Russell Senior

born on 18/5/1961 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom

Russell Senior

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Russell Senior (born 18 May 1961) is the guitarist and violinist of the band Pulp.

Senior was born and grew up in Sheffield. Whilst at University in Bath,[1] he formed the "Dada Society" (also known as the "New Wave Society") and appeared as the lead role in a dramatic adaptation of Kafka's The Trial. He also had a band called The Bath Bankers and arranged for a gig at the University featuring his friends from Sheffield - Pulp. He obtained a 2.1 honours degree in Business Administration, and went back to Sheffield to join Pulp. During the Miner's strike of 1984 he acted as a Flying picket, taking part in industrial action including the Battle of Orgreave.[2]

Pulp

Senior first met Pulp in 1980 when he reviewed a show of theirs for his fanzine, also called The Bath Banker. He joined the third line-up of the band in 1983, the other members being Jarvis Cocker (vocals/guitar), Magnus Doyle (drums) and Peter Mansell (bass). During the mid-1980s he was a central member of the group, often taking vocal duties. He also played the violin on a number of tracks.[3]

As the band became successful, Senior became dissatisfied with the touring, recording and publicity treadmill the band found themselves on after their long-awaited success, and on 20 January 1997 he left Pulp to work on other projects.[4] He commented that he did not like the Cocker-led song "Help the Aged", and that he didn't feel was a worthy follow-up to "Common People", so he deliberately tried to sabotage it in the studio.[5] Soon afterwards, feeling his unhappiness was leading the atmosphere in the band to become poisonous, he told Cocker he was quitting.[5] In an interview he said that "I was very proud of being in Pulp. I thought it was the best band in the world when I was in it, but I want to be able to move on from it at some point."[6]

In 2010 he revealed he was still friendly with his old band members, and said he left in 1997 because, "I liked the idea of ending on a high, I didn't want to slowly fade away."[7]

In November 2010, it was announced that Pulp were to reform and play live in 2011, which included Russell Senior in the line-up.[8][9] He has however not continued with the band for their 2012 tour.

Other work

In 1999 he formed Venini with Debbie Lime (vocals), Nick Eastwood (bass - later with Dolly TV and Hiem), Bob Barton (drums - later with The Human League), and Danny Hunt (keyboards - later with Ladytron).[10] They released three singles before splitting in 2000.

Russell has also worked as a producer with Baby Birkin and more recently The Long Blondes.[11] In March 2006, British indie band Art Brut invited Russell Senior to produce their second album.

He has co-written a musical about the 1980s miners strike, Two Tribes, with Ralph Parmar (DJ Ralph Razor).[12][13]

Personal life

He continues to live in Sheffield with his girlfriend and has two children.[4] Aside from the music world he is also a dealer in antique glassware.

References

  1. Bath University, School of Management, 12 December 2010. URL accessed on 2 April 2013.
  2. Discord of the miners' strike influenced a musical journey, 25 March 2010. URL accessed on 2 April 2013.
  3. Venini | interviews | musicOMH.com
  4. 4.0 4.1 Pulp - Acrylic Afternoons - Russell Senior
  5. 5.0 5.1 Simpson, Dave, The ones that got away, 2 June 2009. URL accessed on 2 April 2013.
  6. Venini (August 1999)
  7. Discord of the miners' strike influenced a musical journey.
  8. Pulp Is Reuniting!. Perez Hilton (11 August 2010). Retrieved on 2 April 2013.
  9. Swash, Rosie, Pulp reunite for live dates in 2011, 8 November 2010.
  10. Senior back in service, 27 April 1999. URL accessed on 13 April 2013.
  11. Russell Senior - Discogs Search
  12. Lawson, Helen (20 January 2012). Russell Senior behind plans to bring 1980s miners' strike to the Sheffield stage as musical. The Stool Pigeon. Retrieved on 2 April 2013.
  13. Two Tribes official website: http://www.tt84.co.uk
Pulp
Jarvis Cocker | Candida Doyle | Mark Webber | Steve Mackey | Nick Banks
Tim Allcard | Peter Boam | Peter Dalton | Magnus Doyle | Wayne Furniss | Antony Genn | Stephen Havenhand | David Hinkler | Simon Hinkler
David Lockwood | Peter Mansell | Jamie Pinchbeck | Jimmy Sellers | Russell Senior | Mark Swift | Phillip Thompson | Gary Wilson
Albums
It | Freaks | Separations |His 'n' Hers | Different Class | This Is Hardcore | We Love Life
Compilation albums
Intro | Masters of the Universe | Hits | The Peel Sessions
Singles
"My Lighthouse" | "Everybody's Problem" | "Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)" | "Dogs Are Everywhere" | "They Suffocate At Night"
"Master of the Universe" | "My Legendary Girlfriend" | "Countdown" | "O.U. (Gone, Gone)" | "My Legendary Girlfriend" (live)
"Babies" | "Razzmatazz" | "Lipgloss" | "Do You Remember The First Time" | "The Sisters EP" | "Common People"
"Mis-Shapes"/"Sorted for E's & Wizz" |"Disco 2000" | "Something Changed" | "Help The Aged" |"This Is Hardcore"
"Like a Friend" | "A Little Soul" | "Party Hard" | "Sunrise / The Trees" | "Bad Cover Version"
Related articles
Fire Records | Island Records | Relaxed Muscle | Richard Hawley | Venini
This page was last modified 05.04.2014 00:48:23

This article uses material from the article Russell Senior from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.