PULP. 'His -n- Hers' album photo.
The Worx Studios. King’s Cross. London.
Shot: October 5, 1993.
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All Photos: ©Kevin Westenberg. All Rights Reserved.
From Kevin Westenberg's FB: HERE
PULP. Cover shot for ‘His-n-Hers’ album. Finally got around to creating a master version of this photograph. Back in 1993 in the heat and general chaos of the moment, there would have been one print made as part of all the original photo print choices made by the band and management. At that time, there was no way to have known that this image would be the one chosen to be illustrated for the cover of their upcoming album. This hero version all came about because Jarvis contacted me to ask if it can be used as part of their background visuals for the current tour, which is a great honour. Looking forward to seeing the now reformed PULP play all the hits at Finsbury Park for the first time in 25 years this Saturday July 1, 2023. Will be a great moment to remember as opposed to the drunken 90’s! This time I’ll be clean and sober.
The backstory: In the spirit of those times during the London of the 1990’s, I felt compelled to post a hot shot from one of my early photo sessions with Pulp. The story goes that this particular shoot was mainly for press. Out of the blue some months later I was told one of the shots was going to be used as the cover for the ‘His-n-Hers’ album. To be an Illustrated version by Philip Castle. The album was released on 18 April 1994 by Island Records. It proved to be the band's breakthrough album, reaching number nine on the UK Albums Chart, and was nominated for the 1994 Mercury Music Prize. In 1998, Q Magazine readers voted it the seventieth greatest album of all time, while it was placed at number 110 in the book Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums. Of course when the photos were taken, we all had no idea what a brilliant success the album would be so it’s a tad embarrassing in hindsight how primitive my contribution was. Technically, it’s just above beginner lighting. Hard light which was all I knew back then. Fortunately most everyone was young then so it kind of worked. The other reality of every situation in those inkie days was that speed was the main driving force of success. Keep it moving at any cost! It was only when that process went wrong, and it did spectacularly, that everything eventually changed for the better. The PR firm Savage & Best were behind both this commission and my initial shoot for ‘Intro-The Gift Recordings’, released in October of 1993 right about the time of this shoot. Between them, the press and all the bands of the era we all made a great team somehow, which burned brightly for just a short period and then flamed out. R.I.P. Steve Mackey. Photo: ©Kevin Westenberg.
