Jarvis Cocker announced as Eurostar Culture Connect's cultural ambassador

Jarvis Cocker: “BBC 6 Music is worth fighting for”

Last week I got the opportunity to meet Jarvis Cocker, who, being a cosmopolitan type, is the “cultural ambassador” for Eurostar’s new Culture Connect initiative.

Culture Connect is all about encouraging you to use the proximity of cities like Paris and Brussels (or, er London, if you live over there) to get your fill of kultchah. Did you know that a Eurostar ticket can get you 2-for-1 entry to numerous artful places in The Abroads, like Cité de la musique or Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris? No? Well you do now, philistine - so put down your Razzle and hop on the train.

I joined a bunch of other blogful types to arx Jarv about a number of things, including why this “travelling” lark’s so great, how he feels about BBC 6 Music’s unsure future and what he plans to do with his ambassadorial powers. Here are some snippages of what he had to say.

On the notion that people might prefer to view art online, as opposed to “live” in galleries: “I thought about this when I watched Avatar the other day. The end result of that film, or the conclusion you get, is that it’s better to live in this virtual world than in the real world. And since that’s the most successful film *ever*, that shows where people’s minds are going.

“You can engineer a virtual experience to be perfect, like with retouching photographs. Basically people are dissatisfied with reality, and you can iron out all the bits you don’t like about it. But speaking personally, I prefer the real world.

“You can read about a show in a magazine, but I like the accidental nature of going to see things. So you’ll go to see a show or an exhibition and other things will catch your eye, and you can go and investigate that, and that’s what I like about actually doing things. There’ll always be something to distract you, or someone will come and talk to you and you’ll get sidetracked, and personally I like to get sidetracked. I don’t like to just go from A to B.”

On what other cultural destinations are worth visiting in London, outside of those covered by Culture Connect: “There are leftfield places like the ICA… Me, I live in London’s trendy Hoxton area. Just go and look at haircuts. There are plenty of interesting ones round there.”

On how he came to be involved in Culture Connect: “Since I’ve been doing my 6 Music show I have to come back every weekend to do that. I suppose I’m in a good position to recognise the cultural differences between London and Paris - it always strikes me that they’re still pretty different. Paris is very pretty… I heard someone comparing the cities, and they said that Paris is like a very pretty girl, but you’re never going to get off with her.

“And you have to think of the impact of your travel these days, don’t you? I don’t know if train travel is carbon neutral, but it’s certainly a lot less harmful (than flying). I like train travel… On a train you can get up, walk around and see what people are up to. I don’t mean spying on them. But you can’t really do that on a plane, can you? But if you got up and started walking around on a plane you’d probably be fastened to the seat after a while because it would look suspicious.

“A lot of people sleep on Eurostar, that’s something that I find quite interesting. You’ll see them lying there looking like this (mimes unaesthetic sleeping - head lolling to the side, tongue hanging out). That’s why I think they should have pillows, and that’s something I’m going to look into in my capacity as “ambassador”. I think if they provided pillows, a) it would be more comfortable for the people who are falling asleep; and b) it would be more aesthetically pleasing to the people who are walking around the train.”

On French/Belgian music acts he’d recommend to Britishers: “I’m going to get myself into trouble now… I was going to say there are no good French bands, but that’s not true. The French stuff that I like these days isn’t so much band-based, to be honest. I like the Ed Banger label, and The Dirty Soundsystem, who do parties and re-edits.”

On BBC 6 Music and the likelihood of its closure: “Well, I’m not giving up. I think it’s an ongoing fight. The public consultation process doesn’t end until 25th May, so people have got until then to contact the BBC Trust. I would encourage people to do that. (You can complete the online survey here.)

“The Sony awards are next week, which I think will be another opportunity to get it into the public eye. Obviously there was a big outcry when they first said the axe was going to fall, but then it died down a bit, and I think it would be good to raise its visibility again towards the end of the consultation period.

“It’s a weird thing, you know. (The proposed closure) doesn’t seem to make much sense to me. It seems (6 Music) is doing what the BBC is supposed to do, which is to provide something you wouldn’t get otherwise. There’s no way that a commercial radio station would play alternative music - there’s no money in it. So it’s that kind of thing the BBC should be doing, really. We shall see. I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion and I think it’s something worth fighting for.”

On being nominated for the “Rising Star” award at the Sony Radio Academy Awards: “Yes, at the age of 46, to be nominated as a rising star - it’s quite good. I consider it to be interlinked with the 6 Music question, because there’s no way I would have been given the freedom to play what I wanted, inviting guests that I wanted, and talking about what I wanted on any other station.

“The fact that the show’s been nominated is a vindication of the 6 Music policy. To get people who are interested in whatever, and just let them do it, without any play list… it’s quite a rare thing, and I think that’s why it’s precious and worth fighting for.”

As this blog likes to provide “added value”, here’s a picture of Jarvis’s shoes, which he had removed in order to don his besties for the press conference. De rien, readers.

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