Mark Webber is best known as the guitarist for Pulp, but his creative world stretches far beyond music. From experimental cinema to publishing, his influences are as eclectic as his record collection. In this Take Five, he talks us through the sounds, places, and pieces that shape his life.
Which 5 words best describe your career as a musician?
Lucky, liberating, unpredictable, intermittent, prolonged.
What's inspiring you right now?
Some of the recent records that I love have been made by Big Thief, Bleachers, Allegra Krieger, Katy Kirby, Dean Wareham, Father John Misty, Hayley Heynderickx, Sharon van Etten.
A new piece of musical equipment is always inspiring. I just bought a new guitar amp, a Magnatone Twilighter Stereo, which sounds so amazing that it makes me want to play more. But it’s loud!
I’ve been re-reading the fierce and brilliant writings by the American artist-filmmaker Ken Jacobs for a book that will be published by The Visible Press, a small independent press that I run from home.
In 5 words, describe what London means to you?
Possibilities, culture, overpopulated, expensive, home
How would you sum up your personal style?
I’m not sure I could claim to have a style. I wouldn’t usually think about clothes that much on a day-to-day basis and am happy to slob around home in t-shirt and worn trousers, but I do think it’s important to have a uniform to go onstage and do photos etc.
Something I’ve been coming to terms with is that I feel I’m finally old enough to wear a suit. I always used to think that I looked like a puppet in a suit but I’ve been trying to conquer that fear with the help of some expert tailoring.
Which 5 things would you save from a burning house?
As I get older, I’ve been trying to move beyond possessions. It may well be that I still buy far more things than I need, but I don’t fetishise objects like I used to. But if you insist, aside from my family, some of the things I treasure are :-
A 35mm filmstrip from a print of “Arnulf Rainer” by Peter Kubelka. The film was made in 1960 and only consists of black and clear frames, white noise and silence.
Velvet Underground bootlegs. I’d probably be quite content if the only music I had to listen to were some cassettes of badly recorded Velvet Underground concerts.
Maison Margiela nail-studded, black derby shoes. I’ve worn them onstage at every concert since 2011. Wearable sculptures that remind me of Philip Guston paintings.
The little Mark Webber doll that a fan gave to me in the mid-1990s. Since doing my book “I’m With Pulp, Are You?”, I no longer feel such a responsibility for safeguarding the whole Pulp archive but that’s one thing that I would probably grab.
My laptop, for practical reasons. They say everything’s in the cloud, but is it wise to rely on something as ephemeral as a cloud?
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