STEVE MACKEY
Pulp’s polymath bassist
1966 2023
PULP had been struggling for over 10 years when Steve Mackey joined in 1989. Then studying lm in London, the She°eld-born bassist shared the same art-school sensibilities as leader Jarvis Cocker. While Cocker turned him on to Scott Walker and Serge Gainsbourg, Mackey introduced the singer to house music. He made his mark on Separations, a©er which his rhythmic, discooriented approach helped steer the band towards the commercial breakthrough of 1994’s His ’n’ Hers
and its multi-platinum sequel, Dierent Class.
“There was always this thing where everybody thought we were really good and we deserved to be popular,” Mackey told Pulp’s website in 1996. “Everyone was very committed… Everybody went in with an idea of what Pulp was.”
During the hiatus that followed 2001’s We Love Life, Mackey immersed himself in other projects. He guested on Marianne Faithfull’s Kissin’ Time, wrote and produced for MIA (in tandem with Ross Orton, a partnership that also yielded remixes for Cornershop, Kelis, The Kills and Death From Above 1979) and appeared on Cocker’s rst two solo albums. In 2008, he oversaw Florence And The Machine’s debut single, “Kiss With A Fist”, which fetched up on the following year’s award-winning Lungs alongside another Mackey production, “Girl With One Eye”. His other numerous studio credits include Arcade Fire’s Everything Now (with Da© Punk’s Thomas Bangalter) and Spiritualized’s And Nothing Hurt.
Mackey’s varied creative endeavours extended to lm, photography and sound design for museums. “Steve made things happen,” said Cocker, paying emotional tribute. “In his life and in the band.”