AND is IA that bad ? Maybe, but for a quick translate, its does the job
## I got a ticket for Oasis at Wembley
*After Blur in 2023, and alongside Oasis and Radiohead, Pulp also made a big comeback in 2025. We met its leader Jarvis ****er in Paris for a wide-ranging conversation full of digressions.*
Text: Carole Boinet
Photo: Julien Liénard for *Les Inrockuptibles*
---
### How did you experience the release of your comeback album, *More*?
**Jarvis ****er** We recorded it very quickly, after having waited twenty-four years, as if a huge stretch of time had suddenly been compressed. We finished just before Christmas 2024. We were playing in Japan when James Ford, who recorded it, fell seriously ill. We had to finish the mix and mastering with him by phone in January 2025, while he was in hospital with leukemia. So I was in Japan, on the phone with his assistant engineer who had taken over. I literally gave blood for James while finishing the album over the phone
After that, I didnt know at all what would happen with the album. Would people notice it? Would it be successful? Personally, I was happy. Happy that, as a group, without having played together for a long time, we managed to rediscover the spark of creativity between us, which is never guaranteed. So yes, I was quite excited.
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### Did this album bring a certain nostalgia with it?
Twenty-four years is too long a gap for nostalgia to return. I read in an article that time is not a straight line, from a scientific point of view. It folds back on itself.
When youre part of a band, you know time. The time a song lasts, for example. Thats something that fascinates me, by the way. Ive always wanted to write short songs, but they always ended up being four or five minutes long maybe Im talking too much! When smartphones appeared, everyone started looking at the duration of songs. Before that, a piece occupied a space in your mind, without you knowing how long it lasted. Two minutes can be plenty. If you take *In the Ghetto* by Elvis Presley, it largely exceeds its real duration of under three minutes. Feelings, the information a piece gives you, create a gigantic sense of time, which is on the scale of existence itself.
There are some pieces on the album that we created in the 1990s, like *Grown Ups*, which was an instrumental demo intended for *This Is Hardcore*, for which I never managed to find lyrics. The idea took time to mature and I really wanted to finish it, which took me twenty-eight years in the space of five minutes. Im a Virgo, and Virgos like tidy, ordered things. I like finishing pieces that have haunted me for a long time.
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### Do you believe in astrology?
Not really, but the Moon has an effect on the tides We are the product of what surrounds us, so why not.
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## FRONT PAGE
### As long as youre not looking at a screen, you feel more or less fine. As soon as you turn on the TV, you become completely paranoid. Which creates a crazy situation, since so many people now live through their screens.
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### What were you looking for in music this year?
I saw Iggy Pop at Alexandra Palace in London. Id only seen him three times on stage before, including once at the Hammersmith Apollo where my wife fainted it was too intense! It didnt really allow me to watch the concert properly. But Iggy always surprises you. You watch the stage, and suddenly, in a minute, something erupts. Its very powerful what he does. Iggy seems to possess an amount of energy without you really knowing where it comes from. Very strong.
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### Did Iggy Pop influence the way you are on stage?
No, I only saw him much later, but I really like the way he communicates on stage.
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### What did you listen to this year?
At one time, I hosted a show on the BBC and listened to a lot of new releases. I dont really do that anymore He takes out his phone and opens Spotify. Look, I listened to *Lipstick* by Michel Polnareff! Im not a huge fan, but this track on the soundtrack of the film with the same name isnt bad. I also listened to the band my sons like, Spanish Horses, *Are You Glad to Be in America?* by James Blood Ulmer I discover a lot of music on Instagram by watching what DJs choose to accompany their posts. Daniele Baldelli, an Italian DJ, comes from Instagram. *Dirty Boulevard* by Lou Reed *Nothin* by Townes Van Zandt and *Jesus Was a Cross Maker* by Judee Sill. I also watched the five-episode documentary on Martin Scorsese (*Mr. Scorsese*). It goes back to *The Last Temptation of Christ*, based on the book that inspired those two tracks (*The Last Temptation* by Nikos Kazantzakis). Its a book about choice: Jesus choosing to live as a human being, to have sexual relations, a family, and to die on the cross. That choice was his final temptation. Thats what sparked the controversy around the film when it was released. But spoiler alert! Jesus chooses to be crucified and to die. You should watch this Scorsese documentary its very good.
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### Is there a film that marked you this year?
I was quite nervous about shooting in the United States this year, because I was afraid I wouldnt be able to enter or be detained. We shot in autumn 2023, just before the elections, and it was great. But today, I wonder a bit what the country looks like and where its going What many people are wondering, I think. We went and we were able to do it. During a break day, I went to see the latest Paul Thomas Anderson film at the Chinese Theatre in L.A. I love cinema; its my favorite because I saw it with the end credits of the series *The Pink Panther*. Anyway, I saw this film and found it good especially at this moment
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### What was it like to shoot in the United States?
Our second date was in Washington, where there were military positions in certain parts of the city. It was quite strange. But at concerts, nothing seemed to have changed. Anyway, I dont think our audience is made up of far-right extremists, which makes me happy. We had a day off in Washington and I went for a walk to the White House, the Lincoln Memorial Everything seemed pretty normal. But once again, I didnt watch TV. Today, the United States is governed by television. Theres a kind of disconnection between the world we live in and the one represented by the media. As long as youre not looking at a screen, you feel more or less fine. As soon as you turn on the TV, you become completely paranoid. Which creates a crazy situation, since so many people now live through their screens.
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### Are you yourself on social networks?
Im on Instagram, a network thats expanding and taking up more and more space. At first, I liked it because it was about sending postcards to people: a photo, a caption, and hop. No need to answer questions. My wife tells me I spend too much time on it. But I discover music there!
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### How do you feel about the current world?
I had lunch with an American friend the day before yesterday and met her kids, who are the same age as mine, and we ended up talking at a bus stop. That afternoon, she told me she might soon ask for political asylum in France because it could become dangerous for her to live in the United States. The change in the U.S. is a worrying thing for us. I dont know if its the same in France, but it is in the United Kingdom. They are always presented as a new, modern nation, when you look at it thinking its like forty years ago. When you see where they are now Today, you look at the world wondering whether theres a place where things are improving rather than getting worse. Its a very strange time. The question is whether you should dive into it or extract yourself from it. If you constantly focus on whats happening, you become depressed. And I think that a lot of whats happening in the United States is designed to frighten people who follow the news. It gives them a sense of unreality. So personally, Im increasingly interested in the natural world. It sounds a bit hippie, but things that dont depend on human beings do me good.
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### The things human beings destroy
Exactly. While all this stuff is happening, we forget about climate disruption, which is only getting worse. I dont know nature very well. I was born and grew up in a city, and I spent all my time in cities until five or six years ago, when I bought a house in the countryside, between Sheffield and Manchester. That changed everything for me, especially during lockdown. The more time you spend in nature, the more you lose the sense of your own importance. You realize what surrounds you is bigger than you. Id like to encourage people to reconnect with nature, because the other existence, the one created by human beings, doesnt really work
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### 2025 marked the big return of the 90s: Pulp, but also Radiohead and Oasis, after Blur re-formed in 2023. How did you experience it?
I didnt see Blur on stage, but I saw Oasis! We played in Sheffield, and the next evening I managed to get a ticket for their concert at Wembley.
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### What was it like?
Incredible! The atmosphere was dignified, very *lad*, even though there were plenty of women in the audience. Everyone knew all the lyrics, I really had the feeling of being at a football match where the whole stadium supports the same team! Everyone was excited to be there, singing all the songs together. Id never experienced anything like it before.
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### I didnt think you were into Oasis
The first time I saw them, we were touring with Blur and they were our opening act. It was in 1994, in San Francisco, and the day after our show, Oasis played in another venue. We asked for tickets and they said: OK, if Jarvis comes to see us in our dressing room. I said to myself: Thats the trap, but lets go. I knocked on the door of their dressing room and found myself facing Noel, sitting at a small table. I dont know where Liam was We talked for ten minutes, I dont know why, then I left and went back into the hall. The concert was great, even though, as you know, they dont do much on stage. They dont move or anything. But the audience made the concert. They are so connected to ordinary people, on such a deep level. You mustnt underestimate that. That doesnt mean I listen to Oasis albums every day at home but seeing them live was brilliant.
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### Being connected to people is that your goal too?
Thats the reason I formed a band. I was a shy kid, always uncomfortable in social situations. I told myself that with a group, with songs, I could communicate without having to speak to people. Its a bit immature I was fourteen. I can talk to people more easily today; I manage a bit better.
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### Its funny, because you talk a lot about your songs, youre very extroverted on stage
Because I have the right to be. Its my job. In society, I dont know how to behave, when to speak or not, when I have to ask people to listen to me, whereas on stage I have the spotlight on me and the audience expects me to say something, do something, interest them, entertain them. So I cant mess it up.
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### What memory do you keep of your time at La Route du Rock this summer?
Id never seen you crawl at the end like a caterpillar? It was incredible! I left Paris and my apartment and for a moment hadnt returned to France since. I continue to express myself on stage in French, even if I speak it very badly. I miss France a lot since I left. I walk around the 9th arrondissement, where I live. I think my brain is trying to get rid of certain images, to make room for others.
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### Do you miss Paris?
When I settled here, I found it very difficult socially. In London, its very simple, people smile at you! In Paris, it resembles the way the city is built, with its alleyways, hidden courtyards, streets within streets Everything happens behind doors and you have to take time to get in. Getting the code can take time. Once you have it, everythings fine.
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### What do you hope for in 2026?
Id like the tender, kind side of humanity to be more visible, or to become more visible again. We keep saying the world has become terrible, but thats not entirely true. Its just that bad people have taken control, especially of the media that feed us. But the majority of people are still I hope OK. And Id like there to be more demonstrations in 2026.
I liked the tidying up Grown Ups reflection. I also found his Oasis thoughts interesting, as I did that same double-header those nights (would have given him a lift if I'd known), and felt exactly the same about the Oasis show.
Grown Ups is the perfect example on how you always gotta trust the songwriter instinct. There can be other opinions, but when someone who write the song is sure it's gonna come out right, you gotta trust him/her. Even if it takes 30 years !
When I settled here, I found it very difficult socially. In London, its very simple, people smile at you!
Really? That's never happened to me in London. Maybe it's just my face. Folk smile at me in Glasgow, in Newcastle, in Leeds, especially in Brum. Never London. Nor Derby, but that's understandable, any Derby folk here, you have my deepest sympathies.
About Oasis, I have this memory, praps a false memory, that Pulp supported them once in the mid nineties? Anyone remember that happening? Doesn't seem likely to be true, as they each went stratospheric simultaneously, but I have this idea that Verve had to drop out through illness (or splitting up again), so Pulp stepped in.
PS also, thanks for the translate. I wonder if he answered in French, or if it's gone full circle.
-- Edited by inspirit on Tuesday 23rd of December 2025 10:57:00 PM
Yeah, Pulp supported them at Sheffield Arena in April 1995 after The Verve's guitarist injured himself. Funny that their next gig was Glastonbury due to The Stone Roses pulling out after their guitarist injured himself. Have Pulp ever had to fill-in as a replacement act since those consecutive occasions?!
While watching Pulp from the wings that night, Oasis looked at each other following the crowd reaction to Common People - still a month from release, and said "Thank fc*k we're good!" Noel Gallagher had written Don't Look Back In Anger earlier that week and debuted it with unfinished lyrics in an acoustic slot during Oasis' set. 10 months later, it was the first single I ever bought...
-- Edited by Eamonn on Wednesday 24th of December 2025 02:23:04 AM
When I settled here, I found it very difficult socially. In London, its very simple, people smile at you!
Really? That's never happened to me in London. Maybe it's just my face. Folk smile at me in Glasgow, in Newcastle, in Leeds, especially in Brum. Never London. Nor Derby, but that's understandable, any Derby folk here, you have my deepest sympathies.
About Oasis, I have this memory, praps a false memory, that Pulp supported them once in the mid nineties? Anyone remember that happening? Doesn't seem likely to be true, as they each went stratospheric simultaneously, but I have this idea that Verve had to drop out through illness (or splitting up again), so Pulp stepped in.
PS also, thanks for the translate. I wonder if he answered in French, or if it's gone full circle.
-- Edited by inspirit on Tuesday 23rd of December 2025 10:57:00 PM
He probably answered in english. The french version was too french to be Jarvis.
As for people being nicer in London, Paris and France is on a whole different level. People are mean and suspicious. London has changed a lot since i first went, it's less welcoming then it was, but still more acceptable and the vibe is softer than Paris. Paris its the MMA, when London it's only pillow fights.
