Fire releases Little Girl

Fire released the singles ” Little Girl ” (1985), ” Dogs Are Everywhere ” (1986), and ” They Suffocate at Night ” (1987) before finally releasing the band’s next LP Freaks (1987), recorded in one week on a budget of £600 due to record label pressure. Cocker was irritated, and remarked that “the songs could’ve been done a lot better if we’d have had a bit more time…”. The release of Freaks had been delayed for a year, in which time the band’s lineup had largely destabilised, the most notable fluctuations being the departures of Mansell and both Doyles and the addition of drummer Nick Banks (though Candida Doyle would soon rejoin the band on a long-term basis after a couple of brief absences). With the album emerging to minimal label promotion and only moving a few hundred copies, and the initial Fire contract having wound down, Pulp recorded demos of newer, more pop-oriented material with Chakk ‘s label FON in Sheffield. A single called “Death Comes To Town” was due to be released by FON in early 1988, but this relationship disintegrated and the release was cancelled. Pulp would play two notable gigs in Sheffield that year, including the high-concept “Day That Never Happened” show at The Leadmill in August; the same night of this event, however, Cocker informed Senior that he was leaving for London to study film, having been accepted to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and had his fill of struggling to move the band’s career forward.