Love Life era, Mark stopped talking to the press too. In one article, Candida says something like "He hates being in the band now, but he's younger than the rest of us. When we were all 30, we hated being in Pulp too."

Also, Eammon, I think it's Steve who lives a few yards from Mark but never sees him. Jarvis mentions this in that Pitchfork interview from two-or-so years ago.

__________________

Back from the dead -- Music From a Bachelor's Den!
Sturdy


The Only Way is Down

Status: Offline
Posts: 1715
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

anet wrote:
Sturdy wrote:
There was a time when I'd have sent in something like "Hello Jarvis, I wrote a book about you a few years ago, did you read it and if so what did you think?" but I can't really be arsed these days.
I'd hazard a guess that you are bitter about something?
Did that sound bitter? Sorry, it really wasn't my intention. I don't feel at all bitter about anything to do with the way things turned out with the book. Indeed, I'm very happy that I got to do it all those years ago and lots of people read it. At the same time though, I'd be interested to know whether Jarvis ever looked at the book, and if so what he thought. All I was trying to say above was that I probably care less than I used to about such things; we've all got to move on at some point eh?


__________________
"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
Sturdy


The Only Way is Down

Status: Offline
Posts: 1715
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

SarahAWilson wrote:

What didn't  help was the apparent antagonism between him and Richard Hawley (Richard blanks him on the "thanks too.." citations on his albums, but mentions the others.)


Unless you know something I don't, it seems a bit of a stretch to describe that as 'antagonism'. As we know Mark isn't seen much in Pulpy circles these days, which would easily explain why he doesn't get a mentio on Hawley's records.

__________________
"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
SarahAWilson


Legendary

Status: Offline
Posts: 1010
Date:
Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Really it was an opinion formed by the impression I got, so maybe I'm just speculating, in which case I might have been wrong.

Anyway the albums I was talking about were the Late night final which was released in 2001 when he was still touring with them, and Lowedges which was released in 2003.

-- Edited by SarahAWilson on Saturday 8th of August 2009 08:58:29 AM

__________________

"It is hammering it down!"
Fuss Free


Sorted

Status: Offline
Posts: 43
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

SarahAWilson wrote:
Really it was an opinion formed by the impression I got, so maybe I'm just speculating, in which case I might have been wrong.


Anyway the albums I was talking about were the Late night final which was released in 2001 when he was still touring with them, and Lowedges which was released in 2003.


What's with your Mark Webber obsession, anyway? (I don't mean that in nasty way. I'm genuinely curious.)



__________________
...she's as mad as a box of frogs.
Eamonn


The Only Way is Down

Status: Offline
Posts: 4497
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

I can't speak for Sarah but he certainly fascinates me.

Maybe cos he was the uber-fan who gradually, through hanging round with/annoying the band as a kid (he would have been what, 16 or 17, when he first met Pulp when their average age was about 25) eventually ''lived the dream'' and joined the guys whom he had blew fake snow with hair-dryers on stage for, written fanzines about, tuned guitars for, before eventually becoming a member just as they reached their commercial peak.

And any of the brief interviews and quotes he gave after that time seemed to cast him as a thoughtful, fragile soul who didn't enjoy what for years he had helped promote and create. I'm sick of hearing JC's tales of fame not being what he imagined. I want a 5,000 word minimum Mark Webber essay on his own slant his life with the group. From testing Russell's dodgy foreign tea concoctions as an impressionable Bowie-obsessed teen, recording bootlegs of the band in empty pubs in the north of England, to the whirlwind 1990's he had with them.

I watched a bit of that clip Sarah posted of him interviewing someone for a film exhibition and he really seemed to revel in his role as an investigator, reporter, collater of information etc. Which probably explains why being in one of the biggest bands of the 90's sat uneasily with him. But like I said, I'd really like to hear his own thoughts on it all.

''I could fall asleep at night as a rock'n'roll star. I could fall in love alright as a rock'n'roll star''

Not Mark evidently.


P.S. Does anyone have a good quality image of Mark and his 'Warhol' amp? I think it was only during '98 he used it.

__________________

Tell mester to f*ck off!
Perfect


Loss Adjuster

Status: Offline
Posts: 391
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Fuss Free wrote:

 

SarahAWilson wrote:
Anyway the albums I was talking about were the Late night final which was released in 2001 when he was still touring with them, and Lowedges which was released in 2003.
I don't think he's mention Mark on "Lady's bridge" either..
maybe he just doesn't like him.. 

 

 





__________________
Eamonn


The Only Way is Down

Status: Offline
Posts: 4497
Date:
Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

He'd have no reason to mention him on the credits for Lady's Bridge or Coles Corner but songs from the early albums could have been written during his time with Pulp at the start of the decade.

-- Edited by Eamonn on Saturday 8th of August 2009 06:57:33 PM

__________________

Tell mester to f*ck off!
anet


Cocaine Socialist

Status: Offline
Posts: 569
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Sturdy wrote:



 

anet wrote:


Sturdy wrote:

There was a time when I'd have sent in something like "Hello Jarvis, I wrote a book about you a few years ago, did you read it and if so what did you think?" but I can't really be arsed these days.


I'd hazard a guess that you are bitter about something?


Did that sound bitter? Sorry, it really wasn't my intention. I don't feel at all bitter about anything to do with the way things turned out with the book. Indeed, I'm very happy that I got to do it all those years ago and lots of people read it. At the same time though, I'd be interested to know whether Jarvis ever looked at the book, and if so what he thought. All I was trying to say above was that I probably care less than I used to about such things; we've all got to move on at some point eh?

 




I would find it hard to believe that Jarvis didn't at least have a little peek in your book.  Imagine if someone had written a book about you - how could you not have a look!

On the subject of Mark, hope nobody minds me admitting to this, but, probably for some completely irrational reason, I've always found him a little bit scary!  Sorry, I know that's not even relevant, but I had to get it off my chest after all these years.

 



__________________
I can't help it, I was dragged up
SarahAWilson


Legendary

Status: Offline
Posts: 1010
Date:
Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Fuss Free wrote:

 

What's with your Mark Webber obsession, anyway? (I don't mean that in nasty way. I'm genuinely curious.)



 I don't know really. I felt he had a sort of placid meloncholia that appealed to me at the time. Not long before Help the Aged came out, I wrote him a fan letter and a few weeks later, he wrote back! It was this lovely handwritten note, that I still have, even though it is totally battered and a little torn, but he ended the note with the line "Take care of yourself Sarah, Love Mark xxx" which I thought was really lovely. Then when LSatH happened, I jumped at the chace to go and meet him. He was really nice, but it kind of shocked me to see him smoking, haha.
At the end of the night, I went up to him and shook his hand and exchanged a few words. In no way was he scary, just very quiet and sweet. I think I scared him, more than I got scared by him.

 As well as "Little Stabs" I attended his Warhol and Underground America programmes at the Barbican, which were incredibly facinating. I remember during one of the UA nights, Mark was playing a concert in the Barbican (not the Lamont Young one, that would have been too early) and as he ran up the stairs I whispered "Good Luck" him and he whispered thank you back.  Then I went to university so I only got to the ICA on my holidays. I was one of the lucky few who went to "Day of Reckoning" at the Battersea Arts Centre and wrote a lenghthy description for it in the fanclub magazine, which Alex actually placed in it's intirety bless her. I only went to one "Stabs" after that. It was just before Mark's 30th and I gave him a coffee mug, "Fantastic at 30". "I really didn't want to be reminded of that," was his response. Bless. After 2000, what with Uni and financial problems of my own, I just stopped going to the film programmes, and just forgot. Then the BBC broadcast Glasto 1995 and it all came flooding back, so I decided to look Mark up on Google.

Jesus, the stuff he's done in the last 10 years totally overwhelmed me.



-- Edited by SarahAWilson on Saturday 8th of August 2009 09:11:05 PM

__________________

"It is hammering it down!"
SarahAWilson


Legendary

Status: Offline
Posts: 1010
Date:
Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Eamonn wrote:

I
''I could fall asleep at night as a rock'n'roll star. I could fall in love alright as a rock'n'roll star''

Not Mark evidently.

That was the trouble. He did fall in love as a rock and roll star. Then his girlfriend left him.

From the fan letter reply he sent me:

"We'd been together for two years and I thought we would get married and be together forever, now she's going out with the singer of a really bad group and I'm all alone missing her. terrible, eh?"

P.S. Does anyone have a good quality image of Mark and his 'Warhol' amp? I think it was only during '98 he used it.
 No, I believe the Warhol amps got used right up until the Magna gig I believe - correct me if i'm wrong Mr. Sturdy, (although I did remember reading that Mark's house got broken into and some stuff got taken, though what exactly I don't know). They even make an appearance in the Bad Cover Version video.

-- Edited by SarahAWilson on Saturday 8th of August 2009 10:11:44 PM

__________________

"It is hammering it down!"
Eamonn


The Only Way is Down

Status: Offline
Posts: 4497
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Cheers for your personal recollections Sarah. Very interesting reading indeed.

In the BBC radio documentary on the group which aired just before the release of This Is Hardcore, while discussing Russell leaving the band, a very softly spoken Mark Webber mentions it being a New Year's resolution of his to write to Russell, before adding, so quietly you can barely hear him ''...cos I don't want him to hate me''. Surprisingly, I've never heard or read anything further on that, not even discussed amongst us on here. Maybe you could attribute the comment to Mark being typically down-beat and lacking in self-confidence after the shitty year he'd had post-Different Class, I don't know. But his story does intrigue meTheres not been any retrospective thoughts of his on the group like there has been with the rest of Pulp. He wasn't in the documentary on the making of Common People (yes, I know he wasn't yet a member of the group when that was recorded) and he was air-brushed out of the big article Mojo did on Pulp for their recent Britpop edition (they spoke to Russell, Steve, Nick and Candida). All adding to his mystique for me.

As an aside, I always loved Alex's good-natured ribbing of him in the PulpPeople newsletters and his dead-pan quotes/answers to questions and questionnaires put to him that she'd include. I wonder what shes up to these days.

__________________

Tell mester to f*ck off!
Eamonn


The Only Way is Down

Status: Offline
Posts: 4497
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Mike wrote:

During the We Love Life era, Mark stopped talking to the press too. In one article, Candida says something like "He hates being in the band now, but he's younger than the rest of us. When we were all 30, we hated being in Pulp too."

Also, Eammon, I think it's Steve who lives a few yards from Mark but never sees him. Jarvis mentions this in that Pitchfork interview from two-or-so years ago.


You're right, it's Steve he lives close to. Great Candida quote - do you know which interview that came from?

 



__________________

Tell mester to f*ck off!
SarahAWilson


Legendary

Status: Offline
Posts: 1010
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Q: What did you get for Christmas?

A: Nick: Books and kettle
Mark: Disappointment

It's the juxtaposition of the two answers which just makes me laugh.

BTW has anyone got a copy of "From Disco to Hardcore" knocking about. I was playing it back the other day and the tape snapped.

__________________

"It is hammering it down!"
Perfect


Loss Adjuster

Status: Offline
Posts: 391
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Eamonn wrote:

He'd have no reason to mention him on the credits for Lady's Bridge or Coles Corner but songs from the early albums could have been written during his time with Pulp at the start of the decade.

-- Edited by Eamonn on Saturday 8th of August 2009 06:57:33 PM



This may not be that important but I just checked and there are no credits on Ladys bridge...

anyway anonther intersting thing is the fact, that wilst he's been involved in Jarvis albums, Richards "thank you" so far  seems to be to let Saskia sing backing vocals on one of he's tracks...



__________________
Mike


Quiet Revolutionary

Status: Offline
Posts: 474
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Eamonn wrote:
Great Candida quote - do you know which interview that came from?

Not offhand, but I definitely remember reading it on Acrylicafternoons.com.

__________________

Back from the dead -- Music From a Bachelor's Den!
SarahAWilson


Legendary

Status: Offline
Posts: 1010
Date:
RE: Ask Jarvis...
Permalink  
 

Mark is nowhere to be seen. He will not arrive until three hours before stagetime. No one is very happy about this. 'Mark,' Candida says brightly, 'is going through his not-liking-the-group phase now, which is really weird. Five years later - typical! I think it's because he was the last to join. At some point, you just don't like it, being in a band.'


Face #57 October 2001


__________________

"It is hammering it down!"
1 2  >  Last»  | Page of 2  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
Bar Italia Forum -> Bar Italia Forum -> Ask Jarvis...
Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse 		Powered by ActiveBoard