weener wrote:

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I can't believe it.. I hope Tricia is ok (not sure if she still pops in here or not)

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 I've been talking to her over twitter. She is understandably pretty shaken up. she doesn't post on here much but you can reach her on twitter @triciathetree and send her some hugs

Very sad news.  

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/steve-mackey-an-artistic-stylish-and-unfailingly-polite-man-who-let-his-bass-do-the-talking-brqcq705s

Steve Mackey: a reserved, artistic man who let his bass do the talking

Pulps bass guitarist has died, aged 56. Will Hodgkinson pays tribute to the musician, producer and DJ whose intelligence and sense of adventure enriched the lives of those around him

In 2011 Steve Mackey turned up with Jarvis Cocker, his fellow Sheffield native and bandmate in Pulp, to do a late-night Saturday DJ slot at a backstage bar at Glastonbury festival. It was one of those legendary rainy years, the site a sea of mud and cagoules, and in true Glastonbury fashion there were plenty of people who had struggled to follow the key rule of pacing yourself. It did not make for a pretty sight. Amid this morass Mackey was a lone figure of dignity and cleanliness: a handsome middle-aged man in a well-cut shirt, playing icy Human League and Kraftwerk classics as people slid about on the soaking wet tarpaulin dancefloor before him. He looked like someone who knew how to live and take care of himself, which makes his death at just 56 all the more shocking.

 While Cocker remains the charismatic star of Pulp, Mackey was his ideal foil, a reserved, artistic man who was content to let his bass guitar playing in the band alongside his songwriting and production for other artists do the talking. I met him twice, first in an interview and then at that Glastonbury. Unlike a lot of reasonably famous musicians, especially ones from Nineties Britpop bands, who all too often mistake brashness and arrogance for impressiveness, Mackey was unfailingly polite

I couldn't process this yesterday. Kept reading more posts and news articles and even listened to Radio 6 all evening to various news bulletins and tributes and it was like some sort of horrible dream. I went on Twitter in the afternoon and saw Steve trending at number 2. I was obviously startled but not initially alarmed until I clicked on it! I always assumed he was the healthiest of all of them, all that running. If he was in hospital for 3 months, presumably he already knew he was ill when he didn't commit to the tour.

Channel 4's The Last Leg included a little tribute to Steve throughout the show last night.

Twitter

-- Edited by Pip on Saturday 4th of March 2023 10:30:27 AM

Eamonn wrote:

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Thanks for mentioning that Will Butler from Arcade Fire tribute in the Guardian, I hadn't seen it.

 

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/03/he-had-such-sharp-judgement-yet-you-never-felt-judged-arcade-fires-will-butler-on-working-with-steve-mackey

 

I haven't seen Florence Welch say anything about Stefe yet but I suspect she would be just as lovely about him - everyone seems to be, in a genuine way. Just seems that he was one of life's good guys. Really wish I had met him (he and Candida were the remaining ones on my 'To Pulp' list)

-- Edited by Eamonn on Saturday 4th of March 2023 10:23:22 AM

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There's a nice tweet here from MIA:

 https://twitter.com/MIAuniverse/status/1631418500689596416?s=20

Sturdy wrote:

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Yeah, you can definitely hear a difference when it gets to Separations IMO. He didn't tend to play a lot of fancy stuff but he had this confident, driving style that gave it all a bit of a lift. I think he was an important part of what made Pulp danceable from point onward - not just the influences he brought into the band (acid house etc) but the way he actually played.

Case in point, that soundcheck where you can hear him just playing the bassline to She's a Lady for a bit. You can almost dance to that on its own!

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Steve and Nick are the yin to the yang of the others.  Both are more rock school than art school.  Despite the occasional flash of brilliance prior to Separations, for me Pulp started in 1989. 

Being at the first show at Brid is probably going to be extra emotional.

Very much looking forward to puffins. Likely to go up to my mum's for a few days. I think she is quite keen to see puffins as well, but will go home on the bus as she isn't going to hang around all evening waiting for us to emerge.

Eamonn wrote:

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There's a nice little highlights reel on his Instagram, posted today.

I think the funeral was yesterday.

Also, I listened to Love Is Blind this week for the first time in ages. I forgot how prominent Steve's bass is in that song, both rhythmically and melodically. As his first appearance on a Pulp record, he certainly announced his arrival and I'm not sure any other recorded song afterwards tops it in terms of his involvement.

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Earlier today, according to The Sun.

"A brass band and 25 speakers boomed out funk hits as a host of stars followed his coffin ­carried on a vintage Land Rover. The Joubert Singers 1982 hit Stand On The Word rang out as the celebs gathered at Highgate Cemetery to pay their respects."

Peter Crouch, Abbey Clancy, Noel Gallagher, Patsy Kensit, Daisy Lowe, Courtney Love and Marc Jacobs were among those in attendance.

It had to be the f###ing Sun.

Fascist enabling bastards.

-- Edited by SarahAWilson on Sunday 26th of March 2023 11:11:24 AM

Picture today from Steve's Instagram account stories today, from Katie. 

I had just bought a jumper, a yellow one. When I saw it on the hanger, it reminded me of this photo of Steve (one of my favourite shots of the band), so I snaffled it.

And then I paid for it, walked outside with my partner, got on the bus, and checked my phone.

It was an absolutely sickening shock, he always seemed so young and healthy. He is, to be honest, my favourite member - I mean everyone loves Jarvis, but Steve was the cool one; he legitimised Cocker and co.'s nerdiness by simply standing there with his bass and that swoop of hair. And he did much more than that. So very much more.

I don't think I'll ever look at a photo of Pulp and see Steve, and think 'oh he's dead now', because that seems so incredibly perverse... as far as I'm concerned, he's there. Hopefully trotting about in the Andes, but also, generally. He's still part of Pulp, if that makes sense. It's impossible to separate them, and why would you want to?

So, rest well Steve. Thank you for the music.

lipglossed wrote:

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weener wrote:

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Katie just put up on instagram that he died from a 4th AVM and his organs have saved 3 people - poor Steve, I'm still so sad about it!

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Gosh, that's desperately unlucky. AVM's aren't usually fatal. To have four of the buggers...

Poor Steve.

 

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I'd never heard of this, so I just Googled it - does the 4 relate to the severity rather than a 4th event?? Sounds horrendously unlucky whatever, even more so for someone who was so fit and healthy.

https://www.bmc.org/spetzler-martin-grading-scale

If anyone wants to visit the good lad, you can find him in the West side of Highgate Cemetary, in a fairly prominent location in "The Meadow", roughly halfway between Jean Simmons and George Michael. Also very near Ian Holm and Bob Hoskins.

Eamonn wrote:

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This probably belongs in the dreams thread but I had one the other night of Pulp playing one of their summer shows and Jarvis not addressing Steve's death until the encore, spending a good five minutes saying how great he was, and his talent and intelligence was one thing but his being humble and never projecting his own thoughts onto other people when he had every reason to, given how successful he was in everything he did, was one of his most admirable traits.

And the stage was all darkly lit during this eulogy apart from a spotlight being shone on Steve's Different Class cut-out at the front of the stage. Jarvis then dedicates the last song to Steve, just holding back the tears and the opening strains of Bar Italia begin...

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This has made me very emotional. It would be a pretty much perfect tribute, and the way you describe it is very vivid too.

I think Finsbury Park has the potential to be a very emotionally intense event, I'll be going to TRNSMT but hope those of you who'll be off to north London have a good time... they'll certainly be remembering Steve.

Hope his cut-out is dusted-off, like you said. Funny, it's still weird him being gone; I was watching a YouTube video of Like A Friend live at Glasto this morning, watching Steve run his fingers down that bassline and thinking I'd see him this summer. I think the Highgate thing is a nice idea. Any way of paying a tribute, really.

I do feel for whoever will play bass live, obviously it's a huge honour but also quite emotionally difficult, I would reckon.

Fran wrote:

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Eamonn wrote:

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I do feel for whoever will play bass live, obviously it's a huge honour but also quite emotionally difficult, I would reckon.

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 Just a wild thought - does anyone know anything much about Marley? It says in this interview that he is a musician. It's from 2015, which is half a lifetime ago for someone that age - it seems a bit grumpy but then being interviewed on the grounds of having a famous dad might be quite annoying at that age. There have been other examples of sons of musicians, like John Bonham's son, sitting in for their dads.

https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/zmxyp3/meet-rafferty-law-and-marley-mackey

 

I just wonder, would Steve's birthday be a time when family might want to be visiting the cemetery? Wouldn't want to intrude on that, though on the other hand it might be really gratifying for them to know how much he was loved, so long as it didn't interfere with their own commemoration.

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Might depend on the time of day? I mean, there's plenty of hours, so it would depend on if we timed it right. You raise a good point, though - it wouldn't be good to intrude.

Finsbury Park might also be a good time to do it - not too far from Highgate either.