What do you think?
Rate this book
Freak Out the Squares: Life in a Band Called Pulp
Russell Senior was Jarvis Cocker's partner-in-crime in Pulp, and the most stylish man in Britpop - known in certain circles as the Imelda Marcos of sunglasses. Freak Out the Squares is Russell's exceptionally witty, unusual and enlightening account of the heady times being a key member of Britpop's best-loved and most enduringly relevant band. The first account of life in Pulp, it takes as its starting point the band's reunion tour in 2011, which culminated in a triumphant Glastonbury performance. It's packed with good stories about Britpop luminaries, including Jarvis of course, and digs back into Pulp's origins in Sheffield and to their glory days at the height of Britpop. Russell Senior is a man too smart to have ever been a pop star. And Pulp were too odd a band ever to have become so big. But we can only be grateful that he was, and they did � and that Freak Out the Squares tells the story in Russell's inimitable, entertaining and fascinating way.
- GenresMusicMemoirNonfiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2015
20 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Read
November 12, 2015A memoir by the weird one from Pulp - no, not Jarvis, the really weird one - who had been there for the years of thankless struggle only to quit once they got to the top? Yes please. Especially when it's told from the vantage of the 2011 reunion tour he half-joined for reasons not entirely clear even to himself. Sure, a Jarvis book would likely sell more, but think about it - it'd essentially be Alan Bennett with a few drug stories. Or maybe I'm being too harsh on Jarvis simply because I've been reading this. Senior is an openly unreliable narrator, admitting at the end that he's tidied up the details to make a better story, and shifting his opinion on his bandmates from chapter to chapter - exactly as you do when you think someone's brilliant but are also obliged to put up with all their bullshit. Not least on tour where, as Senior notes, the weeks of enforced proximity can make you hate the colour of someone's socks more than fascism. And just as Jarvis is at once incredibly charismatic and infuriatingly unreliable, or Nick the subject of endless fat jokes as well as a couple of stunned plaudits, so Russell himself is simultaneously the band's biggest art-rock ponce and the custodian of their Northern authenticity. And that tension, and its attendant self-awareness, are a big factor in how compelling his narrative voice is here. He's up for ludicrous tour bus games, while being well aware they're asinine. He doesn't want to let the fans down (and doesn't even really like the hierarchical implications of the word 'fans'), but everyone gets pissed off with hangers-on sometimes. He loves the weirdness and glamour and the travel of tours and celebrity, while also knowing how much of it is coked-up bullshit. And hence humour arises - and insight, and occasional poignancy. Obviously I can't say yet whether it will stay with me in the same way, but right now I'd rank this account of band life alongside Ian Hunter's or Zodiac Mindwarp's.
November 5, 2018
Almost 4 stars, I loved parts of this memoir, liked others and just wanted a few to not be there. Russell takes us through his time with the band Pulp (my favourite band) with mini essays, stories alternating between the reunion tour in 2011 and the time of them building up Pulp to their height of fame ending in 1997.
Reading the stories did not change how I feel about the band, I wish there was more about the band though. There was a lot of strange tales with detailed I information and others with hardly any. I was hoping for more balance.
Reading the stories did not change how I feel about the band, I wish there was more about the band though. There was a lot of strange tales with detailed I information and others with hardly any. I was hoping for more balance.
December 14, 2020
Engagingly written and witty memoir from the guitarist and violinist of Britpop's most inventive main players, charting their days from run-down pub function rooms in Sheffield to playing arenas ten years later, culminating in Senior's exit from the band just after they'd reached their artistic peak, interspersed with a touring diary from the band's 2011 reunion tour. Definitely not another 'yeah we had some fallings out, but that's all in the past and we love each other really' rock reminiscence.
September 25, 2021
What a delightful and delicious book. Really enjoyed this eyewitness account of the rise of one the most criminally underrated bands in the history of music. The author is not only a gifted guitarist and violinist but also quite a clever and entertaining writer.
May 13, 2018
I would gladly read more by Russell Senior, as he has a tremendously entertaining writing style. Not the perfect tale of Pulp, but certainly a delightful read.
June 15, 2018
Pompous and poetic. Ridiculous and reflective. Fabulous and frustrating. Overplayed and under appreciated. He's a man of contradictions that Russell Senior. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
October 29, 2017
I don't think I've ever been as excited reading a book where it talks about my home town, Chesterfield. Finally something cool about where I live. There is hope.
This is a really enjoyable read. I struggled with the flow slightly. It felt a bit start stoppy. Another minor gripe. It has more characters than the game of thrones books. So most of the time I has little clue who was who or if they had been mentioned before. Much like listening to someone is a club go on and on about the current gossip. Who did this? Who did that? And you don't go out much so don't actually know these people. That aside, I love Pulp. I live near Sheffield. What's not to like
This is a really enjoyable read. I struggled with the flow slightly. It felt a bit start stoppy. Another minor gripe. It has more characters than the game of thrones books. So most of the time I has little clue who was who or if they had been mentioned before. Much like listening to someone is a club go on and on about the current gossip. Who did this? Who did that? And you don't go out much so don't actually know these people. That aside, I love Pulp. I live near Sheffield. What's not to like
November 20, 2018
Patchy. I liked the stories about Pulp, but there is a lot of waffle and completely irrelevant stuff here too, which really held little interest for me.
It’s a little all over the page, but I gather the author is a bit eccentric himself, so I guess that’s not so surprising.i found this worked better for me to just read the chapters I was interested and skip over the rest. The writing itself is not bad and I would have rated it a 4 if it went into more detail about his time in Pulp and less on the other stuff.
It’s a little all over the page, but I gather the author is a bit eccentric himself, so I guess that’s not so surprising.i found this worked better for me to just read the chapters I was interested and skip over the rest. The writing itself is not bad and I would have rated it a 4 if it went into more detail about his time in Pulp and less on the other stuff.
August 29, 2021
I didn't read this when it came out - I'd had a bit too much Pulp - but am glad I eventually did, as this is a wonderful if probably extremely unreliable book, which captures the ethos of what made them interesting - i.e, it has a huge amount about Sheffield, Eastern Europe, vintage furnishings, glassware, ceramics, shoes and clothing, and not so much about "Britpop".
January 9, 2016
Don't know what to think when the last paragraph says it's best viewed as historical fiction based on real events, but I really liked it!
April 11, 2023
(I don’t know why this took me more than a year to read okay.)
I’m really glad I’m agreeing with the majority of reviews here; really well written, could have been more stuff about Pulp, but artistically a great time with still entertaining stories. There’s certainly some bits I wish I’d never read, but to be fair it would be one tiny sentence or even paragraph compared to the overall majority I really enjoyed. It’s non-chronological, which I found really fun, but could get confusing at times. Anyway I love Pulp and I was glad to hear that they all still get on well :)
I’m really glad I’m agreeing with the majority of reviews here; really well written, could have been more stuff about Pulp, but artistically a great time with still entertaining stories. There’s certainly some bits I wish I’d never read, but to be fair it would be one tiny sentence or even paragraph compared to the overall majority I really enjoyed. It’s non-chronological, which I found really fun, but could get confusing at times. Anyway I love Pulp and I was glad to hear that they all still get on well :)
July 22, 2019
Chapeau!
May 13, 2021
I love Pulp. That's it.
August 19, 2024
4.5
I only got this because it was available on Kindle Unlimited but I'm very glad I did. It's really well written and RS has very interesting perspectives on Pulp, Britain and life.
I've also just read the much more recent 'So It Started There' by Nick Banks, if you only read one Pulp band member memoir my recommendation would be Freak Out The Squares.
I only got this because it was available on Kindle Unlimited but I'm very glad I did. It's really well written and RS has very interesting perspectives on Pulp, Britain and life.
I've also just read the much more recent 'So It Started There' by Nick Banks, if you only read one Pulp band member memoir my recommendation would be Freak Out The Squares.
May 13, 2024
One particular description made me laugh like a drain. An enthralling, dry, unputdownable perspective on both life in a band called Pulp (from early days til the present) and, for want of a better term, Britpop itself.
December 17, 2024
As a Pulp fan, this was bound to be an enjoyable read, but I was surprised by how much enjoyment I derived from the prose itself. Senior has a distinct, witty, and engaging authorial voice which conveys his singular (if, at times, admittedly distorted) perspective on his relationship to Pulp and its members throughout the years. I found both his recollections and reflections on these lived experiences to be insightful and honest (inasmuch as the disclaimer “historical fiction based upon real events� permits), as well as unexpectedly poignant and laugh-out-loud funny on numerous occasions.
It’s unlikely that the man who allegedly didn’t Google “Pulp� ‘til writing this memoir will ever see this nudge of a review, but I, for one, would be keen to read more of Senior’s writing—Pulpy or otherwise.
It’s unlikely that the man who allegedly didn’t Google “Pulp� ‘til writing this memoir will ever see this nudge of a review, but I, for one, would be keen to read more of Senior’s writing—Pulpy or otherwise.
March 11, 2024
Great book, really interesting to hear first-hand the story of Pulp, one of the most unique British bands of modern times. Sometimes the narrative strays into other stuff, like details of conversations etc with stage crew, and these bits tend to be a bit unnecessary. The bits that focus on Pulp are great and well worth reading.
July 16, 2023
The member of Pulp i often found most intriguing, Senior provides a great account of Pulp becoming more and more successful as well as the dark ages before fame. As it goes back and forth from the 80s and 90s to 2011, stories are mixed up and you are told some may even be fabricated. A great read from an interesting person.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.