Eamonn wrote:

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First bit of press for the book here, not seen any reviews yet but this is a pretty comprehensive article and interview: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/interviews/nick-banks-punk-to-pulp-autobiography-interview/

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 Was just about to post this but I can't read it anyway due to the subscription. Any good nuggets of info in the article?

Nobody should be forced to patronise the rubbish newspapers in this country. Copy/pasted below.


Pulps Nick Banks: Did Britpop make me rich? Well, I just bought a new mower

The drummer and nephew of Gordon Banks admits hes no Keith Moon. But his new book on life as Jarvis Cockers backbone still rocks

It was the first weekend of the Second Summer of Britpop, and the reviews were in. On the stage of Finsbury Park, a 59-year-old man from Sheffield in glasses and a dark green velvet suit with all the energy and elasticity of an eel (Mojo) beguiled 45,000 giddy Saturday night believers. He threw shapes like Robert Peston at a karaoke party during a Blair-era Labour Party conference (The Telegraph). The 17-song set was stuffed with generational anthems, so much so that by the time they played the intro to Common People, the show had escalated into a full-blown karaoke session, with crowds holding their hands aloft in the air singing every word (Radio X).

This was Julys triumphant return of Pulp, which came seven days before peers Blur played their own comeback gigs at Wembley Stadium. Twenty-one years after splitting, and 12 years since their last revival, the Sheffield band were as tight as their singers tailoring.

The man at the back, holding it all together, agrees. All of them have been absolutely amazing, says Pulp drummer Nick Banks of the bands summer run of shows (which, unlike Blurs, hasnt come accompanied by a new album). I didnt have any qualms that the whole set of gigs would be anything but fantastic.

That said, youre never quite sure how the audience is going to be. Because theyre 25 years older than they were in their prime. Are they just going to be sentient beings enjoying it in a watchful way? But it was amazing to see lots of young kids there, as well as people who had grown up with Pulp. The idea that theyd listened to their mum and dads records, or wed still kept relevant to them, as they started discovering music...

Why does he think Cocker 60 this week wanted to get the band back together again? Dunno, really, to be honest, shrugs the stoutly affable 58-year-old over an afternoon Diet Coke in a pub next to Sheffield train station. Maybe because it was 10 years, roughly, since the last one. He likes things like that. But you dont really want to probe too much. What we doing this for? Yeah, why are doing it? Ah, f___ it, I cant be arsed! So you just go: Yeah, right, what time we rehearsing?

Hiatuses aside, Banks has been staring at Jarviss skinny backside for the best part of 40 years. Even before joining Pulp, though, he had some sense of what its like to be both famous and stuck at the back, keeping a weather eye on things: his uncle was Gordon Banks, goalkeeper in Englands World Cup-winning squad in 1966.

In 1972, Uncle Gordon appeared on This Is Your Life. Host Eamonn Andrews asked team captain Bobby Moore what it was like playing with Banks. Apart from all his wonderful skill and ability, its the assurance of the way he goes about the job, said Moore. Hes assured in life as a whole, hes very easy to get on with, very easygoing. And when he gets on the field, his confidence spreads throughout the whole team. Without it being too much of a stretch, I ask his nephew: could most of that be applied to his role in Pulp?

I would like to think so, says Banks, squirming slightly I know drummers are seen as a little bit crazy, a bit off-the-wall. But I aint no Keith Moon. And Id like to think that if youre playing in a band, you know that when you go to that bit [in a song], everyone in the bands following you. Pulp had been playing for so long to so few people, we developed a pack mentality. We all knew whats needed to happen, or whats going to happen. So you do develop a sort of telepathic sense. If Jarvis does that arm twitch yeah, he does it every night, but we know that means were going into this next bit. And everyones gonna go there usually. Woe betide if youre not there and you get The Look!
Now the musician has applied that unique perspective, his drummers-eye view of Cockers coccyx, to a memoir. So It Started There takes its title from a lyric in Common People, the 1995 smash that powered Pulps career finally. Because, as the name of Banks book intimates, the bands story is, to put it mildly, a precarious picaresque, one spanning four decades and some two-dozen members.

When Pulp eventually took off, they took off like a rocket So It Started There opens backstage at that epochal Glastonbury main-stage headline performance, only a month after Common Peoples release, when they were last-minute replacements for the out-through-injury Stone Roses. Actually, no, it opens with a foreword from good pal Richard Hawley, Mercury-nominated Sheff troubadour and occasional touring member of Pulp said foreword notable for his crack joke about Banks drumming skills: In and out of time like Dr Who.

Well, the drummer always gets poked with a sharp stick, Banks says gamely. Keep time! Too fast! Too slow! Its never quite right for someone. And obviously, Common People does speed up quite a bit through its five minutes 130 beats per minutes to or 155bpm by the end. Its a real runaway train.

But certainly, theirs was far, far away from the straight-out-of-the-box success of their other Britpop rivals, Oasis. It wasnt even on a par with Blurs, who hit the ground sprinting with their third album, 1994s Parklife. Banks joined Pulp in 1986, almost a decade before Common People and Glastonbury. Even in 1986, Pulp had been going, serially unsuccessfully, since 1978, when they were formed by 15-year-old schoolboy Jarvis Branson Cocker.


Banks gives us a ringside seat as Cocker marks Pulps 1994 Top of the Pops debut by taking the mickey out of Wet Wet Wet live on air, and as he moons Michael Jackson at the 1996 Brit Awards. Were at the Mercury Music Prize in 94 when fourth studio album His n Hers loses to M People, and there again in 96 when Different Class triumphs over (Whats The Story) Morning Glory? and Manic Street Preachers Everything Must Go.

Were there, too, as Pulp slog through the indie-music trenches of the early- and mid- Eighties. Teenage Banks watches, agog, from spartan pub audiences as proto-Pulp light up a none-more-grey Sheffield pub-band scene.

Ive got birds-nest hair, leather jacket, leather trousers, jackboots, remembers the Rotherham-born father-of-two. Music then was a bit gothy, industrial, lots of heavy guitars. But this bands got tinkling piano, trombone, backing singers, very quiet, mallet drumsticks with soft ends And this singer you cant take your eyes off. Utterly magnetic. Fey, acoustic, no abrasiveness whatsoever, the complete opposite of what youre listening to [elsewhere].

Catching Pulp for the first time in October 1982, at The Crucible (in the space next door to the hall that is snookers spiritual home), Banks marvels at these local troupers determination to do things differently, even if its more Blue Peter than Black Sabbath.

They were trying to put on a show: toilet rolls, tinfoil, Jarvis in a wheelchair but walking off at the end. At that concert they had little orange cardboard fish, sellotaped to bits of string hanging down from the ceiling, loads of them. I presume they were thinking: make the stage look like were underwater. The bands I knew could barely put some coloured lights together, let alone think orange cardboard fish on string would look great.

As for their frontman: Jarvis was one of those people youd see down the pub, dressed a bit strange. Wed be in those [West] German army Bundeswehr vests. Hed be in a suit and tie. In places where its all punks in leather jackets, a suit and tie was revolutionary. Wed all go to The Limit, which was the only club in town, and hed do his little shoulder shuffle-y dance. He was just odd. Just really, really odd. But in a nice way.

Just as Slits guitarist Viv Albertines tremendous 2014 autobiography Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys gave us, for the first time, a female view on punk from the inside, so Banks offers a unique, clear-eyed take on the Britpop boom and bust: that of a participant standing just outside the spotlight glare. One from a musician who enjoyed the rollercoaster ride but who wasnt spun upside down and nauseous by the experience. Not fully, anyway.

Yes, Banks was not-untouched by 1990s pops blizzard of excess. A darkly funny interlude finds him and a roadie on the Pulp tour bus, en route to a European tour, determinedly hoovering their way through a consignment of cocaine before they reach customs at Dover (Well, we all love a challenge). But generally he kept his head while some Britpoppers were losing theirs. Cocker once told me that he knew hed been enjoying the ride a bit too much when he found himself at a launch event for a new Action Man. Not quite the opening of an envelope, but not far off.


Yes! I went to that party as well! laughs Banks. It was some swanky place in London. They had one of those metal spheres with three motorbikes flying around inside. It was 12-foot across and your nose was up against the side of it, these motorbikes flying by with some stupid model bloke playing Action Man [riding it]. But you just think: Great, someones giving me free beer. Ill have some of that. But, yeah, if youre doing it every night, it would get a bit wearing.

The book freewheels through Pulps first national TV performance, in November 1993, playing Lipgloss on Channel 4s The Word. That was a big deal, he acknowledges, and not just because it was the scene of one of the first dates with his wife of 27 years, Sarah. It was good, after-the-pub TV. We always thought: if we could get in front of people, then they would see [our talent] and they can make their mind up whether we were a bunch of shysters or the best thing since sliced bread.

We accompany Banks to Pulps debut Top of the Pops, in June 1994, playing Babies an appearance notable for Cocker opening his jacket to reveal a sign saying I Hate Wet Wet Wet, a nod to the Scottish popsters have been lodged at Number One for several aeons with their insipid cover of Love Is All Around. That flash of prime-time infamy, though, would pale into insignificance next to another moment beamed into the nations living room.

At the 1996 Brit Awards, Pulp, riding high on the success of Different Class, were nominated in four categories: British Group, British Video, British Single, British Album. Larky to the last, they chose to perform Sorted for Es & Wizz, the single whose origami record sleeve in the style of a drug wrap had got them on the cover of the Mirror the previous summer (with the immortal tabloid headline Ban This Sick Stunt). Also on the bill: Michael Jackson, there to accept the specially fabricated Artist of a Generation bauble.

Arriving at Londons Earls Court for the awards bash, the band were already in playful mood.



The best memory of our walk to stage was seeing a bog-standard (sorry) Portaloo, writes Banks, the kind you see at festivals and building sites, sited backstage with a sign affixed: For the sole use of Mr Michael Jackson. This had us in fits of laughter, imagining Mick was sat in there as we trudged past with his kecks round his ankles, sorting through some pre-show nerves. Should have knocked it over.

The rest, course, is hysteria. During Jacksons messiah-like performance of Earth Song with a bunch of kids, a heartily refreshed Cocker rushed the stage and waggled his bottom or, as Banks puts it, mim[ed] s______ on the Jacko acolytes in the front row. Cut to: Cocker besieged in Pulps dressing room by Jacksons people, police and, offering to dust off his long dormant legal skills to help Cocker, the equally refreshed solicitor-turned-comedian Bob Mortimer.


Cue a trip to Kensington nick, a night in the cells (for Jarvis, not Jackson), a storm of front-page headlines, and Cocker emerging, blinking, into a newfound, very much unwanted status a national hero or disgrace, depending on your feelings about the self-styled King of Pop. At least Cocker faced no criminal charges, his case sealed by the presentation of a video of Jacksons performance, proving he hadnt bumped into any of Jacksons press-ganged children said video filmed by David Bowie.

All of which seems a bit of a laugh now. But on the BBC 6 Musics recent podcast The Rise and Fall of Britpop, co-host Steve Lamacq quotes Cocker at the time: In the UK, suddenly I was totally recognised and I couldnt go out any more. It took me into a level of celebrity I couldnt ever have known existed, and wasnt equipped for. It had a massive, generally detrimental effect on my mental health.


Banks absolutely noticed that onerous burden on his friend and bandmate. And certainly, it affected Jarviss outlook on songwriting and lyric writing. He always thought of himself as the unseen observer looking at the minutiae of life. But when the observer becomes the observed, everything you look at becomes tainted by you looking at it.

After the BRITs 96, the Pulp party was by no means over, but the Britpop hangover started to descend. Their final two albums, This is Hardcore (1998) and We Love Life (2001) both took ruinously long to make. Then, on December 14 2002, they played the Magna Centre in Rotherham. Thisll be the last time you see us for a while, said Cocker. But we may meet again, who knows? It would be almost a decade before we did.

How did Banks feel that night, back in his home town, as the last chord faded away? A bit melancholic, really. There was no clinking of champagne and big hugs and look at the journey weve been on It was a bit glum, really.

But once the dust settled and you got back home and into your standard life, you always thought: the time may come with something else happening.


In the ensuing decade, back in Sheffield, Banks took over the family pottery business (it was eventually killed by Covid) and watched Cocker embark on a solo career, which is all good. But never say never, because its always left hanging with Jarvis. So you always held onto hope that maybe hed want to do some stuff again. But you dont build your life around waiting for it.

Hence, then, two (so far) fun and, it seems, highly functional reunions even if this years model was tinged with the unbearable sadness of the death earlier this year of longstanding guitarist Steve Mackey, reportedly after a brain haemorrhage. He was 56.



Were trying to do something that is a tribute to Steve Mackeys memory, said Cocker at Finsbury Park. I tend to talk about him before this song, because this songs called Something Changed. Its about how somebody can enter your life and really change it all.

I ask Banks how challenging it was doing the shows, looking out at the place where Mackey would have been. Yeah, It was difficult. Steve was such a presence within the group, driving stuff and setting agendas. And obviously, with no Steve on stage, even more of the focus is on Jarvis. Which obviously it was mostly anyway. But without that kind of fellow traveller up there onstage, it changed the dynamic of it. Its such a tragedy that someone so vibrant would pass away so young.

While he seems relatively confident Pulp will ride again, Nick Banks isnt holding his breath. Nor does he need to. When I ask whether being in Pulp made him rich, he replies with a grin: Ah, richer because I moved back to Sheffield! Yeah, Ive got a nice house, a comfortable life. But I havent got a boat in Monte Carlo, I tell you!

The end of the pottery business was a blow, but now he has time to walk the dog, cut the grass. Just got a new mower this morning, actually! he says cheerfully. And, crucially, all those years keeping time and biding his time in Pulp means Nick Banks doesnt have to work.

So, yeah, it all worked out alright in the end!

So It Started There: From Punk To Pulp by Nick Banks is published on September 28 by Omnibus Press. See Banks live in conversation across the UK, info here

-- Edited by Simply Fuss Free on Friday 22nd of September 2023 01:39:29 PM

Ha. Great picture of the young Nick though. Looking forward tonseeing more pics of him as a punk and a goth before he became a Pulper.

Nick on Monday! With @maclureo of this parish.

Not sure what I'll ask him. Going to need to think about this.

With Nick's Q&A, the long-awaited Russell interview, and the Steve fanzine, this is going to be a very Pulpy fortnight for me...

Which shop, Jean? Think you said that you struggled to find Russell's book in "Eire". I remember my local branch of Dubray had a few, surprisingly.

Well-written review (a lot better than the one I did for the same website for Russell's book) here: 

https://louderthanwar.com/so-it-started-there-from-punk-to-pulp-by-nick-banks-book-review/

Monthly music mags a little more sniffy....6 out of 10 in Uncut and three stars in Mojo.

 

-- Edited by Eamonn on Sunday 24th of September 2023 11:45:08 AM

I am not going to be That Guy and ask if there's any plans to showcase some deep cuts, like they did in Brixton in 2011. But it's tempting.

Well, that was last night and Nick was absolutely wonderful - so gregarious, effusive, all of those sorts of words. Dealt charmingly with my fanboyness (I sort of was stuck for words and got a bit giggly) and was so warm and put us at ease, and shook our hands. The Q&A was brilliant - he does little voices sometimes - a really great storyteller. I asked him whether anyone else in the group had a singing voice they'd kept under wraps, and he replied that he himself could "sing like a canary" (his wife Sarah disagreed).

Among other snippets, Nick's responsible for the genesis of Minnie Timperley; he likes Goodnight, My Lighthouse, Blue Girls, Joyriders, Common People and Hardcore; the 'real' reason Jarvis went off Mis-Shapes is that it's quite high and hard to sing; Seductive Barry came from his electronic drumkit's drone settings (and Mark brought the idea of droning instrumental ideas to Pulp - there's the La Monte Young influence). Candida came up with all the working titles, like Seductive Barry, when she wrote down the chords for each song.

The book looks excellent, and our copies have QR codes you can scan to access audio content! Which is very whizzy and exciting.

Unfortunately, due to work and personal commitments, I cannot make any of these. I haven't started the book yet but I am looking forward to it. I don't really have a "favourite member" of Pulp but if pressed, it would probably be Nick. I don't think that he will reveal anything about future live shows and releases though.

Thought the Leeds chat was very enjoyable!

A few nuggets revealed... they had another 9 or so songs on the "b list" for this year's shows, including Joyriders, MLG, Bad Cover Version and a few others. (They'd also tried She's a Lady "but it sounded like a bag of spanners"!) He and Mark had been keen to mix the setlists up a bit but it was difficult because of the quote rigid staging, films etc.

The rest of the band weren't very involved with Hymn of the North - Jarvis had decided he wanted to put it in without much explanation, it was really just based around him, Candida and the orchestra with the others more or less instructed to "join in when you're ready"!

Russell being part of the 2011 reunion had come as a surprise, the first Nick knew about it was first band meeting round his house when Russ knocked on the door! No indication of whether he was asked for this round (although I'm guessing not).

Very much a running theme of being at the mercy of Jarvis' aversion to firm decisions and forward planning. Hence no particular answer to "why 10 years between reunions, and why now?", or any future plans. It did sound like Hymn of the North had been a one off rather than part of any long term plan for new material.

He's read Jarvis' book and though it was great, read Russell's and thought it was "entertaining but not entirely truthful", and was very kind about mine!

Looking forward to getting stuck in to this book...

Yes, Nick looked like he didn't want to explicitly state "Russell's book contains some amount of bullshit", but his face suggested he might have thought that when he said something similar in Glasgow. Has anyone got the guts to ask him more about the specifics....?

PaulTMA wrote:

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Yes, Nick looked like he didn't want to explicitly state "Russell's book contains some amount of bullshit", but his face suggested he might have thought that when he said something similar in Glasgow. Has anyone got the guts to ask him more about the specifics....?

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It's interesting cos the book's probably warmer towards Nick than most of the others. That whole bit about the two them running round London with Dolores.