PIXIES' BOSSA SAYS IT'S NOVA!
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PIXIES' singer BLACK FRANCIS ended months of speculations over the future of the band last week with confirmation that they have split.
Speaking on Mark Radcliffe's Radio 5 show HIT THE NORTH last Thursday, Francis admitted that the group had officially disbanded. Francis has spent the last few months on his solo project under the name Frank Black, enlisting the services of Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago.
Bassist Kim Deal, meanwhile, is working on the Breeders' second LP, and drummer David Lovering is recording with Nitzer Ebb.
Following the announcement, Francis spoke exclusively to NME giving the reasons for the demise of one of the most influential bands of their age.
" Nothing really happened. I decided to disband the group because I didn't want to be in the group any more, " the singer said. " I just think that some groups are maybe cut out for the long haul and being together for then or 20 years, but no way am I going to do that. I don't even know whether I'm going to be in the music business for that long.
" If you wanna improve as a songwriter or as a person that makes records, you've gotta decide what's the best way to improve yourself and for me it's playing with other musicians... It's like a film-maker who's started out making cowboy movies - after a while, if he were to be forced to only make cowboy movies, that doesn't seem like a very good proposition. It seems it's like it's holding you down. And that's the way I feel about it. I don't wanna just make cowboy movies, I wanna try and see if I can make another kind of film. "
Admitting that he had not told the rest of the group about the split, Francis said that he had become " sick of just the Pixies " and " bored " with singing " Monkey Gone To Heaven ". He also cited pressure from the band's record company, 4AD, to deliver the next Pixies album as contributing to his decision to split the band.
" We haven't played together in a while, since whenever our last gig was. I was like, 'See you, we're gonna take a vacation for a year', but after a couple of months people are bugging me - not necessarily people in the band, but record company people and management people, saying, 'What are you going to do about the Pixies...'
" Fine! F*** it! Forget it! I'm there spending a load of f***ing money on a record - and it's a good record - and all you guys wanna talk about is when I'm going to do the next f***ing Pixies record. See ya! Deal with this record, sell that f***er, 'cos I'm the one that's in red for it.
" FORGET IT! ALL YOU GUYS WANNA TALK ABOUT IS WHEN I'M GONNA DO IT WITH THE BIG P-WORD AGAIN. F*** YOU! THAT'S WHEN I'M GONNA DO THE NEXT F***ING PIXIES' RECORD. SEE YA! DEAL WITH THIS RECORD, SELL THAT F***ER. "
" I want these business people's attention. I don't want them to be treating it like, 'Oh, that's nice, Charles has done a nice little solo project on the side'. F*** you, man, this is my next batch of tunes... "
Reflecting on the Pixies' seven year career - which started out with Francis and Santiago placing an advert in their local press for a " bassist into Husker Du and Peter, Paul and Mary " and ended with widespread acclaim for all five albums released - francis observed: " Forget about the Pixies. You bought the records, play 'em when you're feeling nostalgic but please, we got a new record here. Observe this. "
NME
 Last Updated 03-21-97 |