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So what happened to them? Yeah, yeah, I know the split up, but why? And I know Black Francis went on to Frank Black and the Catholics, but isn’t there another band fronted by a Pixie refugee? Which band, and which refugee?
Well, Frank split up the group at the height of their popularity in a radio interview...the other band members were among the last to know. There was a lot of tension in the Pixies from the start, especially between Frank and Kim. Well, actually, almost entirely between Frank and Kim... Frank and guitarist Joey Santiago still play together quite often. Dave Lovering played on a few records with Santiago, and now does some sort of solo thing, I don't know what it's about, but I'll be seeing it next month when he opens up for Grant Lee Phillips.
If yr familiar with Frank's first two A-MAZ-ING solo albums, you'll notice that his music was changing a lot, and evolving past what he was doing in the Pixies. In retrospect, Trompe Le Monde sounds a lot like the first Frank Black album, it's much more solo Frank than Pixies. If you don't own Teenager of the Year, RUN OUT AND BUY IT NOW. It's one of Frank's greatest achievements. It's unfortunate how many people bailed out on Frank after the Pixies...as I've said, the first two solo LPs were wonderful. The third one, "Cult Of Ray" is really terrible save for two good songs, and the first Catholics album was weak, but the last two Catholics records are great, the newest one, "Dog in the Sand" is among his best work, I'd say. (Pin: "If it Takes All Night" from yr tape is from Dog in the Sand)
I like Nirvana, and can certainly see how they relate to the Pixies. Nirvana had their own good thing going on, and it was informed by a lot of other things than the Pixies...Kurt Cobain certainly had his own identity. I don't think the Pixies really invented much of anything, rather than just perfected some things...they really had a mastery over concise aggressive surf pop/garage rock with surreal lyrics, but obviously, they weren't the first to do any of that.
I think that the influence of bands like Nirvana, Pixies, et al comes from the sense that what they did was easy because it was so basic and simple-sounding, that sort of "hey, you can do something like this too" sound. |
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