Jarvis Cocker has spoken to the Quietus about a collection of songs he’s written to be sung by Russell Brand, and has stated that he won’t be making any music for the next year.
The former Pulp vocalist said that he’s "very much looking forward" to hearing Brand sing the "bawdy" tracks he’s written for the Katy Perry and P Diddy-starring Get Him To The Greek spin-off from 2008 flick Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which the sex-crazed comic plays a British musician living in Los Angeles.
"Basically he’s an English rock star who’s been on the wagon, been in AA, and then he falls off the wagon and hilarity ensues, as they say," he explains. "He’s a fairly sex-obsessed, egotistical person." Was there an autobiographical element to your songwriting for Brand’s character? "Oh no, I’m completely non-sex-obsessed, completely ego-free person obviously," Cocker deadpans. "But I’ve been involved in the rock business for years so I brought a bit of that expertise into the songs…"
And his approach to writing the tracks? "They sent me the script and I read that. And I’d seen the first film where he’s a minor character. The character that he plays isn’t that different to what I’ve seen of him presenting various awards and on the telly and things like that, so I just tried to write something that would fit into what this person’s supposed to be."
"Are they bawdy songs? A bit yeah, there are a few swearwords and sexual references in there."
Speaking about what he’ll be up to in 2010, Cocker said "My plan is to not do any music next year. I’m going to take a bit of time to make sure the [BBC 6music] radio show is good, and then I’m going to maybe try and work on films a bit more."
Check The Quietus next week for the rest of the interview with Jarvis talking about his project at the East London Village Underground gallery and his role in Fantastic Mr Fox. Jarvis Cocker’s new single, a limited-edition 7" of ‘Further Complications’, is out on Monday, November 9th.
