Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley celebrated the release of Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City last night at a tiny, immersive gig in London.
Cocker and Hawley have written two songs for Anderson’s new film, in which they play as the group Gauchos Calientes.
“Welcome to the Asteroid City diner,” Cocker told the crowd by way of a welcome at an immersive exhibition dedicated to the film at 180 Studios on the Strand on Wednesday June 22. “You didn’t realise, but as soon as you walked into this place, you travelled back to the year 1955.”
He continued: “A lot of things happened that year, didn’t they? I wasn’t alive, but they did happen. We are a group called Gauchos Calientes, and in the film we get stranded in Asteroid City and we’re going to play you two songs that are featured in the film.”
Opening with the western-inspired croon of ‘You Can’t Wake Up If You Don’t Fall Asleep’, Cocker told the crowd of its title: “This is a phrase that gets repeated a few times in the film, which you can think about whilst you listen to the song.”
At the show, Hawley and Cocker were joined by banjoist Jean-Yves Lozac’h and double bassist Perè Mallén, both of whom appear in the film, while Anderson himself was also in attendance in the front rows of the crowd.
Before playing the newly-released Asteroid City song ‘Dear Alien (Who Art in Heaven)’, Cocker said: “Another potential plot spoiler now. This is a song written by a young child that has seen something that visits the town and changes the course of human history and the destiny of all the people within the town.”
The band then went on to play three more tracks, including covers of Elizabeth Cotton’s skiffle track ‘Freight Train’ and Ricky Nelson’s ‘Lonesome Town’. Of the latter, Cocker said: “This one isn’t in the film, but Asteroid City is a lonesome town, and the population of the city is only about 67 people. It gets swollen a lot by the people who get stuck in it so this is more like the Asteroid City before the people came, which was a very lonesome town.”
The short set then concluded with a cover of Lee Hazlewood’s ‘Pour Man’. “We haven’t played together for two years, so I don’t think we’re doing that badly,” Hawley joked before the song to cheers from the crowd. “There’s absolutely no reason to play this,” Cocker said of the set closer, “but it’s great! We played it together many years ago and it’s not got any better since then.”
Starring Tom Hanks, Steve Carell and Margot Robbie, Asteroid City is described as a “poetic meditation on the meaning of life.”
The film takes place in a fictional American desert town in 1955 as students and parents gather for a junior stargazer convention that’s disrupted by world-changing events. Asteroid City’s story is co-written by Anderson and Roman Coppola.
Reviewing the film, NME wrote: “The Anderson faithful will certainly be rewarded by a lush-looking film and a cast so big, there hasn’t even been time to mention Margot Robbie, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum. Suffice it to say, Anderson has swelled the ranks of his rep company even more.
“Best of all, Jason Schwartzman – now on his seventh Anderson movie – gets a juicy role for his favourite director. Seeing the two of them together again feels like perfect harmony.”
Cocker, meanwhile, will continue a huge UK reunion tour with Pulp next weekend (July 1) at London’s Finsbury Park. Visit here for tickets and more information.
The band are also rumoured for a secret set at Glastonbury this weekend.