Four albums and an EP in seven years. The legacy of the Pixies' amazing initial run from 1986 to 1993 acts as the gorilla in the room whenever any Pixies members work on other projects. People often ask questions about new Pixies material, and last year I wrote about bassist Kim Deal's theory:
I think it gets talked about whenever Charles [Thompson, aka Frank Black has any release, which is often. I have a feeling that’s when he talks about it more than anything. Because him and Joe [Santiago, guitarist] haven’t gotten together to write any songs, so I think it’s kind of something to bring up whenever he needs press. That’s the only time I hear about it. I have no idea, dude.
One year and one Doolittle 20th anniversary tour later, the Pixies mainman has a new solo album to promote – NonStopErotik out March 30th – and old questions to answer.
Billboard reports:
"Well, I decided the more I address [new Pixies material] in the press the less likely it is to happen because it kind of identifies me as a person with an agenda to other people in the world, specifically certain people," Thompson says. "People that might be musicians in a band. So when I play that agenda outside of the band bubble on my own, I can see it from their point of view. It comes off as kind of egotistical or assuming and just makes me come off as more of a pompous ass than I really am and makes it more difficult for me to navigate that particular ship into the harbor."
It's pretty obvious – at least to me – that he's referring to Kim's accusations about Frank looking for press. Since their initial 1993 split, Pixies released one new piece of original material – a 2004 iTunes single "Bam Thwok." If silence on the subject is what Frank thinks it will take to make a new Pixies LP happen, I'm just going to stop asking.
Black Francis "Six Legged Man," NonStopErotik (2009)
Pixies "Where Is My Mind (live)"
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2010.