Pulp drummer Nick Banks says one album ‘was torturous’ to record

An album recorded by legendary band Pulp “was torturous” to put together, according to drummer Nick Banks.

Banks, who has served as drummer to the Jarvis Cocker-fronted band since 1986, says one ask of him in the studio was very nearly too much on one of the group’s earliest records. The veteran performer had been tasked with bringing a new sound to the band, and to do so was instructed by producer Alan Smyth to work with a drum machine tool. It was a step in the right direction for Pulp, whose third album, Separations, featured the instrument heavily. But for Banks, it was uncharted waters and a “very frustrating” experience.

Banks, speaking to The Ultimate Record Collector Magazine, said: “It was torturous, very frustrating. Alan Smyth, who was the producer, said, ‘We haven’t got a big budget but we need to make a polished record here and the songs are worthy of getting them sounding as good as possible.” I like to think of myself as a team player, so I said, ‘Anything you think we could do to make this the best possible Pulp record we can, I will produce.’

“He says, ‘Right, there’s an Alesis-whatever drum machine, I want you to program all the drums you do on that.” It’s like, ‘Really? OK, Al, for you, I’ll decide to spend the first couple of weeks of the recording of it in a little broom cupboard trying to program using a little window.”

Despite having no experience with drum machines, Banks gave it a go. The results are fantastic, as Separations fans will no doubt claim, but for the drummer, it was a rough experience.

“I’d never really programmed a drum machine before, trying to recreate all my stuff on this drum machine,” Banks said. “Compared to what it would have been if I’d have been playing acoustic drums, it did help make the record a modern-sounding thing and gave it a more polished feel.

“Al was right to ask me to do that programming, although many times I wanted to pick the darn thing up and chuck it out the window. Every now and then I’d go, ‘Jarvis, come and tell if I’ve got this one right’ and he’d come and sing along and go, ‘Yeah, I think we’ve got this one right.’ That’ll go in the studio and they’ll work on that and I’ll get on with the next one.”

Pulp reunited in 2023 and released their first album in twenty-four years, More, in 2025. The band is currently on tour, with shows across South America in June set to be followed by a selection of UK and Ireland shows. European festival dates, as well as performances in France and Germany, have also been confirmed.