Pulp Look Back on Their Mercury Prize Journey and Brian Eno Nearly Losing Their Winnings

Pulp have spoken to NME about the full-circle experience of returning to the Mercury Prize in support of War Child, while recalling how Brian Eno nearly threw away their prize money after their 1996 win.

The indie veterans attended the ceremony in Newcastle on Thursday (October 22), where they performed ‘Begging For Change’ in support of the shortlisted charity compilation ‘Help(2)’, raising funds for War Child. The record follows and draws inspiration from the landmark 1995 ‘Help’ album. The original Brian Eno-led compilation featured contributions from Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, Orbital, Portishead, Massive Attack, Suede, Sinéad O’Connor and Manic Street Preachers.

The acclaimed 2026 follow-up brought together artists including Arctic Monkeys, Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg, Young Fathers, English Teacher, Damon Albarn, Geese frontman Cameron Winter, Olivia Rodrigo and many others.

Although their comeback album ‘More’ was nominated for the previous year's prize, Pulp last took home the Mercury Prize in 1996 for their iconic album ‘Different Class’. The record beat ‘Help’ to the award, but the band still chose to donate their £25,000 winnings to the charity.

Watch our full interview with the band below, as they revisit the events of 1996, discuss their involvement in ‘Help(2)’, Jarvis Cocker’s days as a paperboy and share their thoughts on what makes an album truly great.

NME: Hello Pulp. You last won the Mercury Prize back in 1996. What are your memories of that night?

Jarvis Cocker: “Terrible, I have no memories at all. I was pissed out my…”

Nick Banks: “Very little memory, although there is footage of me spraying champagne over everyone.”

Cocker: “Stereotypical drummer behaviour, Nick.”

Banks: “Absolutely, it’s part of the manual. If you win something and you’ve got champagne…”

Candida Doyle: “I remember we decided to give the cheque to the first War Child LP. I had the cheque in an envelope with the award, and I gave it to Brian Eno. He just took it and thought he was just getting the award. I spoke to him later and he said, ‘I nearly threw that envelope away’. He didn’t realise I’d given him £25,000. That was the first time I spoke to Brian Eno, which was very exciting.”

Cocker: “You’ve been on the phone to him every week ever since.”

Doyle: “I found out his dad was a postman. I do remember that very well.”

It must be a nice full-circle moment to be back here on behalf of War Child again?

Cocker: “Yeah, it is and I like circles. It feels good. We’re representing that album. There are 20 other people on it, and it’s a good album. It’s an honour to be asked to do that.”

What are your memories of the first ‘Help’ album from 1995 and the impact that had?

Cocker: “We were probably slightly jealous that we didn’t get asked to be on it. The first one was at Abbey Road and they did it all in one day. Paul McCartney was involved, I remember that.”

How was it being among this new cast of characters for ‘Help 2’? What was the magic like in the room?

Doyle: “Can I just say it’s nice to be interviewed by the NME, because we all grew up reading it. It was a very important newspaper when we were young. It’s nice to do an interview with the NME.”

Cocker: “My paper round, one of the few jobs I’ve had in my life, was an afternoon one delivering The Sheffield Star…”

Banks: “I can’t imagine you doing an early morning one!”

Cocker: “Exactly. The first money I got from it, I didn’t know what to spend it on, so I bought the NME. I never looked back.”

We’re here today to celebrate the art of the album. What do you think makes a great album?

Doyle: “Great songs.”

Banks: “Well, it’s difficult when it’s a compilation album. Obviously you’re going to get lots of different genres, different ideas coming together. James Ford [producer] has managed to get the best out of the artists on the ‘Help’ album and has made it a really interesting piece of work.”

Cocker: “Which isn’t an easy thing to do. Albums, I think they’re coming back. Vinyl sales are up, CDs are kind of scheduled to disappear, and no one buys an album digitally. I always thought that a vinyl album was where records worked best. You’ve got a side that’s only 20 minutes long, you can listen to it, go and make a cup of tea or whatever, and it’s a good thing. Albums are coming back, that’s what I’m saying. They’re back!”

The 2026 Mercury Prize was awarded to Raye for ‘This Music May Contain Hope’, with the singer emerging ahead of a shortlist that included Paul McCartney, JADE, Nia Archives, Dave, Suede, Florence + The Machine, Olivia Dean, Knats, RAYE, Dove Ellis and Kojey Radical.

In an interview with NME earlier this summer, Cocker discussed what the future might hold for Pulp after the band released their first album in 24 years. He said: “I mean, I think there is a future. The thing is, I don’t like to make pronouncements on the future because the whole thing about the future is you just don’t know what’s going to happen. We did the album ‘More’, and making it was quite a pleasant experience; playing it has been good, so that’s an inspiration, but obviously it came after a 24 year gap.

“We just can’t do that anymore because I’ll be dead in 24 years. What will probably happen is that everybody is going to have a bit of a rest. Maybe I’ll ring people up towards the end of the year and say, ‘Shall we have a practice or something?’ We’ll just see what will happen. I like to think of Pulp as an organic thing. Sometimes it bears fruit and sometimes it doesn’t, but I feel fairly confident that we will manage to do something else, but I don’t know when.”

Pulp’s new live film, directed by Garth Jennings, What Do You Do For An Encore?, is now available to watch on MUBI.