The US band, who returned to the music scene earlier this year with the release of ‘EP1’, also had to contend with the departure of bassist Kim Deal. Speaking to NME in a new interview in this week’s issue, available digitally and on newsstands now, Black says he is hoping to recapture the energy the band had when they first started with his new material.
Asked what he wants from the new version of Pixies, Francis answers: “Ultimately, I’m looking for something that hasn’t happened since the first time the band met success in clubs in Europe and the UK back in the ’80s, when people were going nuts. People were throwing themselves at the stage. It was like a religious revival or something. I don’t know if I’ll ever experience something like that again but I always hope that can happen again.”
Quizzed on whether he will continue writing new Pixies songs, he continues: “I have the ambition to. It’s not easy trying to reinvent your band after all these years.” However, as Francis reveals, that not everyone in the band’s camp are keen on new material. “I think they’ve been going down really well. The rumour is there are some people, let’s just say ‘in our camp’, who think it’s too bad these new songs aren’t really lifting the audience during the show.”
Defending the new tracks, Francis says: “You can’t expect people to get excited in the same way over material they’ve never heard or have only heard recently. I think the reaction has been very good. But that’s just me.”
The band are set to play a slew of larger UK and Irish shows later this month, starting with scheduled dates at Manchester Apollo on November 21, Glasgow’s Barrowland on November 22 and London’s Hammersmith Apollo on November 24 and 25.
