Pulp: Legendary drummer Nick Banks joins tribute band for special performance in Sheffield
Tribute bands don’t expect the people they’re mimicking to join them on stage.
But a friendship that blossomed between a group of Sheffield artists led to a one-of-a-kind blend of original and tribute acts this weekend.
Pulp’d, a local tribute band for Sheffield’s beloved Pulp, were performing at the Fake Festival at Endcliffe Park this weekend when a special guest joined them.
Unbeknownst to the crowd, they had planned for legendary Britpop drummer Nick Banks to play ‘Disco 2000’ with them for a surprise and never before seen set.
“It’s a first for Fake Festival,” founder of the tribute act focused event Jez Lee told The Star.
“Hopefully it could now become a more common thing - just like how bands get kids from the crowd to come out and play, Nick might have started a trend for real band members to come out with their tributes.
“It’s all been really good and he was such a nice chap.
“He seemed to really love it, when playing he had a smile on his face beaming from ear to ear.
“And the fact that he shared it on his social media was great - he’s gone home and thought ‘that was good, I’m going to put it out there’.”
The surprise appearance came about thanks to an encounter in 2023, when Pulp’d played supported Nick’s other band, the Everly Pregnant Brothers.
Yet it may not have come to fruition as nerves kept the two parties from talking to one another.
The tribute band’s very own Jarvis Cocker, Tristan Drew, added: “At the time we thought we should ask him if he wanted to play with us, but we got nervous.
“He’s a proper legend and we didn’t want to feel like we were pressuring him into playing with us.
“We were chatting to his wife after the show and she said that he wanted to ask us about playing together but didn’t feel comfortable to do so either.
“So in the last couple of weeks we asked if he was free and he said that he’d be around and was happy to come down.
“He’s a really nice bloke - we grew up seeing him on Top of the Pops and we’ve been doing the tribute stuff since 2017 so we’re all big Pulp fans.
“The hardest thing was trying to maintain the balance of being really giddy and still doing the job.
“It was surreal, but brilliant for us.”
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