DSS in action, Perth, Feb 2002. Photo: Pipes

Jarvis and Steve followed in Mark's footsteps by starting their own club night, DESPERATE, in May 2001. The Desperate Sound System comprises a flexible DJ roster plus live bands and guests, and operates on an as & when system, both nationally and internationally, from Sheffield to Perth, Australia.  The idea came from the lack of good nights out:

Jarvis: "I think we're quite bothered about whether people dance or not. You have to play stuff you like but the point of it is, you want people to have a good time. Hopefully they'll hear some stuff they've never heard before, rather than 'Heart Of Glass' or something..... I can't mix. I can vaguely get the records at roughly the same speed but I'd never dare crossfade. But at least when the next record comes on it's in the same ballpark".

Tickets for all events are available from the Rough Trade shops at 130 Talbot Road, W11 and Neal's Yard, WC2, London Tel 0207 229 8541.

Below is a brief 'history' of the DSS, with comments from people who have witnessed it first hand...and survived to tell the tale, followed by some flyers.  * Denotes a normal DJ set from just Steve and Jarvis, as opposed to a 'proper' Desperate event. 

Forthcoming dates highlighted in yellow

December 19 Possible Christmas bash in London - not confirmed yet.
December 14 Auto @ Magna - details on news page.
October 4* Jarvis and Steve at Club Mond, Barcelona.
May 30* The Bridge & Tunnel, Calvert St, London E2. Free. 
Went to the bar where Jarvis was djing yesterday and I must say it was really worth going there!!! Very trendy place. Steve was there when we arrived and Jarvis came at about 11. I went up to him and ask him to sign my 'We Love Life' booklet, which he did. He spelled my name wrong, struck through it, rewrote it, and then wrote 'I love spelling' next to it.  I then asked him if my friend could take a picture of him and me. I didn't want to bother him further, so my friend and I just continued drinking. Jarvis looked very healthy and as he would be enjoying himself. Most of the people didn't really seem to bother he was there and left him alone. (Nadine)
May 3 2002 Electrowerkz, Torrens St, Islington, London N1
DJs Jarvis, Steve & Anthony Genn plus Pipes, Don Letts, Martin Green, Bonnie & Sarah plus loads more and an exclusive performance by White Trash (DJs Pipes & Parrott's group). £10, 10pm - 2am. (NB Jarvis designed the flyer for this event - scroll down to bottom of page to see)

Where the hell do they find these venues, the local demolition companies? Don't want to spend my social life in something that looks like a building site, I was looking for the hard hats when I walked in. I couldn't understand what all this was with the red and white tape strung across doors and wherever else and it wasn't until afterwards that I realised that it might have been part of this May Day/Maypoles theme....it looked like British Gas were digging up the street more than anything. We were a bit bewildered with White Trash, can't say I'd rush out and buy any records, too confrontational for my liking, the DJing was.....okay to start with but then someone seemed to have the Ibiza bug. God, maybe I'm getting old. (Roz Leach)

Desperate wasn't that great.. White Trash had sound problems and not really my cup of tea.. but they thankfully played a very short set... Jarv & Steve were into "rave" mode ... just a bit too much acid house music for my taste.. although they did play Human League.. The crowd really loved it though.. I prefer Little Stabs mix of "dance" music...  venue was a bit crap (dark, looked like a construction site ..)..well upstairs was ok .. they even had a Maypole and were playing some traditional music upstairs when we arrived (nice touch). My mate Allan said that on XFM Jarvis said that he had some props (maypole) for the night outside the house but the dustman had picked them up .. so guess they had to make a new one. (Heike Seidler)

Friday was CLASS.  Excellent crowd & music. (Peter Armstrong)

I've heard 'Desperate' described as like a school disco but there can't be
many of those in blackened buildings up cul-de-sacs. The scruffy surroundings and home-made notice ('Desperate'  plus an arrow pointing to furthest doorway) stuffed in a shopping trolley lent a pleasurable frisson.
And the boys didn't line up on one wall & girls the other. Nobody was eyeing anyone up in a bitchy fashion. The door, cloakroom and bar staff were really friendly and the whole atmosphere was relaxed. Drinks were cheap and the sounds were all good ones. Jarvis did some interesting vocal accompaniments to the records. Half-three and there was still a handful of us left, I think Jarvis would have gone on all night. Oh, and everyone ended up dancing, which is the way you want it really. (Leilah)

April 26 The Pickle Tray @ The Fez Club, Sheffield
Fat Truckers DJing aswell! Jarvis wasn't there though cos he was ill...But guess who stepped in at the last minute? Phil Oakey! And he was fab! Almost as amazing as Mutsumi Kanamori of the Mu chan clan....
April 19 / 20 2002 Reykjavik, Iceland  
DSS plus DJs Pipes, Parrott, and their group White Trash dscended upon the Gaukurinn Club, "the best nightclub in Reykjavik", for two nights. www.gaukurinn.is or email gaukurinn@gaukurinn.is for more info. Tel 354 551 1556.

Photos
February 15 2002 * Johnny Walker Watershed, Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge, Australia.
It was a good set, not much interaction with the crowd. Anyway, I enjoyed Friday night, so you can let people know that it was very good (for a Jarvis fan). (Keith Taylor)

Me and my sister went to see The Desperate Sound System last nite in Perth. We got to meet Jarvis and Steve! It was an excellent night and we can't wait to see them and the rest of Pulp back in Australia soon!! (Peter Goodall)

Photos
February 8 2002 * The Slipper Rooms, New York City.
Oh, I went to see Jarvis last night. Very, very crowded. There was even a long line for a bar in the lower east side! That's odd. The lower east side, of all places. The lower east side used to be a desolate part of town inhabited by junkies and criminals. My how things have changed. And it was nice to see Jarvis, and he played some great records, but he's not exactly, um, a, well, uh, a mixmaster. He's a wonderful guy and he's made a lot of great records and he was playing great music, but his skills on the wheels of steel were, well, uh, rudimentary? Which is kind of cute. One record stops. A second or two passes. And then the next record begins. I'm not complaining, it was actually very endearing. And he played 'I feel love'. You can never find fault with a DJ who plays Donna Summer records. (Moby, from his website)

Had the pleasure of seeing Mr Jarvis Cocker at the Slipper Room in New York last week.  Was a very entertaining night.  Arrived at the club, which was quite dark and dingy (our kind of place) but very expensive for a lager!!!!!! Jarvis walked through with his favorite slabs of vinyl (like the advert said), and we waited for some cool indie numbers.  To our surprise, the music suited everyone's tastes.  From Kim Wilde to Britney Spears and the Stone Roses, to stuff we hadn't even heard of.  Our requests didn't get played e.g. Blondie and the White Stripes, but overall the music wasn't too bad and kept us all entertained for a few hours. To top off the night, we found that Mr Cocker himself is a really cool person who let us take pictures and gave us autographs (even when it was just scraps of paper out of the local newspaper). Excellent night. (Susan Davies)

The Slipper Room is a small, trendy club on the Lower East Side of New York City.  The club started filling up at around 10pm and by the time Jarvis came on at 11pm it was full to capacity and with a line of 200 more stretching round the block, pretty amazing considering Pulp does not even have a record deal in the US...Jarvis entered the club through the main entrance almost un-noticed and squeezed through the crowd carrying his box of records. I've seen Pulp live several times so I was kind of expecting Jarvis to be chatting in between the records, caressing the microphone and diving off the stage.  However, Jarvis the DJ is no different from any other DJ and just stood there spinning the discs. Music was mostly trance, Dakar & Grinser's version of I Wanna Be Your Dog sounded great through the lo-tech sound system. (Nick Colsey)

We think Jarvis and Steve did a great job. Please convey what a success the show was. (Jolie Lerner)  

photos
December 13 2001 Christmas Party, Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. With The Fat Truckers.
November 30 2001 Brixton Academy. After show party for the final Pulp concert of the UK tour.
November 12 2001 Pentonville Prison, London. With Princess Superstar.
October 1 2001 Mary Ann Hobbs' Breezeblock on Radio 1. 
September 22 2001 The Fringe, Stockwell, London
August 25 2001 Reading Festival, Rivermead Festival
July 20 2001 The Fortress, London N1. With A.R.E. Weapons
May 26 2001 Homelands Festival - the Desperate Tent.

What you can expect to hear:

Princess Superstar ... Bubba Sparxx ... Laid Back ... Destiny's Child ... Gwen Stefani / Eve  ... Jacknife Lee vs Missy Elliot ... Happy Mondays ... Nirvana ... Salt n Pepa ... Basement Jaxx ... Schneider TM ... Sly & Lenky ... Wayne Smith ... Soulwax ... Girls on Top ... Black Lodge ...OP:L Bastards ... Fat Truckers ... The Wildbunch  ... Soft Rock ... Greens Keepers ...

The set list for Mary Ann Hobbs' Breezeblock was: 

Billy Smart - 'Introduction: Entry Of The Gladiators'; Fat Truckers - 'Teenage Daughter' ; Bubba Sparxxx - 'Ugly'; Dark Side - 'Sly, Lenkie and Frenchie'; Tiger Ranks - 'Party Wit' Me'; ARE Weapons - 'Simply Be True'; Dreadlocked Child - 'Eye Wish I Was A Tiger'; Eve Featuring Gwen Stefani - 'Let Me Blow Your Mind (Edit)'; Leroy Wallace - 'Far Beyond'; Hakan Libdo Featuring 2 KHz - 'Bad Girls Go To Hell'; JKL 9lb Cock vs. Missy Elliot - 'Unknown'; Jacky - 'White Horse'; Laidback - 'White Horse'; The Job - 'Funking Tantor Straybeat (Eagle Mix)'; Unknown - 'Samich Jackson'; Felix Da Housecat - 'Silverscreen (Shower Scene)'; Greens Keepers - 'Low And Sweet'.