Anti-Britpop icons Pulp sign first record deal in 20 years

Jarvis Cocker onstage with Pulp in 2024 — (Image credit: Sacha Lecca/Rolling Stone via Getty Images)

Jarvis Cocker’s not-Britpop bunch Pulp have inked their first record deal in more than two decades.

The Sheffield band – responsible for such 90s anthems as Common People, Disco 2000 and Do You Remember The First Time? – are now on the Rough Trade Records roster. They haven’t released a studio album since 2001’s We Love Life, but have recently debuted new songs live.

Pulp wrote on social media on Friday, December 12: “Pulp are pleased to announce that they have signed a record deal with Rough Trade Records.”

They added, “Rough Trade have managed Pulp for over 30 years so it feels great to be finally on the label. We did it!”

Formed in 1978 by frontman Jarvis Cocker, Pulp became figureheads of the Britpop movement after enjoying breakout success with Common People and headlining Glastonbury Festival in 1995. However, as the singer explained in a 2020 NME interview, he didn’t identify with the ‘Cool Britannia’ archetype associated with peers such as Oasis.

“I’m really glad that at the time I didn’t get hoodwinked and go along with that, because I do hate that jingoism,” he said. “I think we’ve seen the ugly, horrible side of that in Brexit and it’s a real shame.”

The band split shortly after the release of We Love Life but reformed for live tours from 2011 to 2013 and again in 2022. Since their second reunion, they’ve debuted five songs live, sparking rumours of their first album in two-plus decades.

Furthering the hype were reports over the summer alleging that Pulp were recording again. A photo of Cocker in Walthamstow, London, was shared on social media by Walthamstow Labour and Coop MP Stella Creasy, who wrote, “He said that they were back in the studio!”

Pulp’s next album, their eighth overall, will be their first since 1987 without longtime bassist Steve Mackey. Mackey – who also performed in Cocker’s solo band and produced Florence And The Machine, Arcade Fire and others – died on March 2, 2023, aged 56. He had been hospitalised for three months with an undisclosed illness.

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Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.