Jarvis Cocker Discusses ‘Mile End’
Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker shares insights into the creation of ‘Mile End’ for Danny Boyle’s film Trainspotting.
- READ MORE: “Trainspotting”: an oral history of the cult film and its sequel
The iconic frontman recently appeared as the final guest in the Criterion “Wardrobe Selection” series on YouTube, where selected artists choose and discuss their favorite films from the Criterion collection.
Insight on Film and Music
When selecting his favorite films, Cocker highlighted the 1996 classic Trainspotting, which chronicles the lives of a group of heroin addicts and their friends in Leith, Edinburgh. Pulp’s track “Mile End” was included in the film’s soundtrack.
Reflecting on the song’s creation, Cocker explained: “We were working on the ‘Different Class’ album and had recorded nearly all the tracks when we received a message: ‘There’s a guy making a film.’ Could we write a song for it? There’s a scene where Ewan McGregor’s character goes into the toilet and flushes drugs down. He ends up in an underwater environment.”
He added: “Talking about these films now, I see that many of my favorite films challenge cinematic conventions and depict real life. Fortunately, we had a song called ‘Mile End’ that didn’t make the album. We then offered it for use in the film, which turned out to be a fortunate coincidence.”
Other films selected by the Sorted For E’s & Wizz singer include David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Salo, and Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and Grand Budapest Hotel. Cocker also collaborated with Anderson, providing a song for Fantastic Mr. Fox and producing the soundtrack for Anderson’s 2021 film French Dispatch.
Pulp signed to Rough Trade Records.
The band say: “Rough Trade have been running Pulp for over 30 years, so it’s great to finally be on the label. We did it!#cellulose pic.twitter.com/TKVcQDLao1
— Rough Trade Reports (@RoughTradeRecs) December 12, 2024
In other Pulp news, it was announced today (December 12) that the band has signed a new deal with Rough Trade amid speculations of a 2025 album release.
Cocker and the band reunited last year for their first shows since 2012, treating fans to new songs including “Farmer’s Market,” “Spike Island,” “My Sex,” and “You’ve Got to Have Love.”
Looking Ahead for Pulp
Pulp’s seventh and final studio album, We Love Life, was released in 2001 on Island Records. They debuted “After You,” their first single in over a decade, produced by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, through Rough Trade in 2012 during their reunion.
Other unreleased tracks performed during their comeback included “Background Noise” and “A Sunset.”
In a recent interview with NME, guitarist Mark Webber discussed rumors of a new album, stating, “We will need to decide what to do with these new songs.” He remarked, “It’s uncertain at this stage.”
Regarding the future, Webber added, “I’m not sure. We have a few shows lined up, and it’s likely we will continue to work on something.”
He also shared his experience performing new material, saying: “The audience takes their time to adjust to new songs; they don’t react with immediate excitement.
“It felt great to try something new. Regardless of how fantastic the songs may be, repeating the same material can become monotonous.”
Elsewhere, Irvine Welsh recently announced a new sequel to his acclaimed novel Trainspotting is on the way.
https://www.nme.com/news/music/watch-pulps-jarvis-cocker-talk-through-writing-mile-end-for-trainspotting-and-his-favourite-films-3821697?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=watch-pulps-jarvis-cocker-talk-through-writing-mile-end-for-trainspotting-and-his-favourite-films
