Pixies
Five years, five albums. Often, little more is needed.
Some impact the Pixies made. Emerging from Boston, Massachusetts in 1986, Charles Thompson (aka ‘Black Francis’) and Joey Santiago decided to form a band. But the two guitarists needed a rhythm-section. Upon an advert in the local paper, a member of the folk-punk combo The Breeders, fellow Boston residents, stepped forth – Kim Deal, perfectly fitting the bill. She advised the back-up of drummer-friend David Lovering to complete the line-up. Sorted. All that was needed: a name. One flick-through the dictionary later, and: Pixies.
A few months of rehearsals, writing and gigging, and – before long – the band supported Throwing Muses in their hometown. An artist-manager and producer – Gary Smith – was in attendance, and savoured the experience, offering the band the chance to set up a recording-session; over the period of three days, ‘The Purple Tapes’ were completed – 18 songs: rough, ragged, loose, yet scintillating. They were enough for Ivo Watts of 4AD to sign the band, and release eight of the compositions amid a compilation-EP, ‘Come On Pilgrim’, which served as the band’s debut-release in ’87.
The band’s infectious hooks, righteous yelps, impossible lyricism, knowingly static yet primal live-show, and sheer psychosis were an immediate hit with the press and underground radio. Europe was instantly won over, further enhanced by the release of the Steve Albini-produced, debut-LP proper, ‘Surfer Rosa’, which offered cult-tracks ‘Gigantic’, ‘Where Is My Mind?’ and ‘Caribou’. Come the band’s grouping with Brit knobs-twiddler Gil Norton, and a third release, ‘Doolittle’, the band were untouchable, awkward indie-stars in the making – it was the ultimate pop-rock hybrid, whether the bracing guitars of ‘Gouge Away’, moving string-parts to ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’, or crossover hit ‘Here Comes Your Man’. And, soon, stirs began spreading further afield in the band’s native US.
Yet extensive touring took its toll, and the band declared a hiatus following ‘89’s itinerary in the first months of the following year. The breathing-space provided Deal a chance to resurrect and record with The Breeders (spawning the Albini-aided ‘Pod’), while Francis went on a solo-tour. The surf-rock flavoured ‘Bossanova’ was the next time the band would rekindle a desire to work together once more, later on in ’90, and featured further career-standouts, ‘Velouria’ and ‘Dig For Fire’, although the record failed to impact as thoroughly as the critically lauded predecessor. Tensions grew on the road during promotion for the album, with Deal announcing onstage at London’s Brixton Academy that the performance was to serve as the quartet’s last show’ (deceptive fiend; it wasn’t).
Following a cancelled US tour (reason cited: ‘exhaustion’), the band took another break prior to the recording of ‘Trompe Le Monde’ – a heavy rock-dosed final shout that featured no such ardent input from Kim Deal as on prior records, and preceded arena-sized dates in Europe, but mere theatre-shows in the States. Come a last tour – opening for U2 on the ‘Zoo’ jaunt in ’92 – the band’d had enough. Charles announced the end of the band on BBC Radio 5 in the UK – before he’d even revealed his feelings to the rest of the band. He faxed the remaining members a statement later in the same day.
So it’s only fitting that, following Deal’s flits with The Breeders and Francis’ solo-projects over the past decade, plus Santiago and Lovering’s mixed activities, we find the Pixies with us once more in the 21st Century. 2004 was the year their ultimate conclusion would occur – in the form of a jubilant, celebratory reunion-tour that the world had long deserved: final closure(?) to one of the most insatiable, gifted and influential rock-bands of our modern age.
ILOVEPIXIES.COM: A nostalgic, misty-eyed domain that encourages fans of the Pixies to share photos, old wives\' tales and generally chin-wag (erm, the \'cyber\' way) over one of the finest bands in living memory.
4AD ARTIST-PAGE: The band\'s official space on their original, perennial record-label home, 4AD; contains the latest news of the group\'s reunion.