Song:Here Comes Your Man
Album:Wave Of Mutilation: Best Of Pixies
The Pixies were a popular alternative rock band in the late 80s-early 90s. They were popular on the college circuit and were much bigger in England than in the US. Today they are respected as influential on much of the alternative rock that followed. They split up before they could take advantage of that. The leader of Pixies was Black Francis (born Charles Thompson IV Apr. 6, 1965 in Boston). He was lead singer and main songwriter. He met lead guitarist Joey Santiago while attending the University Of Massachusetts Amherst in 1984. They decided to form a band in 1986. They recruited bassist and singer Kim Deal. They taught her to play bass. They tried to get Kim's sister Kelley to play drums. But Kim's husband suggested David Lovering who they met at their wedding reception. Santiago got the name Pixies from the dictionary at random. They were playing a gig in support of Throwing Muses and that group's producer Gary Smith liked Pixies and produced a demo at his studio. They signed with the British label 4AD and the demo was released as an EP. After their debut album Suirfer Rosa, Pixies signed a US recording deal with Elektra. Their second album Doolittle was was produced by Gil Norton who had worked with Throwing Muses. Here Comes Your Man is probably the group's most commercial single. It did very well on Modern Rock radio in the US and also in England. Pixies took a hiatus at this point. Kim Deal wanted to contribute her own songs and Black Francis wasn't interested. They stopped talking to each other. The band moved to Los Angeles and recorded two more albums. But the tension with Deal forced Francis to announce the split in 1993. This comp is a good intro to their music. Black Francis renamed himself Frank Black and has had a lot of success with Frank Black & The Catholics. Santiago is part of that group and also led The Martinis. Kim Deal joined The Breeders and had success with them. Lovering became a magician and also played drums for Cracker. Pixies reformed in 2004 and have played occasional gigs including a 2009 tour. It doesn't look they will record a new CD due to Kim Deal's reluctance to do so. One notable musician who acknowledged the influence of Pixies was Kurt Cobain. He said in interviews he tried to rip off their style. Here's the video for Here Comes Your Man by Pixies.
Pixies are a big favorite of mine. There was a good documentary made of them a few years back during their reunion tour. I think Kim knows that doing a new album with Charles would just lead to a break-up. During the reunion tour film, Kim pretty much hung out and wrote music with her twin sister Kelley and avoided Charles.
ReplyDeleteThey're still on tour. Obviously Kim is just doing it for the money.
ReplyDelete