Jarvis Cocker, front man of Britpop pioneers Pulp and editor-at-large for revered U.K. publishing house Faber&Faber, returned to his secondary school at the beginning of this month to share readings, stories, and give a performance to an assembly of students in support of the release of his lyric book, Mother, Lover, Brother. Check out the promo video after the jump:
Cocker attended the City School in Sheffield from the ages of 12-18, where he formed Pulp. The band didn’t find huge commercial success for years after their inception, until 1995’s Different Class climbed to number 1 on the UK charts.
The auditorium in which Cocker spoke and performed is also where Pulp played for the first time. He performed the first song he ever wrote, “Shakespeare Rock”, which he says is a musical reflection of struggling to come up with things to write songs about, something any writer can identify with, and compared it to Pulp’s “Babies”, saying he hopes to leave the kids with a positive message.