lipglossed wrote:

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Candida. In the flesh. Í would've died.

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Promo from an interview  with Q/Cue's Substack for the book. He's really trolling us with "The Last Song In The World" isn't he?!


This evening, Pulp guitarist Mark Webber celebrates the release of his new book I'm With Pulp, Are You? with a launch party at London's ICA. Mark will be in conversation with Miranda Sawyer and afterwards some guest DJs will be providing tunes deep into the night. There are still a handful of tickets available here. Can't make it? Well, how about this instead: in a few weeks, Mark will be joining Pete Paphides for a vinyl listening session to Pulp's masterful This Is Hardcore. Oh wait, that's sold out.

You'll just have to make do with this interview and Mark's excellent book, which documents the gazillion artefacts that he has gathered during his time with Pulp, first as a teenage fan, then as their tour manager, and since 1995 as their guitarist. You can read more about it below as Mark gets to grips with our Release Valve queries

The first record I loved was: The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars by David Bowie.

The last record I loved was: Blue Raspberry by Katy Kirby.

The musician I grew up most wanting to be is: I'm not sure there was one in particular, but as I taught myself guitar the musicians I tried to imitate were Lou Reed, Sonic Boom & Jason Pierce, Dean Wareham, Tom Verlaine, Rain Parade and The Feelies.

My fantasy band would feature:

Adrienne Lenker, vocals, guitar
Tom Verlaine, guitar
Alex Chilton, guitar
Richard Tee, electric piano
Aggi Wright, bass
Danny Thomas, drums

My first thought for drummer was Dennis Davis, but Danny Thomas (of the 13th Floor Elevators) would likely be better suited to the others.

The greatest gig I ever saw was: There were many important ones in formative years, but more recently LCD Soundsystem at Brixton Academy in 2022 was truly amazing.

The greatest gig I ever played was: One of the most extraordinary was Pulp in Mexico City in 2012. We'd never been to Latin America before and were shocked to find ourselves in a huge sports arena, a geometric bunker built for the 1968 Olympics. The crowd were mad for it and we ended up playing probably our longest ever show.

My favourite group when I was 13 was: I was 12 or 13 when I discovered David Bowie and started buying his albums one by one with pocket money.

The one song everyone should listen to that isn't on one of my albums is: If you mean something by Pulp, then maybe The Last Song In The World, an unreleased song from the We Love Life period. [umm, we actually meant a song not by Pulp but thanks anyway Mark, hopefully one day our readers can listen to this unreleased gem].


The song I wish I'd written is: Dream Lover by Big Star.

The film everyone should see is: Little Stabs At Happiness by Ken Jacobs.

The book that changed my life is: Popism: The Warhol 60s by Andy Warhol & Pat Hackett.

The person who is making my favourite music in the world right now is: Jack Antonoff & Bleachers.

The reason I decided to do I'm With Pulp, Are You? is: I saved all this stuff for years and by the time I started to look through it again, I found that I'd already forgotten about a lot of it. Enough time had passed that it seemed like it would be nice to share it with people who liked the band. The process of making the book began long before the idea of Pulp getting back together again in 2023 came around.

The most surprising thing about doing the book was: Realising I had a lot more to say than I anticipated.

Is there anything not in the book that you wish was?: Photos of Pulp's concert at The Howlin' Wolf in September 1994. We'd been told to go New Orleans because we were supposedly popular on college radio down there but we arrived to discover that we were supporting a third-rate slide guitarist in an empty roadhouse. We tried to embrace the madness by wearing extra make up & dafter clothes than usual, but no reaction was forthcoming from the ribs-munching patrons that made up a very sparse audience.

My favourite thing in the book is: The briefcase I used when I was Pulp's tour manager, circa 1992-94. When I opened it up, there were still some contracts, notebooks, and business cards for B&Bs inside. For me this encapsulated the whole Pulp archive project.

The one thing that would improve music is: I can't believe it's 2024 and we are still using cables to plug things in. If we could do without them, my life as a musician would be vastly improved.

Thanks so much! 

Eamonn wrote:

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Fair play to Sarah for coming back in on the WLL deluxe question with the comment about the Wiki petition!

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 Thanks. And thanks to Weej for the recording.