After 24 Years, Pulp Returns – and Dedicates Their New Album to Late Bassist Steve Mackey
For the first time in 24 years, Pulp has announced an album. The Britpop icons will release More on June 6th with the lead single “Spike Island” out now. Frontman Jarvis Cocker released a statement on the album’s creation during their 2023 reunion.
“When we started touring again in 2023, we practiced a new song called ‘Hymn of the North’ during soundchecks and eventually played it at the end of our second night at Sheffield Arena,” he wrote. “This seemed to open the floodgates: we came up with the rest of the songs on this album during the first half of 2024. A couple are revivals of ideas from last century. The music for one song was written by Richard Hawley. The music for another was written by Jason Buckle. The Eno family sing backing vocals on a song. There are string arrangements written by Richard Jones and played by the Elysian Collective.”
He also shared that the album was dedicated to the late Steve Mackey, who died in 2023. Mackey was the band’s bassist for the majority of its existence, including its height of power in the mid-90s. He participated in the group’s first reunion in 2011 but announced in 2022 that he wouldn’t return for the latest iteration of the group. He passed away five months later.
The band has continued with four core members “aided & abetted by five other human beings from various locations in the British Isles,” they say. That includes bassist Andrew McKinney, who shared the news about the new album on his Instagram.
“The first [Pulp] single drops today ahead of the new album – 24 years since the last! Had a blast recording at [Orbb Studio] back in November – plenty more to come.”
Hear McKinney’s huge bass sound on “Spike Island.”
More will be available June 6th on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (Apple Music and Amazon Music).
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
