Return of the Pixies

I will say this, if there's a specific show I regret missing over the years -- and I've had a few candidates -- the Jane's Addiction/Pixies show in late 1990 in LA is it.

(watch out, people...the Smiths are next in line)

"world tour"? Can it be true? Will I perhaps get to see them after all?

The bleedin' cocteau twins will have to reform and TOUR AUSTRALIA and then I can die happy.

they will have their gear stolen in vancouver.

or all new material.

I could get behind that train of thought.

Also, Ned I was at that Jane's/Pixies show at the Palladium and people were throwing things (shoes) at the surprise guest Pixies and they weren't happy. Also, between them I had to stand through Primus which really put me on a bad trip, man.

"according to a spokesperson for the band."

The Potential Return of the Pixies

(i prefer frank black solo to the pixies, but keep it under yr hat)

I don't expect the same show. But if I can get tickets, I'm certainly going again.

However, I feel, the Pixies as a band are too smart, cynical, etc., etc., to fuck this up Eagles-reunion style, which is definitely not to say that the Eagles ever did not suck.

I think all of the things we're criticizing them for now, they must have already thought of.

Maybe like the Velvets, they'll just do a few Euro-dates and us here in NorAm can pretend it never happened.

...then about a year later i saw them in a large dull and acoustically horrible shed type thing - about two songs into their set (and after watching support from cud(!!) and teenage fanclub) part of the stage and barrier in front of it collapsed and the gig was halted and 4000 Glaswegian pixies fans filed out with their heads in their hands.

Ah well, knowing me I probably wouldnt have even gone to see them anyhow!

There is a connection -- 4AD was originally a spin-off from and now is part of the label umbrella of Beggars.

x-post

One thing I like about Frank Black is that he doesn't have his head up his ass. In the Pixies days, their success may have made him a little arrogant, but for most of his solo/Catholics days he's been very modest about it all. He doesn't blow his own horn or take himself too seriously.

So, for now, I have trust in him that this will be good.

Are they or aren't they? I wish we'd get a definitive answer from somebody.

NEW YORK (Billboard) - A decade after a bitter breakup, seminal alternative
rock act the Pixies may reunite next year.

Asked about rumors of a tour and a potential new studio album, the group's manager told Billboard.com:
"I have received an offer for the Pixies to perform in April. That said, over the past 10 years, I have
received dozens of offers for the Pixies."

A spokesperson for the group's former label, 4AD, had no comment on potential reunion plans.

The group's last major tour came while supporting U2 on a number of U.S. dates on the 1992 "Zoo TV"
trek.

Goldenvoice Promotions head Paul Tollett tells Billboard.com he has tried to book the Pixies "every year"
for the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. "I still haven't made any movement," he
reports. " not sure if they are speaking to each other."

The Pixies -- vocalist/guitarist Black Francis, vocalist/bassist Kim Deal, lead guitarist Joey Santiago and
drummer David Lovering -- released four albums and an EP over the course of five years in the late 1980s
and early '90s, providing a blueprint for the alternative rock boom that dominated the latter decade.

In 1993, two years after the release of the group's final album, "Trompe Le Monde" (4AD/Elektra), Francis
(real name: Charles Thompson) sent a press release to the media announcing the breakup of the Pixies.

He went on to forge a solo career, now nine albums strong, as Frank Black. Deal found post-Pixies
success with the Breeders, whose 1994 album "Last Splash" (4AD/Elektra) peaked at No. 33 on The
Billboard 200 in 1994 and has sold 978,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Black has been incorporating Pixies songs into live performances with his band the Catholics with
increasing regularity over the past few years.

Songs like "Where Is My Mind?," "Mr. Grieves," "Crackity Jones," "Nimrod's Son," "Holiday Song" and
"Gouge Away" have all surfaced in recent setlists, and a version of the latter recorded in April in Regina,
Saskatchewan, appears on a new Frank Black & the Catholics EP, "Nadine," licensed this week by
spinART exclusively to a number of independent U.S. retailers.

In July, Black told London radio station XFM that he still fantasized about reuniting his old band.

"I do dream about the Pixies reunion, I do have to say," he said. "It's like those schoolboy dreams when
you don't do your homework and you don't study for the test, but I'm at the gig and we're hanging out,
but it's an utter failure and I don't know the songs, and hardly anyone turns up for the gig and people walk
out. That's what I'm afraid of, that it'd be a big, big failure."

He added: "We might. We do get together and have private jams together, but not for public consumption."

During the Pixies' career, the group never made a huge commercial dent (their top-selling album is 1989's "Doolitte" at 552,000
copies).

But its impact on critics and fans was far-reaching. A handful of collections of Pixies material has surfaced during the band's
hiatus, including the 1997 Elektra double-CD set "Death to the Pixies," which featured favorites and live compilation discs. Last
year, spinART Records released "Pixies," a collection of unreleased songs from the band's original 1987 demo tape.

Biggest argument against them reuniting is based in some vague indie ideal of punk or selling out, but I don't think the Pixies ever pretended to hate the idea of success like alot of indie bands do now. I'll listen to arguments against this, though.

But seeing them live would be a golden opportunity to erase a huge regret from my teenage years... and I'd do anything for that... to have one less thing to be bitter about.

De Pixies hebben de wereld veroverd. Niet met grote megahits maar met een immer aanhoudende invloed, ook na hun uiteengaan. Ze groeiden uit tot helden van de alternatieve rock. Zoals de BBC het zegt "Try and imagine Nirvana with out The Pixies, nah, not gonna happen". En inderdaad, de invloed van de Pixies stond aan de wieg van vele grote en kleine namen in Rockland.

Op chronologische volgorde zijn hun albums: 'Come on Pilgrim', 'Surfer Rosa', 'Doolittle', 'Bossanova' en 'Trompe Le Monde'. Het zijn stuk voor stuk sterke platen maar werkelijk onmisbaar zijn vooral de eerste drie lp's. Een goed overzicht geeft de verzamelaar 'Death to the Pixies', in 1997 uitgegeven en samengesteld door zanger Francis Black.

Wellicht kun je hem en companen Kim Deal, Joey Santiago en David Lovering in 2004 weer live gaan bewonderen want er gaan sterke geruchten dat ze vanaf april weer bijeen komen voor een aantal live-shows. Gaat dat zien

http://www.itv.com/news/361356.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1040059,00.html
http://www.nme.com/news/107239.htm

'Cuz o' people like you. Cunt.

If you ever, under any circumstances, go to Kent State University, then just fucking shoot yourself because your life will be a living hell.

Is that from the Neil Young song?

I'll bet Kelly subs for Kim and no one will be the wiser!

Why? If I were a Pixies fan, I'd be absolutely BOWLED OVER with excitement after hearing about them reuniting, but it appears that (mostly) you ILM folk are indifferent to it. Eh? Isn't it true their bass player was so pissed off at Black Francis after they broke up that she never discussed the Pixies at all in any interview she ever gave after that? And now they're burying the hatchet, so why the less-than-stellar reaction?

Well I don't see many people talking about the brilliance of the 1989 Poco and Jefferson Airplane reunions, for instance -- to name two of too many examples. If turns into a Bauhaus 98 thing where they got together for the money but actually made it work or a Wire mid-eighties deal where they got together and specifically avoided all their earlier songs, great -- but those are exceptions, not rules.

I don't know, the stumbling about the stage in a narcotic stupor might clue a few folks in.

frat rock?! what the fuck? I've never met a frat guy who's even heard of the Pixies;
...well, then again, I don't talk to frat guys.

But those bands weren't all that good in the first place. Jefferson Airplane were never any good at all, not even a little bit. I mean, jeez, "White Rabbit"? How the fuck did that song ever become a hit??

Er, I'm an agnostic on the point, but you'll find quite a few people on this board alone who will disagree with you.

I don't know, the stumbling about the stage in a narcotic stupor might clue a few folks in

Hmm. I was in the pub at ATP 2002 and noticed that when she walked into the pub, the immediate reaction wasn't "OMG it's Kim Deal", but "avoid eye contact with the wino... OMG it's Kim Deal!"

1. They tend not to work well live. What you get is either a tribute band who happen to include the original members of the actual band, or a band playing so-so new material. The original chemistry has mostly gone. Of course if you want a nostalgia hit or if you want to be able to add a 'seminal' band to your list of bands seen then it's fine: those motives don't appeal to me.

(The one glaring exception to reformed bands playing live = Wire, but then Wire were always so conceptually tight that you could be fairly sure there were good musical reasons for reforming, and so it proved.)

2. They tend not to work well in the studio - there is more chance of a good reunion album than a good reunion tour but not much more. The Go-Betweens managed to make a comeback record that was pretty good. Steely Dan's reunion is well spoken of though I never made it through one listen of the comeback.

3. BUT those two bands are bands whose appeal is very much based on craft - lots of attention to tiny details of songwriting. That isn't the case with the Pixies whose appeal rested more on the kind of noise they made and the freshness of what they sang about, and the obvious youthful glee with which this fat bloke was approaching being a sort-of rock star.

4. The clincher this - I haven't liked anything either of the key members have done since 1994, and even in 1994 a record accomodating the impulses of Last Splash AND Teenager of the Year would have been fucking messy even if it did have Joey Santiago all over it.

http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_862883.html

http://pj.sidewalkcrusaders.com/tracker/details.php?id=173

the show was fucking great.

So I saw the first Pixies reunion show AND met a Bush Tetra. What a great night.

Actually, I am listening to The Queen Is Dead right now, so that's one theory shot down.

Now there's an -- yawn -- exciting fig h . . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

mommy

gurgle.

If you produce a Smiths one day I'll apologise.

P.S. I still like The White Stripes.

[wink]

That's fine with us. Now why don't you just piss off?

Such boldness! (I'm still plotting how I'm getting out there and all, but I have options.)

the band themselves are keeping a really low profile and seem to be doing it for no other reason
than they wanted to.

Er, no. Frank has said that monetary reasons were in fact key.

this is a decent page about the early days. i just finished reading it and i am going to go hang myself now as my life has been downhill ever since.

Here are some incredible pics from last Saturday's Saskatoon show:

http://www.punkoryan.com/bands/the%20pixies/

Watch for them to break up again in September.

Tickets are still available for the Dallas show, guess I didn't really need to camp out online for them to go on sale.

They all seem to like each other now. By all appearances, everyone seems to be having a great time on the current tour, which for me is an improvement from what I saw back in the day (two disappointing shows where I got the impression the band would've rather been doing something else).

That is so awful!! Can you imagine?! I'd be freaking out!! Those poor people. . . . .

I was just catching up with this thread and finished the above-mentioned article. Nothing in there struck me as depressing. So he's doing it for the money. What's so ridiculous about that? It's not like they are going out there and doing some half-assed simulation of themselves. When we caught them in Boise, it was straight-up, no bullshit good times. Eveyone is older, chubbier, balder or whatever, but they rocked. I finally get to see a band I grew up with and they finally get paid. Everyone wins.

Reminds me of a Melvins video I heard about where Buzz tries to purchase a house with his credibility. 'taint the way the world works.

I'd like to second this. Saw them play last weekend. The venue was utter crap, but it was an enjoyable experience anyway. Seems like Black's energy didn't really begin to crank up until after about a third of the show, but from then on, I'd say it was just a very interesting, surreal experience to see them again. And with about 120 times more people as the last time I saw them. Unreal.

My only beef was they didn't play Bam Thwok, although I was forced to leave a little bit early, so maybe they played it after I left.

Saw them tonight in San Diego. Damn, that was good stuff.

A lot of differences, mainly Black Francis... he was far more energetic and happy and ecstatic in the 1991 show, bobbing up and down the entire time, where he seemed far more calm and "whatever" during this last show, even though he performed at the same quality level. Kim, back at the 1991 show, was just kinda pissed looking and chain smoking the entire time, only doing the grunting part of "Tame". At the bumbershoot show, she was smiling but shy... and yeah, she did "Gigantic" and did more vocal backups. the band were never really talkers in between songs, but they were almost totally silent this last show, except for Kim asking the audience upon entering "So, what is a bumbershoot anyway?". Black never said a word. He just waved at the end of the main set and encore and that's it.

Joey carried the show, though. Joey never gets any love.

Reminds me of a Melvins video I heard about where Buzz tries to purchase a house with his credibility. 'taint the way the world works.

-- frankE (frankeeeeeeee...), May 16th, 2004.

ahh nice, i was at that boise show also - i thought it was pretty awesome. very little stage banter & they banged out one classic song after another w/ very little pause in between (other than the times that black had to switch over to acoustic and vice-versa) i felt kind of bad for the boise act that had to open, the biggest cheer they got was when they announced that 'this is our last song'. they WERE very boring, though.

it was really nice to hear their cover of neil young's 'winterlong' at that show....absolutely perfect. hoping they play 'isla de encanta' and 'is she weird' when i see them next week....

Tame was played quite a bit faster than normal .. other than that, it seemed as if they just played everything straight through.

I remember why I don't see shows in auditoriums & arenas anymore.

The Thrills opened the show. I'm not sure what I think about them because I can't get past the Adam Duritz/Jay Mascis vocals .. But the sound was absofuckinglutely horrible and muddy.

And again.

http://www.isleofwightfestival.com/news/pixies-play-54.aspx

lookin good.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/music2/pixies2.jpg

Woah. Pre-order 'Minotaur'.

waht

Apparently A+R, aka Artists in Residence is a design collective dedicated to producing high end music and art packages. They’re the guys responsible for the Nine Inch Nails Ghosts I-IV deluxe editions amongst other high-quality box sets.

Perhaps it’s just a box set of old material or just live performances, but I guess we’ll know for sure tomorrow.

http://onethirtybpm.com/2009/04/20/rumor-new-pixies-album-entitled-minotaur-due-out-june-15th/

Unless Kim was lying her ass off last week on Pfork, it's not going to be an album of new material. Not sure what else it might be, but I'd be really surprised if it turns out they've been writing and recording.

seems to be nothing more than a reissue of the 5 regular pixies albums but with different artwork.

Ugh, that link keeps crashing my browser.

http://i44.tinypic.com/1zq8rhd.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/s2hef8.jpg

Thanks, I appreciate it. Sounds like it wasn't worth getting excited about though.

You're not missing much. It's a "digital EPK" promoting this project, which consists of a box set (in $175 or $450 versions) of the 5 Pixies albums remastered with a bunch of new artwork by the original artists. Also includes DVDs of their music videos and a live 1992 performance. I love the Pixies but don't have much interest in this (and couldn't afford it even if I did).

(x-post)

No remasters or new material, no point (other than a big fat moneyspinner).

:-(

Biggest disappointment of the day, this.

oh it's ok. if there are chumps out there who really want to buy this, what the heck. me, i wouldn't mind flipping through the vaughn oliver book. once.

Oh, that's really annoying - I was right down the front at that Brixton show and the camerapersons shoved their lenses in mine and my girlfriends faces more than once. Meh, I suppose this is what BitTorrent is for.

This looks like the kind of thing that would only be bought by people who would never open it and wait ten years to sell it on Ebay.

touring Doolittle in europe:

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/06/pixies-celebrate-doolittle-anniversary-with-full-album-tour/

I bit on this one---seeing them at the Fox Theater in Oakland in November.

^
^
From the wired link: "perhaps because mosh pits at Pixies concerts were affairs only for the brave, or those inclined toward sadomasochism. "

O_o

Yeah. I couldn't help it either..I saw them at the last incarnation of Music Midtown in Atlanta, a few years ago. Will be seeing them in Chicago very soon..

Also parlays into the ticket prices thread--GA tix were $65... which after service fees was what I paid for MBV last autumn. Ouch and ouch again.

I think mine were around 45..

passing this one up, I saw them twice last time thruogh, I think that was enough for me, no doubt that fox show will be great though.

Oakland show was a total blast. Worth the money.

Somebody make the case that I should stubhub some Chicago tix and drive down there. (Data: already saw them on reunion tour 1, was happy to see them again but it wasn't a life-changing experience. But Doolittle is my favorite record of theirs.)

i missed their only show in germany which took place about 3 miles from where i live. i really don't know why i did not go. doolittle is one of my favourite albums of the 90s.

doolittle is one of my favourite albums of the 80s of course.

The video of them on Conan kind of made me sad, they r getting old and it shows in the music.

frank has a cold.

After not really caring about these Doolittle shows, I'm kinda wishing I was going to the one in my area next week. But I won't! Too much $$$. There's a free live EP to download though.

Somebody make the case that I should stubhub some Chicago tix and drive down there.

The show, as I said was a blast. Their stage set was pretty elaborate--smoke, lights, video screens and an ominous synth pad made me think Genesis were about to come on stage...They played the B-sides off Here Comes Your Man, then the Doolittle album in order, then the B-sides off Monkey Gone to Heaven--Into the White was massive. Finally they did a few off Surfer Rosa and called it a night.
They couldn't have asked for a more sympathetic audience, who probably would have gone nuts even if the band sounded terrible, but the crowd was so excited that I think it even surprised the band. Fortunately they didn't sound terrible, seemed to be having a good time, and put on a memorable show. Whether that's worth the big bucks they're asking is TBD indvidually but I'm glad I went.

Seconding this. I was a bit underwhelmed from the first reunion tour, but they seemed altogether tighter on Monday night. They sound great, the visuals were pretty great, and hearing "There Goes My Gun" was worth the price of admission, alone. I had a fantastic, fun, nostalgic night with them and I'll do it again in a second...

Saw the Ultra-deluxe version of Minotaur at one of my fave record stores today - it's a gigantic beast of a box set! The thing must have weighed 10 pounds, if not more....and yeah, it was $585 Canadian after exchange and shipping. You'd have to be pretty fanatical to buy that...and apparently they had already sold one.

When I first read the description of that thing thought it must be a put-on.

I see this thing every day at work, it's $600.99 US. It's frigging huge.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE FOOTAGE OF THE PIXIES WITH TENACIOUS D AND WEIRD AL?

YES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aURPkJjsGMc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmcpwrOlY-A

Y U AXIN ?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/may/02/pixies-to-record-new-material

Just posting this for archival purposes, because it continues to be a non-story as long as Santiago and Lovering are the only members talking about it.

lol bono

And thus the money train pulls into the station and is retired for good:

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2013/06/14/kim-deal-quits-pixies/

The Pixies this morning announced that bassist Kim Deal — who has spent much of this year touring with the reunited Last Splash-era lineup of The Breeders — has left the band , and, in a statement attributed to Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, say “we will always consider her a member of the Pixies.”

The band released the following statement today:

We are sad to say that Kim Deal has decided to leave the Pixies. We are very proud to have worked with her on and off over the last 25 years. Despite her decision to move on, we will always consider her a member of the Pixies, and her place will always be here for her. We wish her all the best.

Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering

While the statement certainly implies the Pixies will continue on without Deal, no current touring plans have been announced. Nor has there been any confirmation of long-brewing rumors that the band has been recording a new album; Deal, in fact, long had been seen as the impediment to making a new record.

The Pixies broke up in 1993 after recording four studio albums, but reunited in 2004, and had performed sporadically since then. The band last toured in the fall of 2011.

fellas, please don't make a record, and especially don't make a record without kim

They should just make a new band and call themselves the Bald.

and, in a statement fax attributed to Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, say “we will always consider her a member of the Pixies.”

What if the album is already 'in the can'?

I am totally for this if it's what she wants to do. She knows she is utterly unreplaceable, but she wants to do other things. It's her life.

That's right, unreplaceable.

So don't you ever for a second get to thinking...

Were they even an actual band? They were kind of a self-cover band, right?

I mean - I loved the Pixies, but they were always pretty up front about it being *just* a money thing, plain and simple, right? Which if fine - I caught a couple of those shows and they were fun. Pavement, too. But it's not like "Kim's broken up the band" or whatever - she's just not going to play anymore "A Tribute to Pixies" gigs with them.

We'll always have Bam Thwok, Pixies 2.0...

Like she needs that much justification? They were a group who got back together to play their old songs for people who wanted to hear them, and she's tired of doing that. The end, really.

Yeah, no, totally. Team Kim Deal always, for sure.

LL, I love to see you play Cap'n Save-a-Deal both here and on fb, but everybody already loves her anyway and probably agrees this is a good idea. I mean, I've never heard anyone I know say "I really hope there IS a new Pixies album someday" because...no.

i do wish i'd seen one of the early reunion tours, but honestly a decade into the nostalgia party, it probably would be good for them to make a new album if they were going to stay together. but if kim doesn't want to (and i can't blame her - if I made the last two breeders albums I wouldn't want to play on a new black francis album) then they should split.

Or make a new album as Pixi.

More like Baroness Hooray-a-Deal. She doesn't need saving, I'm just happy for her.

Or maybe they could take a cue from Black Francis/Frank Back and call themselves the Z-Picks.

Frank Black, gah

They should hire Kim Gordon

that would be amazing

It actually would

haha

http://www.discogs.com/Ladies-Who-Lunch-Kims-We-Love/release/148753

fellas, please don't make a record, and especially don't make a record without kim

I wouldn't have been shocked if it was Kim - or at least the strained relationship between Kim and Charles - that could have been holding up any hypothetical new record. Will note that 2012 was one of the few years without a Frank Black solo disc, and the year before he only released a collab and a collection. Maybe he's been saving up songs for ... something. Hopefully not a Pixies record. Unless it's got Kim Gordon in it.

I can imagine Frank Black calling Kelley Deal

- so yeah we need a bassist...um..
- really, Charles? really?

I'm finding it very difficult to be heartbroken by this. I mean, how long is it been since they got back together? Sure, they've played a whole bunch of shows and made a truckload of money as a time-capsule, but nothing more than that... and I was against them reforming to begin with.

Yeah, I saw the first show of the first run of Chicago and was sort of depressed by how rote it was. To the extent that I just realized I saw them a second time and totally forgot about it, too. I was happy to pay a belated fame tax to support the group, but I'll be happy if they're done.

yeah a decade long victory lap is plenty... i saw them in 2005 and it was fine and fun, but they don't need to keep doing this.

I'm looking forward to the 10th anniversary tour of the Pixies reunion.

was sort of depressed by how rote it was

tbf, they were never a terribly animated band onstage.

ha yeah. i dunno, they sounded exactly like the pixies when i saw them. if you played a tape of them in 1989 back to back with a tape of them in 2005 I think it might be hard to spot the difference.

For a moment in 2004 it seemed like they were having a lot of fun reuniting. Shit done changed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n9aivoGtAQ

Like they had hit a period of slight momentum and if they were gonna record new songs, that was pretty much the time to do it.

I remember reading something a couple of years ago about Frank Black trying to write some songs in the Pixies style and failing, which was why they never recorded an album.

U always thought the Bluefinger album from 07 (which he released as Black Francis) sounded like the songs were written as Pixies songs. Screaming vocals, deal-esque backing vocals

Bluefinger is great. A concept album of about Herman Brood would be a pretty original move for a comeback album. It would have worked!

ha yeah. i dunno, they sounded exactly like the pixies when i saw them. if you played a tape of them in 1989 back to back with a tape of them in 2005 I think it might be hard to spot the difference.

― tylerw,

I remember reading something a couple of years ago about Frank Black trying to write some songs in the Pixies style and failing, which was why they never recorded an album.

everyone in the band has always said that it was Kim putting the kibosh on recording a new album. I know it's odd after Bam Thwok and Ain't That were both so Kim-centric, but she didn't want to risk making a shitty record and sullying their legacy.

Kim otm.

I can see what Kim Deal is getting at, but at the same time I can't help but think not wanting to risk recording new material suggests a lack of confidence in their ability to write and record new music. It's kinda like saying "hey, I think these songs we were writing are great but aren't good enough compared to the songs we did in the past, but they'll be more than adequate for a Black Francis or Breeders release."

I don't know, it just seems a bit daft to me... surely if you have faith in your songwriting art, and you're confident enough to play live shows as a band, then you should at least have the confidence to do something new. At the same time though, I can see what Kim was getting at... Pixies fans are precious, and anything they did do would have been scrutinised to death and harshly criticised.

It's a little bit like Roxy Music re. momentum with a reunion

RM = 2001, Pixies = 2004/05. If both were ever going to happen.

Both artists, perhaps to the detriment of the biggest/most famous element, have plenty to fall back on too.

I don't know, it just seems a bit daft to me... surely if you have faith in your songwriting art, and you're confident enough to play live shows as a band, then you should at least have the confidence to do something new

well that's the thing - Kim might not have had faith in Charles' songwriting art anymore

considering it was the stress between the two of them that caused the split in the first place, i can see why she'd be hesitant to attempt actual collaboration past a bunch of victory laps. wouldn't be surprised if this was a "shit or get off the pot" moment and she got off the pot.

they haven't done anything in 2 years, I didn't even know they were still a band that one could quit

I take back what I said two weeks ago about them being nothing but a nostalgia act. New tune is pretty great.

pretty amazing the amount of what appears to be genuine communication problems in the QuietLoudQuiet film, i was surprised.

saw the Brixton show in 2004 when they first came back and yeah it was pretty much rote as Josh says. shame really as those London 88/89 gigs that are often shown on Docs and on You Tube are genuinely some of the most exciting live performances i've ever seen. i think if i'd been 21 in 1988 this would have blown by mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0bxPbWicgc

wow, it's like they came back right where they left off...and decided to show Jesus Jones how it was done

this is longer than every pixies album track except "all over the world"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGdSYPh5_BI

xp It certainly feels like it. Could easily be half the length.

I said this on that other thread, but this sounds like a later period Fall song to me.

that was....not good

The only good part? Kim Deal's part. Kim Deal, the EX-Pixie.

kinda sounds like a shitty weezer song :(

Now it's being said that the good part isn't even Kim. It's a guy named Jeremy Dubs from The Bunnies.

I have no further use for the song.

the drums crack me up, what was this movie project that fell through, the Romeo & Juliet OST?

Gil Norton thinks it's still 1993.

Now that I think about it, if that indeed isn't Kim and they essentially drove Kim to the point of quitting and brought in some guy to sound exactly like her, that's bullshit. FUCK THE PIXIES!*

(*never thought I'd say those words.)

i dunno if they drove kim to the point of quitting unless you mean they really wanted to record new material and she probably didn't

It just seems really lame I mean why not just call it a Frank Blank thing or something if she's not even on it?

let's not forget they almost did the pixies without her in 90

there was some interview with BF when the first reunited where he was all "I used to hate how much they love kim, but now if she says three words and they shriek, that's great, makes the job easier" but the underlying implication is that the Pixies is still his deal, whether or not he's cooler with her being second banana. But why would the singer of the Breeders want to be second banana on a black francis album (as opposed to a super-profitable enormo-tour) in 2013?

Cos who cares its about the tunes man

oh i wouldn't be surprised if she'd heard this tune

It just seems extra slimy to replace her with a soundalike.

oh definitely, that's just ridiculous

But why would the singer of the Breeders want to be second banana on a black francis album (as opposed to a super-profitable enormo-tour) in 2013?

OTM

they should get wolfgang van halen to sing "gigantic" on the tour

How to write Frank Black lyrics in under 20 seconds:

1) find the name of an obscure Bible figure from genesis or judges

2) list an action that has to do with cleansing or purify the human body

3) an act a child might do if terrified.

Now combine them

♫♫"Jeptah check your thigh check your thigh/now shriek and all holler/shrieks and hollah hookah"♫♫

I am not 100% for or against this song, though comparisons with shitty, latter-day Weezer are unfortunate and on point

(though that makes it sound like I like this song less than I do)

xp omg lol

this thread is 9 years old.

I thought the song was merely okay when I first heard it and assumed that Kim Deal was singing the Kim Deal part. The fact they went out and found a guy to sing the part and make it sound as much like Kim Deal as possible completely ruins it for me and is, frankly, repulsive.

wow yeah that video is a bad 90's thing. like a bad 90's 120 minutes video that they would insist on playing every week cuz the record company paid them so much money to play it constantly. like soul coughing or something. or maybe something worse.

the chorus is very much like one of the Bossanova songs, isn't it? (dunno, is it The Happening?)

that this song is a notch longer than "Motorway To Roswell" is amazing consider how much epic that one feels

how much more epic, i mean. As far as other songs with long outros, "The happening"'s just over 4 minutes, "no. 13 baby" is just under

but then the pixies weren't arena road dogs at that point

the Pixies is still his deal

Love Kim, but she only co-wrote two Pixies songs, no? I can't imagine anyone in this particular band replaced, but it's always been driven by BF, as much as, say, Talking Heads was David Byrne's deal, much to the similar consternation of the band's bassist.

i loved the pixies and i got some video of them live - before they broke up - and i was excited to see it and it was the most boring thing on earth.

black francis lives near me now. in northampton. last i heard. he recorded part of this song in easthampton at a studio run by a cool dude i know.

Love Kim, but she only co-wrote two Pixies songs, no?

Just because she only ever had a writing credit on a handful, I'd have to believe that songs sounded the way songs sounded because of her (and Joey and David). The evidence? Any Frank Black album.

i've heard the Doolittle demos and they're not far from the finished product. obviously the others (kim/joey especially) are a big part, but charles was the mastermind.

yeah i wouldn't begrudge charles his dominance of the pixies, but the fact that there's a faux-Kim vocal is pretty sad

yeah, agreed.

Oh, of course Charles was totally the creative engine in Pixies, but I'm saying that a lot of the details would be different if it weren't those four people together in the writing/recording room.

I can't comprehend the thinking behind the faux-Kim part, though. I mean, I could totally comprehend it if I didn't have some sort of respect for the three remaining members, but I expected better from them. It's a high voice part. Bring in someone to sing that part. DON'T bring in someone to do a Kim Deal impression.

i loved the pixies and i got some video of them live - before they broke up - and i was excited to see it and it was the most boring thing on earth.

I had the same reaction to the one show (late 1990) of theirs I saw. They looked like they'd rather be doing anything else.

otm all around. esp Johnny Fever. There is part of me that thinks it actually is Kim Deal, she just doesn't want to be in the band anymore and told him to make up a story or something.

Like I said, I can't imagine anyone in this band replaced. Joey, Kim and David are vital, and pack plenty of personality. But because Kim has a bigger personality than the other three, I think people tend to overstate her contributions to the band. Not that said contributions aren't awesome and perfect!

I'm a Kim fan 4EVA, but I still think "Silver" is a total drag.

I can't really imagine enjoying a new Pixies song in 2013 much, so... haven't listened to it, but the fella they have playing bass (Jeremy Dubs) makes pretty fine records himself and his band Speak. put on a heckuva show (saw them last month in Northampton). Couple albums on Spotify worth investigating.

http://youtu.be/Q7C61Jtxz2Y

Playing bass? or singing like Kim? I'm not sure of the allegation here. Different people are saying different things. And what is the source?

Silver is one of my faves on that lp. so good.

I heard from a friend of his that he played bass and sang on it.
From what I understand, he's known BF for awhile and has played drums for him live and helps him out in the studio from time to time.

I take back taking back what I said about them if that's really not Kim Deal singing - is there any further info on this?

I think if the drums were less shitty and it was all a little muddier it would be really nice. I mean, and if that was Kim Deal.

I'm kinda new to the pixies, they only arrived onto my musical radar a few years ago. So as a novice I like the new single and would go and see them play a gig. Just putting that out there, because this thread reads very much as they had their day, they won't ever re-create their original brilliance and the line up is just too different for it to be worth my energy.

Yeah... they were bored with each other and boring to see live by 1990. That should give you some idea of how exciting this release is. I guess, to be fair, they stuck with a 1991 drum sound, which is kind of funny. If you see a gig, just know that they see $40 tattooed on your forehead. this should have been a 1:51 single. lyrics are pointless.

(as an aside): were they ever exciting live? 1988? who saw them?

I only saw them in 1992, opening for U2, in very distant seats. I honestly couldn't tell if they were boring onstage or not, but they sounded fine. (I've always based my boring claims on videos I've seen.)

tbh the biggest personality sonically at least in this band is Joey

His lead parts are utterly perfect for this band, as much as any band I can think of

Based on the comments sections I've read in all the places this track was posted this morning, it seems to break down like this:

Young fans: YAY! NEW PIXIES! WHO CARES ABOUT KIM DEAL!
Older fans: EEW. GROSS.
Older fans who are also Frank Black devotees: SCREW KIM DEAL!

http://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/8840_10151679047838818_1956951513_n.jpg

It sounds almost exactly like Kim. There's no way.

"It just happened one day."

Yeah, the day you worked your ass off trying to get Jeremy Dubs to nail his Kim Deal impression.

They should get Peter Hook to play bass.

My BF saw them at a festival in 2004/05 and says they were awesome, but that could be young fan base talking. I'm going to take the ilm advice and stay away from this revive.

I saw them in 1988 supporting Throwing Muses about a month after Surfer Rosa and House Tornado both came out and they were really good, as were TM. Pixies were as urgent and funny as you would hope. The Doolittle tour was good too, even though I hated half the songs on that record.

I saw them in 1990 (Brixton) and 1991 (Crystal Palace) and thought they were excellent both times.

Gotta say that I adored the first reunion gigs I saw in 2004. I even paid £80 on eBay for a ticket for the first Brixton gig - the first and only time I've done such a thing. This, here however, seems a step too far for me. Oh well.

I saw'em in 2004 too, and while I'd a good time I realized I wasn't such a fan after all.

They were my first terrible show - some dude got onstage and was maybe dancing too close to BF? Anyway, BF wasn't going to take such unruly behavior and so he simply unplugged his guitar and walked offstage. Kim was awesome though, she remained at her post for a few minutes as if to show solidarity with the audience. The whole debacle lasted about a half hour.

1989 was the year

Kim Shattuck is Kim Deal's replacement on the next tour. Hrmmmm...

This album would need to be so good for this shit to be excusable.

Halfway excited to hear Pixies "The Weirdness."

What did they do, advertise that they needed to replace an awesome Kim with another awesome Kim?

It is a bummer that Kim left the band most defintely but I am nonplussed at the animosity directed towards FB - perhaps I missed something. Has he done something wrong or mistreated Kim Deal? Or is it just that he has the audacity to continue the band without her? I am more of a Kim Deal fan than FB for sure but I think it is OK for a band to continue when one of the members decides to leave - obviously it is nothing like the same with no KD but still I can see how Joey, FB and Dave might want to keep on playing togethor under the original name. This is an ordinary event is it not - a member leaves a band - band continues on -why are you all so worked up or is just the sting of disappointment. I think it is good that hopefully Kim will have more time to do Breeders stuff which is better than Pixies anyhow.

LOS ANGELES, CA - July 1, 2013 -- Armed with "Bagboy," the band's first new song in nine years, the Pixies will launch the first leg of what will be a massive global tour on September 29 in Paris, France. This will kick off the first tour the Pixies have done in nearly two years, and will give them an opportunity to do something they haven't been able to do in two decades: premiere brand new Pixies songs, the first collection of new material since 1991's Trompe le Monde. Log onto pixiesmusic.com for complete on-sale dates and ticket purchasing information.

For this tour, which will feature a brand new stage set and production, the Pixies - Black Francis - guitar/vocals, Joey Santiago - guitars/backing vocals, and David Lovering - drum/sbacking vocals - will be joined by bassist Kim Shattuck. Shattuck played bass for the all-girl L.A. garage rock band The Pandoras, and then was the guitarist for the pop punk band The Muffs. The four have been holed up in an L.A rehearsal space getting ready to offer the most wide-ranging concert set-lists of Pixies music in the band's career.

"Along with everyone's favorites, we'll be playing songs that we haven't played in ages or never played live before," said Black Francis. "Songs like 'Brick is Red,' 'Havalina,' 'Tony's Theme.' and 'Sad Punk.' We've probably rehearsed some 80 songs, so we'll be able to change up the set at the last minute if we feel like it. We're all really looking forward to this tour."

Hey, if New Order can do fine without Peter Hook, the Pixies'll be fine without Deal. I don't want to see it, but maybe they'll finally actually look like they don't hate each other (just as New Order finally did).

Shattuck in the the Pixes is as oddly appropriate as Trujillo in Metallica, like it might actually enliven the old gits. I expect a similar minor uptick in possibilities, little real progress in reality.

haha wow, black francis tweeting at my friend susie up there

After one listen days ago I keep on getting the "cover your breath polish your teeth" old man backing vocals stuck in my head and it is making me sad. Following my own experience with in it for the money reunion shows(*) this makes me less than stoked for the latest news.

(*)Kim and David at least appeared to enjoy themselves and engage with the crowd and Joey put the moves in, but Frank was just like a joyless "put a penny in to play a pixies song" robot.

I kinda want to hear Kim Shattuck scream her way through "Gigantic."

I am nonplussed at the animosity directed towards FB - perhaps I missed something. Has he done something wrong or mistreated Kim Deal?

As mentioned several times in the thread, the real rub is that he/they released a new song with a Kim Deal part, with someone (Jeremy Dubs) basically doing a Kim Deal impression, and then feigned shock when people said "Hey, that sounds like Kim Deal. What gives?" Carry on under the Pixies name or don't, but even Journey were more straightforward with fans about the fact they wanted a Steve Perry soundalike.

In a sense, we should be proud that the Pixies are a big enough deal that they're acting like arena rock vets doing their best to keep less clued-in fans from even noticing a major change in line-up rather than some semi-obscure club act who knows the nerds would never accept it. Indie revisionism worked!

My Pixies fan friends gave me shit in 1989 for being excited to see the Who's reunion tour. How could I like a band of old fogeys doing a cash-grab tour with replacement musicians?

i think it always makes sense to play old stuff live again if there is even a remote possibility that you can fill a room. i have no idea who went and saw frank black live over the years but it wasn't most pixies fans.

do the breeders reunite and play live every once in a while?

i just thought it was funny that this thread was started so long ago. 9 years of reuniting. longer than they were a band originally, right?

Every Breeders album is a different band, but they have gotten the Last Splash lineup together again this year for an anniversary tour.

i'm sure i would have loved them live in 1988 no matter what they were like cuz that's when i really liked them and i would have been drunk and happy. i've never seen any footage that shows me that they were anywhere near as good as throwing muses live though. muses still one of the most amazing live bands i've ever seen. i did see them in 1988. saw them 3 or 4 times between house tornado and maybe real ramona. only wish i had seen them in 1986.

I read somewhere that the nu Pixies are going to increase their pool of old songs for their sets, which is great news

i read that too. on here. 10 minutes ago. that's too many pixies songs. who knew they had 80 songs?

See also: New Order. It's not a coincidence that New Order lost Hook, then suddenly started shaking things up and having fun. The Pixies famously hated each other, or at least BF famously didn't like Kim, so it's no shock that her departure is the impetus for new songs/deeper setlists.

i read that too. on here. 10 minutes ago.

loool

ba-boom

i don't blame them for not retiring the band's name after putting months (years?) of effort and time investment into songwriting and recording. pixies 3.0 songs won't be classics, but what's the difference... the hiatus was long enough that it won't tarnish their legacy.

I still don't think Bagboy is very good, but I'd rather they have recorded it with Kim Shattuck, with Kim Shattuck's voice, than doing a fake Kim Deal part. That's just some low shit.

you wish they'd known that someone called Kim was going to join weeks or months after they recorded it, and thus not recorded it in case someone called Kim would join, so that someone called Kim would be on it when they did record it

the drum machine loop in this new song is the default pattern that comes with the built-in Pro Tools drum machine 'Boom'

I have nothing against found sounds but it does underline the overall feeling that they are not trying very hard

Ugh, okay. Shoot me. Pixies are really the only band I get all protective and anal about. So yes, I do wish they'd finalized a new lineup before releasing any new music. As it stands, Bagboy is some kind of bastard Pixies-not-really-Pixies oddity in their catalogue that's just no good.

If word is that the tours become wilder, and have a wilder mix from all four albums, I might try to see them before they start bringing in TOO much new material.

wilder, you see, that's what i want. wilder.

When I saw them they started with UK Surf and In Heaven... Seemed like it could have gone in any direction at any given point. Aside from the shows where they played an album all the way through, I assumed their set list choices were always like this.

Must...not...post...Willy Wonka meme...xp

My fave Pixies story ever. I was at a show - New Pornographers? Spoon? Luna? Anyway, it was a small club, and people were just milling about. This conversation from was when Bok Thwak or whatever the hell it was called came out.

Dude 1: Hey, have you heard the new Pixies song?
Dude 2: No. Is it any good?
Dude 1: No. I mean, I haven't heard it yet, but I heard it wasn't any good.

That's me in 2013, talking to myself.

"I was at a show - New Pornographers? Spoon? Luna?"

great first line if you want to a write a modern sequel to sartre's no exit.

'Cept I got out alive!

"As it stands, Bagboy is some kind of bastard Pixies-not-really-Pixies oddity in their catalogue that's just no good."

it's better than the last new pixies song with Kim (bam thwock)

I sorta disagree. I prefer Bam Thwock, but neither are too noteworthy.

I'm not an expert on Pixies, but I've got the impression that most of the stories of Charles and Kim hating each other is overblown gossip and myths. Not saying that they didnt have serious disputes and tensions werent there (like possibly the majority of bands), but there is plenty times I've seen them clearly having fun togther, in the tour footage and when I seen them at T In The Park it looked like Charles was making Kim laugh during songs. Charles once got pretty annoyed at an interviewer who assumed too much about how he got on with Kim.

I saw two of their early reunion shows, two of the best gigs I've ever seen and it never came across as if they were just grinding the time away. But I dont think seeing one or two bad or good shows at any time of the bands existence really tells you anything about the bands overall relationship or enthusiasm for what they are doing.

I'd like to think this new incarnation of Pixies could become its own thing rather than trying to rehash past glories but I'm not getting my hopes up.
I really should track down the rest of The Breeders stuff, I only have the first 3 albums. I still maintain that the first 3 Frank Black albums (Frank Black, Teenager Of The Year, Cult Of Ray) and Dog In The Sand are essential, the rest (I only kept up til Bluefinger) is extremely patchy and disappointing but with some serious highlights here and there. I was amazed that he confessed he didnt care for a lot of his own albums.

yeah I do love the first Black album.

i love the first two as much as any breeders record. seeing him play mccabe's guitar shop right when teenager of the year came out is still one of my favorite concert experiences.

I'm not an expert on Pixies, but I've got the impression that most of the stories of Charles and Kim hating each other is overblown gossip and myths.

Pretty sure from "Bossanova" to "Trompe" they were barely talking, and definitely not in the studio at the same time. Supposedly they didn't talk again until a couple of years before the reunion.

Yah but is you source overblown gossip/myths/lack of Kim songs on those ray ecords?

Ray ecords!

their authorized biography

Yeah, but who authorized it?!! [insert conspiracy here]

Breeders, Breeders, hm, I remember they had a song:
Now the singer gets laid
And the drummer gets paid
I wait for mercury to fall
Nobody's allowed to fight
'Til the band starts playin' tonight

1. Song is OK.
2. Looking forward to what they put out in the future.
3. Let them do what they want, it's their band.
4. Legacy won't be ruined: any music they put out isn't going to suddenly taint the quality of their prior work. Quit being precious over something you didn't own to begin with.
5. Th-th-th-th-that's all folks!

Hi guys, I've been asked to step in and take Turrican's place in the thread, there was just a feeling that the chemistry wasn't right and that it was a good time to go with someone else.

Well, you're quite well within your rights to do whatever it is you wish, some dude :) As are The Pixies.

You're welcome to keep posting in other threads, I need to practice imitating your posting style

Why not? After all, I'm not going to lecture you on the ways you choose to spend your time in the absence of anything more worthwhile to do :)

So this happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDa3cY7U6NA

3 other songs on a new EP as well.

Death to the Pixies has never made more sense to me.

what goes boom

Pretty sure that EP was just no good except for Joey's guitar.

Indie Cindy is a terrible name for a song.

Esp in 2013

well that was terrible. wtf at spoken word verses.

Couldn't make it through the whole thing.

yeah me neither

Andro Queen has some really awkward, bad-sounding auto tuning.

5 minutes long, Pixies song. Bleh.

I couldn't make it through the whole thing either, but I kinda liked it. It was like Funstyle being rapped by Craig Finn.

i made it less than a minute
extremely boring

I never even liked the pixies but that's a nice song

Well, you can still say you don't like Pixies, because that ain't Pixies afaic.

pretty sure that's a 45 at 33

I also didn't make it through the whole song. Three and half minutes I just uhg. I should stop clicking on this stuff. Can we just kill the (Pixies) thread now please?

Pitchfork rewards it with a 1.0

Yeah, and that's generous.

The once-mighty Pixies debase their legacy with this mercifully brief new EP.

sincere lol

debase

oh i see what he did there, zing! very clever

This one deserved a clip of a monkey peeing on a Pixies fan.

Ideally this monkey:

http://eyesore.no/tfdi/eyesore/html/gif/Pixies.MonkeyGoneToHeaven.ep.gif

I agree, these songs suck. "Free As a Bird" is WAY better than this stuff.

Jeff Lynne producing the Pixies would have gotten better bad results.

This is the closest thing I've witnessed to the critical drubbing the Beatles' 1979 reunion album got (in Paperback Writer).

It being real makes it so much funnier.

I love this!

very gay

very very gay! reminds me of camtogays..

I quite like "indie cindy" but yeah the rest of this e.p. is terrible.

Never saw The Pixies live.

Not sure I want to go to the expense to see 'em without Kim Deal.

Discuss.

Totally agree with 'Loud guitars...' above.

They were spectacularly poor on Jools Holland a week or so ago - the bassist was particularly irritating

do not see them without kim

yeah, i wouldn't. but i dunno, if you want to hear faithfully rendered versions of pixies songs in a crowded room, i guess it's your best bet.
my brother was kinda repping for the new pixies stuff (somewhat half heartedly). i dunno, if this was a new project featuring black francis and joey santiago (not called pixies), would it seem so bad? (maybe)

I didn't dig the reunion with Kim. Which still makes me feel weird, given that they were once one of my favorite bands of all time. Saw them at Riot Fest a couple of weeks ago.

If they had kept the head down and churned them out like Burma since reuniting I might see the thing differently

I saw them twice in their day -- i wouldn't pay a nickel to see them now, even if Kim was still in the band.

Death to Charles Thompson.

I saw them three or four times after they reunited, and especially toward the end of that run, the shows weren't all that inspiring or exciting.

I saw them once since Kim left, at a festival, and at times the set was really lifeless and off, but at times I actually enjoyed it more than some of the Kim shows. The setlist had more surprises (and more songs from Trompe Le Monde, which I love) and it was nice seeing them play new material and acting like a real band, not a tribute act, even if the new material wasn't very good. I have no desire to see them again, but it made me think maybe Pixies 3.0 could end up putting on some good shows down the line.

yeah, if you like trompe le monde, these new things aren't tooooo far off. guess that's the least kimmy of the original albums.

I noticed especially at the early-run '00s reunion shows I saw they didn't play too much off of Bossanova or (especially) Trompe Le Monde, the Frank/Kim tension albums.

!

http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/news/pixies-fire-bassist-kim-shattuck/

Paz Lenchantin hired.

Are they just going to rotate every alt female bassist of last 20 years

Anyone know what D'arcy Wretzky is up to now?

How about Sean Yseult?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Rock_City_Morgue_-_Sean_Yseult.jpg

Number 13!

How long util one of the band mistakenly addresses her as Kim

It's interesting that they seem to feel compelled to fill the touring slot with a female bassist, even though it's not like whoever it is is going to sing "Gigantic" or something. (I assume.)

Loads of female backing vocals on their old songs though

"We are really looking forward to playing with her on these dates," said Lovering. "Working with different bass players is very new for the band, but we're having a great time doing it."

That Obscure Object Of "Debaser" Backing Vocals

Paz is probably a pretty good choice. Her years in Zwan working with Corgan have probably adequately prepared her for working with a tyrannical bandleader that really has a tenuous grasp on what made him great in the first place.

otm

also bald

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2009/6/23/1245756835587/Melissa-Auf-der-Maur-form-001.jpg

Why won't anyone pick meeeeeeeee?

david pajo has indicated he'd be willing to dress in drag for this job

Loads of female backing vocals on their old songs though

― PaulTMA, Tuesday, December 10, 2013 10:03 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not like Kim was a mezzo soprano. Any decent tenor can sing the backing vocals on "Here Comes Your Man." Just seems odd to me - "We can't give you Kim, but here's a simulacrum who needed touring work!"

that quote from dave lovering is amazing. "We're really enjoying turning the secondary songwriter's spot in the band into a temp employment position!"

ha

at least I find the Pixie's revolving bass situation amusing, which is more than I can say about most late-period Pixies related things. (Also I might have written this up thread, but I actually enjoyed seeing them more with the new bassist on the last tour than I did seeing them with Kim Deal toward the end, because at least they were keeping the setlist fresh)

xpost It's really a stretch to call Kim Deal the secondary songwriter in the Pixies. Love her, but she co-wrote, what, two?

secondary singer, most successful member outside of the group, whatever descriptor of kim's stature in the group you can handle

"it's an exciting new time for the band, putting the bassist on salary and splitting profits three ways"

I saw the other Kim with the band at Riot Fest and after about 10 minutes thought, eh, who needs this? I went somewhere else to wait for the Replacements (irony), and it was kind of surreal to hear this band I used to love and who I never thought I would ever see live sort of just echoing around off in the distance.

Yeah that Riot Fest show was really a languid mess at first, but eventually I thought they started to gel. Playing right before The Replacements didn't do them any favors in the comparison department though.

"I get the feeling they're more introverted people than I am. Nobody really talked about deep issues, at least out loud. There was a show at the Mayan in Los Angeles where I got overly enthusiastic and jumped into the crowd, and I know they weren't thrilled about that. When I got offstage the manager told me not to do that again. I said, 'Really, for my own safety?' And he said, 'No, because the Pixies don't do that.'"
Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/pixies/74353#xu2OKoUvg4XTg2i5.99

Now they have a bassist they can be CERTAIN will not inspire chants of "Kim!", at least not intentionally

I hope they get Gail Greenwood next.

Pixies '87-'92 >> The Muffs (and The Muffs are one of the formative bands of my youth)

but

Kim Shattuck >> Pixies 2013

Is this still a joke or is Paz actually a temporary to be replaced?

Reminds me of when some of the comedy panel shows lost a presenter and had a new person every week.

Are any of the Martinis albums good?

half surprised they haven't done an "open-call for bassists" PR stunt... they could do a reality series.

"You could be the Pixies' next bassist! Just try not to be too excited about it. They hate that."

half surprised they haven't done an "open-call for bassists" PR stunt... they could do a reality series.

Fifty women standing anxiously during the climactic bass ceremony each episode

"Who among you will be the next ... DE-BASS-HER"
http://www.rollogrady.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/fbsolo.jpg

To: Kim R, Jenna, Robynne, Kim G and Kim P

A good bassist is hard to find...and so is a good bass amp! Today you'll be joining Joey and a special guest at Sam Ash to try out some rigs. Load out to the van in 15 and find out Watt's in store for you.

Love,
The Pixies

We should form our own band that's just nothing but bassists, right guys?
http://24hourservicestation.com/img/content/artists/main/22.jpg

Thought this was quite funny:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/arts-entertainment/kay-burley-unveiled-as-new-pixies-bassist-2013121382019

Surprised Greg Norton hasn't been called, since Richard Kniss is unavailable.

The new single is getting played on radio 6 a lot. Genuinely thought it was Biffy Clyro the first few times I heard it.

Was really disappointed that they didn't hire Kim Jong-un

OH NO nobody got my joke.

New Video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDRAQfgUPZQ

I just saw them. Charles didn't bother to talk at all between songs all night, and while he did whisper to his bandmates at times, at the end he just walked by himself to the front of the stage and waved and bowed, while his bandmates were left on their own to catch up with him in doing so. But the guitars still sounded great. Paz' backup vocals sounded a bit tentative and her bass playing was alright.

Pretty much describes them c. the initial reunion. Kim was the only one up there smiling, who didn't seem like she was just going through the motions. Even though she probably was, too.

They all looked like they were enjoying themselves in their own unique way, but Charles just seemed to want it to be clear that it was his show, at the end.

I like their version of the Jesus & Mary Chain's "Head On."

The group’s drummer, David Lovering, apparently told Francis: “Look, I don’t want to play with some lead singer/guitarist who’s picked up a bass ... I need to have someone who’s in the pocket. I need a real bass player. I worked really hard, I finally got to where I am - now you’re giving me some chick who doesn’t even play the bass.”

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/06/black-francis-kim-deal-departure-the-pixies

Hideous mix / mastering aside (and omg no Kim), the album sounds pretty great in this sequence

stream of their new album (first in 23 years!) indie cindy. nfortuntely my internet connection is too weak to listen to it.

I listened to EPs 1/2 last night (ie. 2/3 of the LP, apparently) and they were great, v diff from old Pixies, bt also from latterday boring Frank Black, and special/great in their own right. Want this album

indie cindy is the stupidest name for any album ever.

although admittedly the first song on this was better than it should be

Really like this album, What Goes Boom especially. Just wish it wasn't mixed like a Feeder record

the reviews are pretty bad (pfork 1.0 for ep1, spon 4.0), my expectations are so low that i can't be disappointed anymore...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/04/25/new_iphone_ad_its_soundtrack_is_about_a_penis.html

for whatever reason, i just watched this fairly listless documentary on the Pixies' 2004 reunion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4ITaBOBVGE

What a profoundly awkward group of people.

Not Joey so much, but there's something so ... I don't know ... *unremarkably* odd about Charles. David is like a character from a Christopher Guest film. And Kim is a goddess, but she's obviously not the easiest person to be around.

Watching them try to coexist, even minimally, is not so much painful as it is grating.

I don't know why I'm posting. I guess I just think it's such a strange dynamic among four people who at one point made such incredible music (imo).

The closest comparison I can think of is, maybe, the Who: four very, very different personalities thrust together by chance then stuck with each other.

Yeah I had the same feeling watching this a few years back. It makes it seem surprising that they even managed to be a band as long as they were. Seem like 4 people who can barely stand to be in the same room. I wonder how much of their original sound owes to that tension.

There is an element of sui generis to the band. I could imagine a producer like Gil Norton polishing them into shape in the studio, a la the poor chumps that had to deal with the Replacements, but certainly Albini wasn't the glue holding them together for "Surfer Rosa." If they were not somewhat cohesive as a unit they could not have pulled that off. Joey and Charles were the only true friends in the band, and afaict they never had any sort of falling out, so as awesome as Kim and Dave are my instincts are to credit the other two (though the other two are ultimately a huge part of what made the band awesome). Or probably ultimately just Charles, who brought Joey in. They were both on that infamous trip to Puerto Rico together, right? But Charles is the one with the music collection and weird vision. He's the one who I assume wrote the want ad for musicians into "Husker Du and Peter, Paul & Mary." Iirc there was a quote from Charles claiming he only owned five albums, and Husker Du were three of them.

I really liked that documentary, I thought it was a very enlightening reminder that being a rock band is (among the other things it is) a JOB and you can have a job that you don't feel any particular passion for but which you're good at and which is worth doing and which pays you and so you do it. I appreciate the city tree guys for trimming the trees and I appreciate the Pixies for playing this tour which I and many others really enjoyed seeing.

Joey & Charles were roommates in Boston, Charles did a study abroad in PR by himself iirc.

One thing about Charles that he never really talks about is that he's the only one of the Pixies without lengthy recurring rehab stays.

All that said, Kim is great and when I saw the Breeders a couple years ago I, even as an old jaded nonplussed "seen everybody back in the day" prick, thought she and the rest of the Breeders were absolutely incredible.

...like their new songs were as good as their "greatest hits", that's something you'd never expect from a rock group in their late 50s.

Yeah I implore everybody to see the Breeders if they tour where you are and I have a feeling that's still gonna be good advice in like 2045

otm. I should probably have seen the Breeders more times than I have (3 times iirc, which is also the number of times I have seen the Pixies, all on reunion tours unfortunately)

That opening footage of them playing Where Is My Mind is just unbearably depressing to me. I am sure I'm projecting, but the thought of servicing a few thousand millennial randos who saw fight club -- I'm sure the money was good, but life's too short. I couldn't somehow compartmentalize my contempt enough to get out there every other night, much less with band mates I didn't like

I dunno - turn up, run through the hits, get out of there with a couple of grand or whatever Frank Black's paying you, come home from the tour with maybe a year's wages. I saw them in 1989 and they looked jaded as fuck even then, so I don't imagine the thrill of creating art lasted longer than about a couple of years if that.

I've mentioned it before, probably on this thread, but I regret seeing the band post reunion. Both times they seemed to be having no fun at all, and when I saw them later with Kim Shattuck she seemed to be the only one having fun.

oh absolutely ... that last Breeders record was incredible, and the last show I saw (which was at least 10 years ago now) was so much better than I expected.

All Nerve really rekindled and solidified my respect for Kim as a songwriter, sound artist, etc. I mean ... my respect for her was already off the charts, but to see her come back in that way was super impressive

xxxpost

Poor Kim S. She's a legend in her own right obvs

Is Frank/Charles really a dickbag iyo? I was a huge fan, but haven't studied up much on him

(I know it's extremely misguided to try to suss a guy's personality from his lyrics, but you think you'd wanna have a beer with him)

i mean i don't know the guy but i don't think it's a super stretch to suss his personality from that doc i posted. he just seems awkward socially, egotistical and not that great at hiding it, and he (total speculation) sees how much more $ he can make w/ the Pixies vs. solo, so he puts up w/ a less-than-ideal work environment - as like 97% of humans do, i might add.

he seems to do better w/ Joey and David than Kim, and like i said, Kim = legend, but also a challenging personality to exist in a tour van with. in that same doc, she brings Kelley on tour and they seem to basically exist in a separate space from the others until it's time to go on stage.

i do wonder if Charles and the other two guys are just generally doing better over the past several years without Kim's energy in the band. i think Joey/David are able to play a more subordinate role and you'd think that would help a lot.

still ... offstage tour footage of them is like 75% silence and 25% small talk you have with a stranger.

also, i should say Charles doesn't seem like a *total* egomaniac, and - again, speculating - i'd guess that has gotten better as he's gotten older. but he still says things here and there that let you know he's in charge, the others are not, etc.

being a rock band is (among the other things it is) a JOB and you can have a job that you don't feel any particular passion for but which you're good at and which is worth doing and which pays you and so you do it

this is not untrue, but i think it's a sad thing and not something to be celebrated. if you told me ahead of time that performer X was miserable and didn't enjoy putting on the shows, i think i definitely wouldn't go. how can you enjoy something like that ?

I'm sure the money was good, but life's too short. I couldn't somehow compartmentalize my contempt enough to get out there every other night, much less with band mates I didn't like

otm

she brings Kelley on tour and they seem to basically exist in a separate space from the others

this was def weird but also just pure gold. kelley clearly has this preternatural cinematic sensibility; she was able to seamlessly slip in and out of the role of "interviewer" and the way she was able to shape the narrative while in the shot was magnetic imo. like how she just spontaneously started interviewing the crowd lined up for the show e.g. or even in her ability to coax stuff out of kim.

the other members of the band i found to be interesting precisely for their lack of self-awareness and their inability to really say anything interesting; it was just so honest the way they just sort of threw around platitudes and, as personalities, maybe even as musical thinkers, couldn't reconcile their outsized roles as idk indie legends (?) with their basically normal everyday lives.

That opening footage of them playing Where Is My Mind is just unbearably depressing to me. I am sure I'm projecting, but the thought of servicing a few thousand millennial randos who saw fight club -- I'm sure the money was good, but life's too short. I couldn't somehow compartmentalize my contempt enough to get out there every other night, much less with band mates I didn't like

I saw them on that reunion tour and it was bad. Zero energy, though I don't know that they were ever a great live act.

(The Breeders OTOH have been great every time I've seen them.)

I love Kim, but the three or four or five times I've seen the Breeders they've been ... just OK. But Kim is such a positive presence - does she ever not smile? - and they always seemed to be having a good time.

I don't know that they were ever a great live act

They were great the first time I saw them! Probably not quite on the treadmill by that point I suppose.

They were great the first time I saw them - which was the 11th show of the reunion in 2004 (Boise).

Admittedly, my anticipation of finally seeing those songs live likely influenced by opinion of the show. There was hardly any talking in between songs.

They headlined Coachella a week later and I went, but skipped the set to see Moving Units.

I saw them in 2007 and it was really lovely - it was their first ever trip to Australia so maybe there was some kind of novelty in playing to adoring crowds for the first time

The opening was amazing - In Heaven, then Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf) then Bone Machine - such a graceful arc into delivering the crowd-pleasing goods

Comparisons to The Who upthread OTM, possibly re personality but also re unique musical contributions - like they are a real "only these 4 people can make this exact sound" band, and anything else is a facsimile

the 3 shows I went to were all at least decent, I was never disappointed, although I did know not to expect a great live act going in.

2004 was at a festival, it wasn't the best time or place to see them, my wife had sunstroke and my friends were pretty drunk (as was I tbf) and shouted a lot and I just wanted to watch the band, but my hazy memory is that it was good

2005 was a lot better, I was really excited to see them which helped, they seemed to be happy to be on stage then tbh, Kim & Charles didn't talk a lot but when they did they were charming, Joey did some guitar theatrics, good gig

2019 was a warm up gig so the smallest place I've seen them, again they didn't do much on stage but I guess having a new album might've got them more interested in playing, the new album isn't going to blow anyone's minds but some of the songs sounded fine mixed in with the old stuff

I think if you know what to expect, they will play the songs well but not v passionately, but they weren't known much for being a live act, hell I've been to a v boring Frank Black solo gig before and they were always better than that. Maybe I missed the worst of the by the numbers we hating being here years because I skipped 14 years?

Yeah, tbh, I've seen Frank Black live a few times, and he and his band killed it.

Ha, Emsworth, sounds like you were at the same Sydney show I was at! I thought it was pretty good, stunned at Charles’ ability to summon the screams 20 years down the track.

and yes Kim Deal is a god on par with a fundamental law of nature

Hey Matthew K! Yeh Sydney at Luna Park - I thought the show had a nice vibe, certainly relative to any dour, dialing-it-in reports above - Kim in particular I remember beaming through the whole thing

experience definitely given a sentimental boost by my high school self being v.pleased to finally see The Pixies - haven't had the slightest urge to go to any subsequent tours though - if they had made a new album with Kim then maybe, ISTR it was in the air for a while and maybe Bluefinger was the slightly disappointing result?

Colonel Poo - we might have seen them at the same gigs. I saw them at a festival in 2004 (think it was V - in the park near Chelmsford, anyway) and then at Alexandra Palace in 2005.

Exactly the same experience for me Emsworth, I was about 20 feet in front of Kim and she lit the room. I was excited for new music after I heard Bam Thwok but I was completely unsurprised when she bailed from the album sessions. I was disappointed she’d agreed to it actually.

jealous of you two, I went to V and had to bail halfway through the Pet Shop Boys making 6,000 shirtless homosexuals dance and laugh and spin, to catch an hour and a bit of 8,000 thirtysomethings standing nearly completely still watching four fiftysomethings standing completely still, one of them smiling

absolutely idiotic scheduling decision, Pixies should have been on at 6:30 pm so they and the Pixies-specific part of the audience could be in bed by dark.

and then had Soulwax close. after the PSB, not overlapping.

This band is such a bummer. In the sense that, when they were largely mysterious and faceless in the late 80s, their music sounded like it was coming from outer space or something. Everything over the last 20 years has just been depressing. I know they need money, but just.... do something else.

otm alas

I'm very much at peace with it. I think of them as two different bands.

I think they were the catalyst of literally every band who had a 80s/90s semi-hit getting back together

Hmm. I'm trying to think of other '80s and '90s bands that broke up but got back together after the Pixies. They always seemed kind of like a big fish that followed all the other reunions. Television, Gang of Four, Mission of Burma, Wire and so on.

Pixies inspired Slowdive, Ride, that generation

eh, I think the return of mbv did that.

Touche

My brain won't let me access American indie bands who may have reformed in the sights but there are a bunch

aughts

I'm very much at peace with it. I think of them as two different bands.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, June 3, 2020 6:09 AM (four hours ago)

this exact feeling clicked for me several years ago. i don't really think of post-reunion activities as damaging their legacy, because as far as i'm concerned the legacy of the original Pixies is set in stone. (maybe that's not fair / doesn't make sense, but that's where i'm at.)

and what they do now doesn't bum me out! i mean, those guys built a band lots of ppl will pay to see and they have bills to pay. who am i to stop them from working? it's fine ... there are a million other (newer) bands to be excited about.

Happy birthday, Kim and Kelley

wow, what are the chances of them sharing the same birthday

lol