Photo credit: Michael Halsband
When interviewing an act like the Pixies, the initial urge is to let 20 years of pent up fandom come pouring out in a fury of stalker-like questioning. And most of the time this approach is appropriate. Most bands who’ve been around that long rarely have anything new and noteworthy to talk about anyways.
But as it turns out, for this tour at least, the Pixies have a lot to talk about. For starters, longtime bassist and integral cog Kim Deal left the group last summer. Her replacement, Kim Shattuck, was recently let go on suspect terms. And luckily, they’ve located a replacement for the Kims, Paz Lenchantin of A Perfect Circle, because they have a huge-ass tour coming up in support of EP-1 and EP-2, their first releases in 22 years.
Amidst all of this, I would’ve forgiven drummer David Lovering if he came off as a bit frenzied when I spoke with him on the phone while the group was prepping for the North American jaunt, which dips through the Orpheum on Saturday night. But no, to his credit, Lovering was charmingly amicable, cool as the chorus to “Hey.”
I’m hoping to eventually get to where you guys are now, but I’d like to start by circling back a little and figure out exactly how it is you got here. Instead of taking it back to the beginning, I was hoping we could start at the reunion. Does that feel like ten years ago?
No, it flew by. It’s funny because at the seven year mark it was almost like, are you kidding me? We were stunned because that was longer than we were initially a band. But it’s flown by and we’re just amazed at how long it’s been so far.
You guys came back before comebacks were a trend. Nowadays, it seems like there’s a very strategic business model to comebacks. Was there ever any pressure to say you needed to do it a certain way with an album and a tour and everything?
No. When we decided to get back together in 2003, 20004, it was just to do a bunch of shows. And we were quite surprised to see the impact with how happy people were to see us. I think the first couple shows were in Minneapolis then we did Coachella. It blew us away that people wanted to see us. And we had to do a double take. It was amazing. We’re a very fortunate band with a nice fanbase and we didn’t have to do new material. And we didn’t! We went a loooong time without doing anything new and we were very lucky to be able to do that. But it got to the point where we might’ve been turning into a nostalgia band and the new material came into light, EP-1 and EP-2.
So this new material isn’t stuff you’ve been working on for the past ten years? It came about through an actual decision that you need to hunker down and write some new stuff?
Yeah, well, we were doing the Doolittle tour, and again, that was only going to be one little run and it turned into over two years of touring around the world. And new material just seemed like something we had to do. Just to give us a new vibe. I don’t think we could’ve gone out again and felt good about doing that. Four years ago we started talking about it and it took a good two-and-a-half years of just talking about it, throwing around ideas, and talking about songs before we actually went into the studio and recorded all of this. And around that time, we took a vote and said we can’t do this unless it’s good. We have to all agree that we like what we’re doing and like the songs. So we’re happy with everything and the way it worked out and here we are now!
The model you guys are using is a little unconventional–no singles, no rollout, dropping at random.
Yeah, it’s interesting. It makes everything a surprise, which as a magician, I like the idea of surprises. So we got our first surprise when Kim Deal left the band, then we got new music, a new tour, things like that.
Does that take any of the pressure off? Not having people sitting around, building the anticipation for the first release in 20 years?
Yeah, well, I don’t think it takes the pressure off us. I just think it’s a different way than blowing your whole load at once. It’s quite nice for the touring aspect as well cause we still have more material coming out.
I read recently that “Greens and Blues” from EP-2 is a sequel to “Gigantic.” I guess I’d simply wonder why? It seems like it adds a gigantic–no pun intended–amount of pressure to it, where people are expecting a classic.
Hmm, okay, I didn’t know that. [laughs] I’m not the person to ask about this. I don’t even know the lyrics to most Pixies songs. It’s funny, we were rehearsing yesterday and doing “Is She Weird” and they asked me to double up on the vocals and I had to have them write down what the words were. I mean, I’ve been with the band 20 years and I still don’t know the lyrics. And I don’t wanna say it’s just with the Pixies! It’s with all music. I like the melody, but I don’t listen to the content.
So when I was researching for this interview, I came across that recent Guardian piece that touches on Kim Deal’s departure and basically states that one day she just up and left. Is that really how it went down?
Yeah, yeah, we were all having coffee and Kim just said, “I’m flying home.” And it was just, boom. And that’s the way it was, just clear cut, she was good with it. And we didn’t know what to do. We panicked and that whole night was just plotting with the band. Do we go forward? And we figured we were halfway through the recording process, we had another four weeks to go in Wales. So we just hunkered down, the three guys, and said let’s do this. We picked up double duties, as far as Joe and I doing vocals, because we’re missing at least one part of the Pixies and we just forged ahead.
Was there ever any attempt to scramble to get her back or ask her to reconsider?
Oh, we did, we did. We begged her. We did it all. And it was sad. But we wished her well, you know? We knew she made her decision and we just had to go with it. And it’s funny because before I flew to Wales to go record, everyone was asking me if I was excited. And I was like, no. Then they’d ask me why I wasn’t excited. And I had to say, you don’t understand, with the Pixies something always goes down. I mean, it was still fun, but…
Do you know if Kim’s decision had anything to do with the new material or whether she disagreed with the direction the band was heading in?
I think it might’ve been a variety of reasons. I know she had the Breeders thing lined up. And we had spoken about only doing five songs and when we were there we wrote a bunch of other songs. And I think it was just a long time coming, so she decided it was just her time.
So you ended up hiring Kim Shattuck as a temporary replacement. Was this understood when you asked her to join that this was going to be a temporary stopgap?
Yeah, she was only hired for the European tour. She says otherwise, but she was hired for the European tour.
She was quoted in an interview with NME saying she was let go for being “overly enthusiastic,” so I have to ask, why do the Pixies hate enthusiasm?
We don’t!
How has the relationship with the new bassist, Paz Lenchantin, worked out so far?
Oh, fantastic. We’re having fun, she can play bass, and sing like the dickens.
Is that going to be temporary as well?
We hope to add her. She’s doing great and we’re just enjoying it right now.
So for the first time in over 20 years you guys are touring around new material. Does it feel different than what you’ve been up to for the past ten?
Oh yeah, definitely, definitely. We have a lot of material. We do a different set every night. And it’s about 30 songs and we just barrel through them. And now we’re adding in new things because all the old songs are like riding a bike and the new ones are great because you get to hone it and make it better and better and better. So that’s the fun part of it.
I hate to ask, but EP-1 wasn’t met with a great critical reception. Did this lead you to second guess yourself for putting out new music?
No, we were happy with what we did with all the recordings–there’ll be another installment, EP-3–and there was some song choices we had to make. We might not have sequenced them right or picked the right songs to make the right impact, but I think it’s fine.
Once all these EPs come out is there plans to package them as an LP?
Yes, in the end it’ll all be one complete package.
At the Orpheum, you guys have Fidlar opening. Is that a decision the band made?
Yeah, we usually get a lot of bands that ask us and we have Fidlar, Best Coast, and the Cults on the North American tour. And I know all of them.
So that’s all I have for questions about the band, but what do you have personally coming up in the pipeline?
Magic is all I do on the side and that’s really it. And I’m still busy with the Pixies. And a family! I’m 52 and I have two young boys now. It took me this long to be responsible.
So you tour doing magic, right?
Yeah, I have the science show that I do. And that’s been on the back-burner recently because of the Pixies, but I always have magic with me. So after shows or in bars or wherever I am, tricks always pop up. It actually works better that way, when you see a close up trick, it’s always more powerful than watching someone on stage.
PIXIES
W/ FIDLAR
SATURDAY 1.18.14
ORPHEUM THEATRE
1 HAMILTON PL.
BOSTON
7:30PM/ALL AGES/SOLD OUT
CROSSROADSPRESENTS.COM/ORPHEUM-THEATRE