The Potential Return of the Pixies

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Here's the Link/A>
And I hope the link works.
I'm surprised nobody has brought this up yet. I did a search and ... nothing. But Kim Deal and Thurston Howell III or whatever his name is are actually in the same room at the same time. And they're jamming. And there may very well be a Pixies reunion.
Even though I'm a dedicated fan, I kind of like the idea of the Pixies being finished.
So, Pixies reunion - welcome or just a bad idea?

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Totally welcome. I'm down!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:20 (twenty-two years ago)

OK forgot to close it out. The whole damn thing is a link.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Wooooo doggie!

― Girolamo Savonarola, Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd just like to add that if the Pixies do reunite, I will be at the concert.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Even though I like the idea of them being finished.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Why can't bands just break up and stay broken up? (Rhetorical question.)

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Find the answer to that (rhetorical) question here.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah, yes, but fantasize with me for a moment, will you? They get back together. The make a new album. The new album is so good it makes you fucking cry. They tour. They are the comeback story of the century. Now isn't that a nice thought?

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

That is a nice thought — the best-case scenario — but with the well-documented acrimony between Deal and Frank Black Francis, a potential reunion could also have a potentially ugly end.
Of course, the band does have the talent to transcend the usual pitfalls of a reunion. And it's not like they're dinosaurs trying to capitalize on their massive posthumous success.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:24 (twenty-two years ago)

And yet, in today's mailbag:

From: David Yellow
Subject: Pixies reunion

Frank Black's comment to the NME was really no different from his response to every British journalist who asks him the same question every time he plays in the UK. "We do get together and jam..." is all he said. The NME, in their article, chose to insert the full Pixies lineup after 'we'. It's very sloppy on the part of anyone reading that to take it as confirmation that the 'well known feud' between Frank and Kim Deal has been magically mended, that the two are speaking to one another and rehearsing. While I personally think that "feud" is largely a creation of the UK music press, I think it's also a safe bet that the two DO NOT speak to one another. However, it is of course common knowledge that Frank Black remains friends with Joey Santiago, who regularly appears on his albums with the Catholics, and David Lovering, who often opens his shows. When he said "we" it is extremely likely these two are the 'we' he was informally referring to. Saying that the 'jams' are 'not for public consumption' refers to his own reticence to appear publicly with those two guys in any capacity just due to the way people and the press tend to react. Bottom line is that it was a totally offhand comment designed to keep the salivating UK interviewer at bay, and if you or anyone else wanna extrapolate that the entire original Pixies lineup is currently rehearsing a 40 song set list in alphabetical order and that Charles and Kim are finally singing in sweet sweet harmony once again, I think you're kidding yourself, and I also think its exceedingly sloppy journalism. I found it hilarious that this one line quote constitutes news. You could run a "Pixies Considering Reunion?" story every time Frank Black gets interviewed, because his tactic in the past few years has always been to say, 'no, it's not impossible, under certain circumstances it might happen, but probably not.' He's never gotten all stony faced and clammed up at the merest mention of the Pixies like people seem to think.

Seriously, you should run a retraction.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Black Francis has probably shot his songwriting wad, dontcha think? HIs solo career was so blah... his was the only concert I walked out of out of sheer boredom.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"He's never gotten all stony faced and clammed up at the merest mention of the Pixies like people seem to think."

He used to. When he was touring for Cult of Ray, I interviewed him for my campus paper. I saved my Pixies question for the end of the interview, knowing he was a bit prickly about the subject, and he, in fact, did clam up. Said it was over, just albums on a shelf that have little relevance to him.
In the past few years, he has revised that stance, including some Pixies tunes in his sets and being a little more talkative about the band's legacy, but he was definitely touchy for a spell.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I bet nothing comes of this but if, and I emphasize the if, they do get back together I'd line up overnight in the rain for tickets. The purists will get all upset but fuck 'em. The world was a better place with the Pixies in it.

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 04:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Black Francis has probably shot his songwriting wad, dontcha think?

No, no. Devil's Workshop is so solid. The only thing it's missing is.. Kim Deal.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 04:15 (twenty-two years ago)

boy, if they're as good live as they were back in the day this should be almost as good an idea as the Jane's Addiction comeback!

― James Blount (James Blount), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 04:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Sure, why not. Kim needs some more drinking money seein' as how she's already gone through all her Title TK royalties.</snark>

― Nick Mirov (nick), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 06:03 (twenty-two years ago)

all $38.55 of them?

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 06:11 (twenty-two years ago)

so who is this david yellow?

― joan vich (joan vich), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

he was in the Jesus Lizard

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

the double Ls are silent, like in Spanish

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:28 (twenty-two years ago)

H is silent in spanish (as in Horacio).
so david yellow=david yow or wot? must we trust wot he sez?

― joan vich (joan vich), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

LL is sort of a Y-ish sound

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

PS, I was just hor(a)cing around with the Yow/Yellow business.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

without kim deal this is pointless. but even with her, i don't see the point of this.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:36 (twenty-two years ago)

my fair lady's the rain in spain stays mainly in the plain is translated in the spanish dubbed version of the movie as la LLuvia en seviLLa es una pura maraviLLa.
which is true, because it never rains in seville.
TS Eliza/Kim Deal?

― joan vich (joan vich), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't see the point of this.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

― brg30 (brg30), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 17:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Forget the writing chops -- think Robert Plant trying to squirt-out a live take of The Immigrant Song -- no chops.

― christoff (christoff), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

The band would make some money, but it's not like the Pixies ever achieved a massive level of commercial success. I know they were a fairly popular band in the U.K., but they didn't have much of a North American profile.
While I think a reunion unlikely, I would hope it would be done for more than the profits of a successful theatre tour.
Still, I hope they don't sully their reputation by some half-assed reunion.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 17:45 (twenty-two years ago)

they were BIG in europe, changed many peoples lives, etc.
not that i'm for a reunion tour either, though. i'd rather keep a fond memory and relisten to the albums and the live bootlegs (and remember the two times i saw them back then).

― joan vich (joan vich), Thursday, 17 July 2003 14:32 (twenty-two years ago)

man- this makes me feel old. pixies were my band , mine mine mine.
i doubt it. plus, outside of a small club, there is NO point at all. ok, some theatres would be ok. but this feels so wrong to me.

― kephm, Thursday, 17 July 2003 16:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Best 10-minute stadium show ever at the Glasgow SECC on the Trompe Le Monde tour - Rock Music, Debaser, one third of River Euphrates, expectations exceeded in style, then audience barrier collapses, end of show, but we did get to see Cud.

― Neil Willett (Neil Willett), Thursday, 17 July 2003 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

they were BIg in Boston
*ducks

― kephm, Thursday, 17 July 2003 20:16 (twenty-two years ago)

So was Buffalo Tom.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Thursday, 17 July 2003 21:46 (twenty-two years ago)

apparently they're working with Brendan O'Brien

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 17 July 2003 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

apparently means a rumour, meaning a possibility of reunion.
Perhaps David Yellow is wrong.
What I'm hoping for, if a reunion is true, is a cross between that Frank Black guy and the Breeders.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Friday, 18 July 2003 07:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I would just like to note that seeing this hypothetical exchange on Pitchfork would make many a day for me:

Schrieber: so Frank...

Black Francis: please, call me Black Francis...

Schrieber: alright...Black...why did you and Kim patch things up and reunite the Pixies?

Black Francis and Kim Deal: $$$$$$$$!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 19 July 2003 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Cash money is often the motive. Plus after the reception to Title TK and the last couple of simultaneously released FB albums, this would be career resurgence.
Remember? We used to be in the Pixies.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Sunday, 20 July 2003 00:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah I totally don't understand why people wouldn't or didn't love Title TK. I know people are likely to think I've got something personal invested in it, but I don't. Just really thought it was a super-good record, I listen to it frequently. Plus the cover art is one of my favorite Vaughan Oliver images.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Sunday, 20 July 2003 01:05 (twenty-two years ago)

darnielle is otm about Title TK. vastly underrated album and one of the best from last year.

as for a pixies reunion, please, god, NO!

― jack cole (jackcole), Sunday, 20 July 2003 04:26 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, totally yes to title tk as an overseen album that people should listen to again! if there ever was to be a pixies reunion i hope the sound was closer to title tk than to the latest efforts by frank black.

― joan vich (joan vich), Monday, 21 July 2003 07:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't even heard title tk but I gotta say ditto to that

― James Blount (James Blount), Monday, 21 July 2003 08:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Frank Black sets the story straight:

-----

Black and the Catholics plan to take Tears over to Europe this fall, returning to the States for dates early next year -- which should provide ample time to calm some of the eager murmuring inspired by his appearance on a London radio station earlier this month, when he said, "I do dream about the Pixies reunion." Two years ago, Black told Rolling Stone that such an event would take place "if I were penniless or a family member needed a kidney transplant."

Black won't rule out the possibility, but he seems happiest doing what he's been doing for the past ten years. "The Brits are so talented with their sarcasm, I figured I'd try it out a little bit, but they didn't get it at all," he says of his Pixies reunion comments. "There's nothing planned, but the offers are always there on the table from the promoters. I can't say it won't happen, but I won't say it will. Joey [guitarist Santiago] and I have to get really drunk to start talking about the Pixies. Who knows, maybe in our next little drinking session, we'll decide to do it."

― some guy, Friday, 25 July 2003 01:55 (twenty-two years ago)

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