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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
 Posted - 03/24/2011 : 09:42:14
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Montreal Gazette.
Doolittle revisited
BY BERNARD PERUSSE, POSTMEDIA NEWS MARCH 23, 2011
The Pixies' ongoing Dolittle tour starts a Canadian leg April 9 in Halifax.
Photograph by: Handout, Handout
As the Pixies gear up for the Canadian leg of a tour celebrating their
beloved second album, Doolittle, one gets the impression that the four
members of the once-troubled group smoked the peace pipe and closed
ranks some time ago.
In separate telephone interviews, guitarist Joey Santiago and drummer
David Lovering firmly downplayed tales of hostility between frontman
Black Francis and bassist Kim Deal in the aftermath of Doolittle's 1989
release. There seems no point in raising, for example, reported incidents
of Francis throwing a guitar at Deal in Germany when the group first
toured the album.
For the purposes of our conversation, Santiago and Lovering are the
only witnesses. Francis -- born Charles Thompson; also known as Frank
Black -- and Deal stayed out of this round of interviews.
As far as Santiago is concerned, the period surrounding Doolittle brings
back only good memories. "It was probably one of our better moments
together," he said. "We were really psyched when we were hearing the
album being mixed. We all stayed at Carriage House Studios (in
Stamford, Connecticut) and cooked meals, stuff like that."
Lovering sounded a bit more ambivalent. He said that, by 1989, the
group's recording schedule had been getting more demanding as their
popularity grew.
"We were at the point where we had been around each other a lot," he
said. "And we were young and, like every other band, dysfunctional in
some kind of way. Things were happening for us and we were just taking
it as it came along."
The band broke up four years later, after two more albums, Bossanova
and Trompe le Monde, and reunited in 2004 for an extensive world tour.
It has been suggested that this is when the real diplomatic work had to
be done.
"Let's just say that a few hatchets had to be buried, and that it was all
resolved rather quickly," Santiago said.
Both denied reports that the toughest peace-brokering was between
Francis and Deal. "It was among everybody, really," Santiago said. "It's
not just those two."
Lovering agreed. "That was just a general and easy way to put it," he
said of the oft-cited clash between the singer and bassist.
The proof, both said, was in the music. "It was fun going into the room for
the first time (since the breakup). It was just like we had never left. Even
playing was so easy," Lovering said.
"We had an agreement that if it sucked, we would just shake hands and
move on," Santiago said. "And it didn't. We played the same. We were
pushing beats the same. We were pulling beats the same."
With that foundation, the Doolittle tour, which began in 2009, was
relatively easy to get off the ground, they agreed.
Both said they would rate Doolittle highest in the Pixies canon. Carrying
more than its share of memorable rough-edged pop-rockers like
"Debaser," "Here Comes Your Man" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven," the
album remains, for many fans, their most likable. On this tour, they play it
in its entirety, with the relevant single B-sides, every night.
"The (album's) style is all over the place, so it's great for concerts,"
Santiago said.
Lovering said he appreciated the album's sonic polish and range of
material. "Not only am I not sick of it, but for a drummer, Doolittle's very
easy to play. There's not a lot of crazy punk songs on it. There's a
certain pace and a kind of mid-tempo thing on a lot of songs." he said.
To the surprise of many fans, the group's reunion has not yet resulted in
a new album. A 2004 download-only single, the power-pop rocker "Bam
Thwok," sung by Deal, is the sole release from this millennium. Santiago
put it down to timing, with group members being busy "with other things,
family life and all that" when they get off the road. Lovering said touring
had indeed eaten up a lot of time, but added a new disc has been talked
about for three or four years.
"My fingers are crossed. I don't think we want to wear out our welcome,
just going out on tour after tour. We need something new. And if we do
something new, it better be good, that's all I can say," he said, laughing.
Any future project, to muddy the waters of an old fan debate, would bear
the technically correct name, Pixies, Lovering said, although in
conversation, both members always add "the" before the group name --
with Santiago expressing a preference for the more colloquial use.
A bigger surprise comes when the subject of their influences is raised.
Lovering acknowledged reverence for John Bonham, "any drummer who
played for Steely Dan," and, especially, Rush's Neil Peart. "When I first
started playing for the Pixies, I was doing a lot of fills, believe me, just like
Neil would do. It took a long time and a lot of concentration to keep it
toned down," he said.
Santiago said he was turned on by George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix and
Wes Montgomery. "Having come from the suburbs, I really didn't get the
punk scene. And I still don't. I don't want to play that way," he said.
In spite of such sophisticated roots, it was a whisper-to-scream
aggression that made the Pixies sound so refreshing when their music
slashed a path through '80s synthesizers with their debut EP, Come On
Pilgrim, in 1987.
Many, like Nirvana, heard the call. These days, it's hard to pick up a
magazine or listen to a music podcast that isn't rejoicing in '90s nostalgia,
with Nirvana usually being the first order of business.
In a cruel twist of fate, the Pixies were on their last legs when other bands
reaped the commercial benefits of a back-to-basics sound the Pixies had
a large hand in creating.
Neither Santiago nor Lovering resents the bad timing. "You can look at it
from the outside and see something like that," Lovering said, "but we
were experiencing things. We didn't know any better. That's the way it
was."
Said Santiago: "Everybody gets influenced by something. We certainly
got influenced by other acts in the past. Whatever. You've just got to
pass the torch."
Pixies' Canadian tour dates include: Halifax April 9, Moncton April 10,
Montreal April 13 & 14, Ottawa April 16, Toronto April 18, Winnipeg April
27, Saskatoon April 29, Edmonton May 1, Vancouver May 4 & 5, Victoria
May 5.
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
CTV News - Pixies guitarist clueless about band's lyrics.
Planet S Magazine - The (Do)Little Band That Could. |
Edited by - Carl on 04/21/2011 12:51:01 |
|
Joey & Dave interview, Montreal Gazette.
