Jarvis Cocker remembers tragic Sheffield pal as Pulp are linked with new album
Jarvis Cocker and his Pulp band may have started a new conquest of north American pop venues, potentially as a precursor to a fresh album, but they haven't forgotten those who helped them on their way.
Sheffield's Jarvis Cocker dedicated a song on the tour to Steve Mackey, who joined the Britpop band as a bass guitarist 1989.
Steve - a former Hucklow School and Hinde House Comprehensive pupil - passed away in a London hospital at the age of 56, last year.
During a performance, Jarvis, who will be 61 this month, mentioned him and another friend and musical associate, Steve Albini, an American audio engineer, who died in May. He was also aged 61.
Alibini worked on Cocker’s 2009 solo album, 'Further Complications.'
On stage at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Jarvis announced: "I don’t know Chicago very well, but the amount that I do know is due to the fact that about 15 years ago I did record a record here. And the reason for that was because Steve Mackey, who’s no longer with us, suggested it.
"And that record was recorded by Steve Albini,” said Cocker, dedicating ‘Something Changed’ in honour of “The Two Steves.”
One reviewer said the fans in Chicago lapped the event up: "All night long, whatever energy Pulp – Cocker (vocals/guitar), Candida Doyle (keys), Nick Banks (drums), and Mark Webber (guitar) along with touring musicians Andrew McKinney (bass), Emma Smith (violin), and Adam Betts (multi-instrumentalist) – unleashed, the sold-out crowd returned it ten-fold.
"Fans were tuned in, totally in the moment adjusting their collective energy to whatever mood flowed from the stage."
There is growing, if unconfirmed, speculation that Pulp, who have been busy producing new songs, will launch a new album.
The iconic band played a new creation called "Spike Island," in Chicago, for the first time in public.
The title appears to refer to the island in Cheshire where the Stone Roses held a historic gig in 1990, attracting some 28,000 fans.
In Toronto, he unveiled another called: "My Sex."
They emerged on the back of debuting another new song “A Sunset” in Helsinki last month.
On a fans' website, one poster said: "With all those new songs there has to be a new album! What would be the point otherwise?"
Another added: "Oh God! They need to confirm that there will be a new album now!"
While a third speculated: "More new songs must equal extended tour?"
It had been 12 years since Pulp previously toured America and Canada.
On Friday, they perform at the Kings Theatre, Brooklyn, New York, on Monday they are at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, and that is followed by three dates in Hollywood, California on September 18, 19 and 21.
Oddly, the gig on the 21st is at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery which is a funeral home, crematory, and cultural events centre which also hosts live music.
Pulp are clearly thinking ahead too - they have a booking in Japan next year.