Return of the Pixies

Joey & Charles were roommates in Boston, Charles did a study abroad in PR by himself iirc.

One thing about Charles that he never really talks about is that he's the only one of the Pixies without lengthy recurring rehab stays.

All that said, Kim is great and when I saw the Breeders a couple years ago I, even as an old jaded nonplussed "seen everybody back in the day" prick, thought she and the rest of the Breeders were absolutely incredible.

...like their new songs were as good as their "greatest hits", that's something you'd never expect from a rock group in their late 50s.

Yeah I implore everybody to see the Breeders if they tour where you are and I have a feeling that's still gonna be good advice in like 2045

otm. I should probably have seen the Breeders more times than I have (3 times iirc, which is also the number of times I have seen the Pixies, all on reunion tours unfortunately)

That opening footage of them playing Where Is My Mind is just unbearably depressing to me. I am sure I'm projecting, but the thought of servicing a few thousand millennial randos who saw fight club -- I'm sure the money was good, but life's too short. I couldn't somehow compartmentalize my contempt enough to get out there every other night, much less with band mates I didn't like

I dunno - turn up, run through the hits, get out of there with a couple of grand or whatever Frank Black's paying you, come home from the tour with maybe a year's wages. I saw them in 1989 and they looked jaded as fuck even then, so I don't imagine the thrill of creating art lasted longer than about a couple of years if that.

I've mentioned it before, probably on this thread, but I regret seeing the band post reunion. Both times they seemed to be having no fun at all, and when I saw them later with Kim Shattuck she seemed to be the only one having fun.

oh absolutely ... that last Breeders record was incredible, and the last show I saw (which was at least 10 years ago now) was so much better than I expected.

All Nerve really rekindled and solidified my respect for Kim as a songwriter, sound artist, etc. I mean ... my respect for her was already off the charts, but to see her come back in that way was super impressive

xxxpost

Poor Kim S. She's a legend in her own right obvs

Is Frank/Charles really a dickbag iyo? I was a huge fan, but haven't studied up much on him

(I know it's extremely misguided to try to suss a guy's personality from his lyrics, but you think you'd wanna have a beer with him)

i mean i don't know the guy but i don't think it's a super stretch to suss his personality from that doc i posted. he just seems awkward socially, egotistical and not that great at hiding it, and he (total speculation) sees how much more $ he can make w/ the Pixies vs. solo, so he puts up w/ a less-than-ideal work environment - as like 97% of humans do, i might add.

he seems to do better w/ Joey and David than Kim, and like i said, Kim = legend, but also a challenging personality to exist in a tour van with. in that same doc, she brings Kelley on tour and they seem to basically exist in a separate space from the others until it's time to go on stage.

i do wonder if Charles and the other two guys are just generally doing better over the past several years without Kim's energy in the band. i think Joey/David are able to play a more subordinate role and you'd think that would help a lot.

still ... offstage tour footage of them is like 75% silence and 25% small talk you have with a stranger.

also, i should say Charles doesn't seem like a *total* egomaniac, and - again, speculating - i'd guess that has gotten better as he's gotten older. but he still says things here and there that let you know he's in charge, the others are not, etc.

being a rock band is (among the other things it is) a JOB and you can have a job that you don't feel any particular passion for but which you're good at and which is worth doing and which pays you and so you do it

this is not untrue, but i think it's a sad thing and not something to be celebrated. if you told me ahead of time that performer X was miserable and didn't enjoy putting on the shows, i think i definitely wouldn't go. how can you enjoy something like that ?

I'm sure the money was good, but life's too short. I couldn't somehow compartmentalize my contempt enough to get out there every other night, much less with band mates I didn't like

otm

she brings Kelley on tour and they seem to basically exist in a separate space from the others

this was def weird but also just pure gold. kelley clearly has this preternatural cinematic sensibility; she was able to seamlessly slip in and out of the role of "interviewer" and the way she was able to shape the narrative while in the shot was magnetic imo. like how she just spontaneously started interviewing the crowd lined up for the show e.g. or even in her ability to coax stuff out of kim.

the other members of the band i found to be interesting precisely for their lack of self-awareness and their inability to really say anything interesting; it was just so honest the way they just sort of threw around platitudes and, as personalities, maybe even as musical thinkers, couldn't reconcile their outsized roles as idk indie legends (?) with their basically normal everyday lives.

That opening footage of them playing Where Is My Mind is just unbearably depressing to me. I am sure I'm projecting, but the thought of servicing a few thousand millennial randos who saw fight club -- I'm sure the money was good, but life's too short. I couldn't somehow compartmentalize my contempt enough to get out there every other night, much less with band mates I didn't like

I saw them on that reunion tour and it was bad. Zero energy, though I don't know that they were ever a great live act.

(The Breeders OTOH have been great every time I've seen them.)

I love Kim, but the three or four or five times I've seen the Breeders they've been ... just OK. But Kim is such a positive presence - does she ever not smile? - and they always seemed to be having a good time.

I don't know that they were ever a great live act

They were great the first time I saw them! Probably not quite on the treadmill by that point I suppose.

They were great the first time I saw them - which was the 11th show of the reunion in 2004 (Boise).

Admittedly, my anticipation of finally seeing those songs live likely influenced by opinion of the show. There was hardly any talking in between songs.

They headlined Coachella a week later and I went, but skipped the set to see Moving Units.

I saw them in 2007 and it was really lovely - it was their first ever trip to Australia so maybe there was some kind of novelty in playing to adoring crowds for the first time

The opening was amazing - In Heaven, then Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf) then Bone Machine - such a graceful arc into delivering the crowd-pleasing goods

Comparisons to The Who upthread OTM, possibly re personality but also re unique musical contributions - like they are a real "only these 4 people can make this exact sound" band, and anything else is a facsimile

the 3 shows I went to were all at least decent, I was never disappointed, although I did know not to expect a great live act going in.

2004 was at a festival, it wasn't the best time or place to see them, my wife had sunstroke and my friends were pretty drunk (as was I tbf) and shouted a lot and I just wanted to watch the band, but my hazy memory is that it was good

2005 was a lot better, I was really excited to see them which helped, they seemed to be happy to be on stage then tbh, Kim & Charles didn't talk a lot but when they did they were charming, Joey did some guitar theatrics, good gig

2019 was a warm up gig so the smallest place I've seen them, again they didn't do much on stage but I guess having a new album might've got them more interested in playing, the new album isn't going to blow anyone's minds but some of the songs sounded fine mixed in with the old stuff

I think if you know what to expect, they will play the songs well but not v passionately, but they weren't known much for being a live act, hell I've been to a v boring Frank Black solo gig before and they were always better than that. Maybe I missed the worst of the by the numbers we hating being here years because I skipped 14 years?

Yeah, tbh, I've seen Frank Black live a few times, and he and his band killed it.

Ha, Emsworth, sounds like you were at the same Sydney show I was at! I thought it was pretty good, stunned at Charles’ ability to summon the screams 20 years down the track.

and yes Kim Deal is a god on par with a fundamental law of nature

Hey Matthew K! Yeh Sydney at Luna Park - I thought the show had a nice vibe, certainly relative to any dour, dialing-it-in reports above - Kim in particular I remember beaming through the whole thing

experience definitely given a sentimental boost by my high school self being v.pleased to finally see The Pixies - haven't had the slightest urge to go to any subsequent tours though - if they had made a new album with Kim then maybe, ISTR it was in the air for a while and maybe Bluefinger was the slightly disappointing result?

Colonel Poo - we might have seen them at the same gigs. I saw them at a festival in 2004 (think it was V - in the park near Chelmsford, anyway) and then at Alexandra Palace in 2005.

Exactly the same experience for me Emsworth, I was about 20 feet in front of Kim and she lit the room. I was excited for new music after I heard Bam Thwok but I was completely unsurprised when she bailed from the album sessions. I was disappointed she’d agreed to it actually.

jealous of you two, I went to V and had to bail halfway through the Pet Shop Boys making 6,000 shirtless homosexuals dance and laugh and spin, to catch an hour and a bit of 8,000 thirtysomethings standing nearly completely still watching four fiftysomethings standing completely still, one of them smiling

absolutely idiotic scheduling decision, Pixies should have been on at 6:30 pm so they and the Pixies-specific part of the audience could be in bed by dark.

and then had Soulwax close. after the PSB, not overlapping.

This band is such a bummer. In the sense that, when they were largely mysterious and faceless in the late 80s, their music sounded like it was coming from outer space or something. Everything over the last 20 years has just been depressing. I know they need money, but just.... do something else.

otm alas

I'm very much at peace with it. I think of them as two different bands.

I think they were the catalyst of literally every band who had a 80s/90s semi-hit getting back together

Hmm. I'm trying to think of other '80s and '90s bands that broke up but got back together after the Pixies. They always seemed kind of like a big fish that followed all the other reunions. Television, Gang of Four, Mission of Burma, Wire and so on.

Pixies inspired Slowdive, Ride, that generation

eh, I think the return of mbv did that.

Touche

My brain won't let me access American indie bands who may have reformed in the sights but there are a bunch

aughts

I'm very much at peace with it. I think of them as two different bands.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, June 3, 2020 6:09 AM (four hours ago)

this exact feeling clicked for me several years ago. i don't really think of post-reunion activities as damaging their legacy, because as far as i'm concerned the legacy of the original Pixies is set in stone. (maybe that's not fair / doesn't make sense, but that's where i'm at.)

and what they do now doesn't bum me out! i mean, those guys built a band lots of ppl will pay to see and they have bills to pay. who am i to stop them from working? it's fine ... there are a million other (newer) bands to be excited about.

Happy birthday, Kim and Kelley

wow, what are the chances of them sharing the same birthday

lol