Pulp Pair Flexing New Muscle
Tue June 17, 2003 01:02 PM ET
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Although U.K. rock act Pulp is on an extended hiatus, group members Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley have re-emerged in the new band Relaxed Muscle.
The project has released a three-song EP, "The Heavy," through Rough Trade internationally. A full-length album will arrive later this year, preceded June 23 by the double-A side single "Billy Jack"/"Sexualized."
Cocker has renamed himself Darren Spooner for the band, while Hawley is being billed as Wayne Marsden. "All the stuff was done in Jarv's basement," Hawley wrote on his official Web site (
http://www.richardhawley.co.uk). "We just arsed around after Pulp rehearsals to keep us out of the pub. We did a gig supporting Lee Hazlewood at London's Royal Festival Hall which I really enjoyed." Further Relaxed Muscle gigs are in the offing.
As for Pulp, the group's last album, "We Love Life," was released in 2001 internationally and the following summer in North America. A retrospective CD/DVD package, "Pulp Hits," was issued in December.
