{"id":657215,"date":"2026-10-26T03:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/657215\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T03:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:34:14","slug":"pulp-on-their-full-circle-moment-with-the-mercury-prize-and-brian-eno-nearly-throwing-their-prize-money-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/657215\/","title":{"rendered":"Pulp on their full circle moment with the Mercury Prize and Brian Eno nearly throwing their prize money away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pulp<\/a> have spoken to NME about the full circle moment of celebrating War Child at the Mercury Prize<\/a>, and recalled how Brian Eno<\/a> nearly threw their prize money away when they won back in 1996.<\/p>\n

The indie veterans were in attendance at the ceremony in Newcastle on Thursday (October 22) to perform their track \u2018Begging For Change\u2019 to represent the shortlisted charity album\u00a0\u2018Help(2)<\/a>\u2018 in aid of War Child. The compilation LP was a follow-up to and was inspired by the landmark 1995 \u2018Help\u2019 record. The original and legendary Brian Eno<\/a>-led compilation featured the likes of Oasis<\/a>, Blur<\/a>, Radiohead<\/a>, Orbital<\/a>, Portishead<\/a>, Massive Attack<\/a>, Suede<\/a>, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor<\/a>, and Manic Street Preachers.<\/a><\/p>\n

The acclaimed 2026 follow-up was led by contributions from\u00a0Arctic Monkeys<\/a>, Fontaines D.C.<\/a>, Wet Leg<\/a>, Young Fathers<\/a>, English Teacher<\/a>, Damon Albarn, <\/a>Geese<\/a> frontman Cameron Winter,<\/a>\u00a0Olivia Rodrigo <\/a>and many more.<\/p>\n

While their comeback album \u2018More<\/a>\u2018 was nominated for last year\u2019s prize, Pulp\u2019s last Mercury win was in 1996 for their iconic \u2018Different Class\u2019, beating \u2018Help\u2019 but with the band still giving the \u00a325,000 prize money to the cause.<\/p>\n

Check out our full but brief and vibey interview with the band below, where they look back on \u201996, working on \u2018Help(2)\u2019, Jarvis Cocker\u2019s life as a paperboy, and what makes a truly great album.<\/p>\n

NME: Hello Pulp. You last won the Mercury Prize back in 1996. What are your memories of that night?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jarvis Cocker: \u201cTerrible, I have no memories at all. I was pissed out my\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Banks: \u201cVery little memory, although there is footage of me spraying champagne over everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cocker: \u201cStereotypical drummer behaviour, Nick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks: \u201cAbsolutely, it\u2019s part of the manual. If you win something and you\u2019ve got champagne\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Candida Doyle: \u201cI remember we decided to give the cheque to the first War Child LP. I had the cheque in an envelope with the award, and I gave it to Brian Eno. He just took it and thought he was just getting the award. I spoke to him later and he said, \u2018I nearly threw that envelope away\u2019. He didn\u2019t realise I\u2019d given him \u00a325,000. That was the first time I spoke to Brian Eno, which was very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cocker: \u201cYou\u2019ve been on the phone to him every week ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doyle: \u201cI found out his dad was a postman. I do remember that very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

View this post on Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

It must be a nice full circle moment to be back here on behalf of War Child again?<\/p>\n

Cocker: \u201cYeah, it is and I like circles. It feels good. We\u2019re representing that album. There are 20 other people on it, and it\u2019s a good album. It\u2019s an honour to be asked to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are your memories of the first \u2018Help\u2019 album from 1995 and the impact that had?<\/p>\n

Cocker: \u201cWe were probably slightly jealous that we didn\u2019t get asked to be on it. The first one was at Abbey Road and they did it all in one day. Paul McCartney<\/a> was involved, I remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n

How was it being among this new cast of characters for \u2018Help 2\u2019? What was the magic like in the room?<\/p>\n

Doyle: \u201cCan I just say it\u2019s nice to be interviewed by the NME, because we all grew up reading it. It was a very important newspaper when we were young. It\u2019s nice to do an interview with the NME.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cocker: \u201cMy paper round, one of the few jobs I\u2019ve had in my life, was an afternoon one delivering The Sheffield Star\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks: \u201cI can\u2019t imagine you doing an early morning one!\u201d<\/p>\n

Cocker: \u201cExactly. The first money I got from it, I didn\u2019t know what to spend it on, so I bought the NME. I never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"arvisarvis Cocker of Pulp performs at the 2026 Mercury Prize. (Photo by JMEnternational\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

We\u2019re here today to celebrate the art of the album. What do you think makes a great album?<\/p>\n

Doyle: \u201cGreat songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks: \u201cWell, it\u2019s difficult when it\u2019s a compilation album. Obviously you\u2019re going to get lots of different genres, different ideas coming together. James Ford<\/a> [producer] has managed to get the best out of the artists on the \u2018Help\u2019 album and has made it a really interesting piece of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cocker: \u201cWhich isn\u2019t an easy thing to do. Albums, I think they\u2019re coming back. Vinyl sales are up, CDs are kind of scheduled to disappear, and no one buys an album digitally. I always thought that a vinyl album was where records worked best. You\u2019ve got a side that\u2019s only 20 minutes long, you can listen to it, go and make a cup of tea or whatever, and it\u2019s a good thing. Albums are coming back, that\u2019s what I\u2019m saying. They\u2019re back!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mercury Prize 2026 was won by Raye with \u2018This Music May Contain Hope<\/a>\u2018, beating off competition from other shortlisted records by the likes of Paul McCartney<\/a>,\u00a0JADE<\/a>,\u00a0Nia Archives<\/a>,\u00a0Dave<\/a>,\u00a0Suede<\/a>,\u00a0Florence + The Machine<\/a>,\u00a0Olivia Dean<\/a>, Knats, RAYE<\/a>, Dove Ellis<\/a>, and Kojey Radical.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking to NME earlier this summer about what\u2019s next for Pulp<\/a> after finally releasing their first album in 24 years, Cocker said: \u201cI mean, I think there is a future. The thing is, I don\u2019t like to make pronouncements on the future because the whole thing about the future is you just don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen. We did the album \u2018More\u2019, and making it was quite a pleasant experience; playing it has been good, so that\u2019s an inspiration, but obviously it came after a 24 year gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just can\u2019t do that anymore because I\u2019ll be dead in 24 years. What will probably happen is that everybody is going to have a bit of a rest. Maybe I\u2019ll ring people up towards the end of the year and say, \u2018Shall we have a practice or something?\u2019 We\u2019ll just see what will happen. I like to think of Pulp as an organic thing. Sometimes it bears fruit and sometimes it doesn\u2019t, but I feel fairly confident that we will manage to do something else, but I don\u2019t know when.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulp\u2019s new Garth Jennings-directed live film What Do You Do For An Encore?<\/a> is out now on MUBI.<\/p>\n