Black Power

It's been a big year for the loyal legion of Frank Black fans. As if two visits to Dublin, and the release of Show Me Your Tears wasn't enough, the Pixies reunion dream resurfaced in the more hopeful form of media speculation.

Preparing to meet the legendary Frank Black on his first visit to Ireland back in the summer, I had decided one thing. I would interview Frank Black of Frank Black & The Catholics, and not the former front man of The Pixies. I wanted to avoid the questions that he'd been plagued by for over a decade. The kind of questions that, scream 'we're the holding flame!' and at worst, 'your solo career is second-rate and we're stuck in the '80s'.
Frank Black had just completed his tenth solo album. He was in Dublin for an intimate one-man show. And, as it happens, the Pixies Reunion Rumour Mill had just been refuelled, doubtless by a combination of media scandalmongers and message-boarding music nerds. In any case the question was on everybody's lips.
I'd read about Frank Black's reaction to the speculation on London's XFM: "The Pixies will get together later this year to record a new double album of Latvian children's lullabies, after which they will tour each and every country whose name begins with the letters Cz."
So I faced two scenarios: hotpress would get the music scoop of the century or I would humiliate myself in front of one of the greatest rock legends of the latter 20th century. It was akin to asking something like, "Will Elvis rise dancing from the grave?"
When I met with the man born Charles Michael Kittredge Thompson IV, he was dressed casually in jeans and a nondescript t-shirt, oozing nonchalance. It was easy to ask.
"I think aloud a lot when I'm doing interviews and I think people are very excited about a Pixies reunion happening," he said. "So people ask about the possibility and just because I don't come out and say 'no, no, no' people kind of interpret that as 'He's gonna do it! He's gonna do it!'
"You'll just have to see," he added with a smile. "You never know."

Fast-forward to the chillier climes of October. Frank was back, this time with The Catholics, again amid Pixies buzz. Just weeks before, the Internet was ablaze with the news that Pixies would reunite.
According to MTV.com, who broke the story, "the notoriously quarrelsome quartet have buried the hatchet, clearing the way for all four original members to hop onstage together for a world tour." The story, which was backed by a 'band spokesman', reported that fans could expect a Pixies rebirth in April 2004, and even – wait for it – the recording of a new studio album.
The story was picked up by Billboard, hotpress and other reputable music journals, and while Pixies fans across the world are no doubt still wet in their collective pants, the band themselves remain tight-lipped.
For Frank's part, it's doubtless because every day since has been occupied touring Europe, and between roles as performer, tour manager, roadie, and bus driver, he has been thoroughly unavailable for comment. Like I said he's a down-to-earth kinda legend.
During his three-day summer sojourn in Dublin he had managed to attend a good few Whelan's sessions with the Hansard, Mundy, Casey and Fish fraternity. ("People are so friendly it's as if there's a conspiracy going on," he told me). Black also made it to Punchestown over the Witnness weekend, but was more preoccupied with media commitments than checking out the lineup.
"I've played Witnness before, but even when I'm performing at festivals, it's not my favourite venue," he admitted. "When I first started out playing festivals with The Pixies it just seemed like the bills were smaller, and they were a lot more intelligent. Now it's just a big kinda fair. A big kids thing.
"I just prefer playing to my audience," he explained. "I prefer that spectacle, even if I'm just playing in a little club. It's my stage. It's my house. It's all about me, my ego. And that's gratifying as a performer.
"When I'm playing festivals I don't feel that kinda connection, and I'm not real good with the showbiz, 'Come on everybody put your hands together!', and all that kinda stuff that a big audience can really feed on. There's nothing wrong with that, but it just tends to be a lot more passive listening and not active listening."
At this point in the interview – despite my active listening – I became conscious of the surroundings. We were in a modest lounge with bad carpet and Beyoncé Knowles shaking her assets on the wide-screen TV.
"I don't really fit in with a lot of the current music scene," continued Black, "and even The Pixies, we didn't fit in, we were just popular. But I don't think any of the music I've ever been associated with is mainstream music. Not that I'm avant-garde by any stretch of the imagination but it's not for big, big audiences. I don't know how to do that kinda thing. There's a reason why bands sell millions of records and the bands that sell millions of records are not very eclectic sounding. They're not that esoteric."
Enter Robbie Williams on MTV. "You can't manufacture a miracle," he sings, almost on cue. Music is quite simply what comes naturally to Frank Black and he is quick to draw the line between the league of millionaire superstars and the art that is practiced by true musicians.
"The Pixies weren't big. It's a myth," he states matter-of-factly. "We were in the right place at the right time and people thought we were pretty good, so we had a good little run there. Our fans were very zealous, especially over here [Europe].
"But people were always trying to push the Pixies to the next level – 'it's gonna be big, go on tour with U2, this is when you guys are gonna break'… I think we always had the sense that we're very happy to have made some good records, and we're making money, but we didn't sell millions of records. And the way that bands are massive now, we weren't in that category. Always a cult band. A successful cult band, but a cult band.
"I'm proud to be a cult artist," he adds. "Those are the kinds of records that I tend to listen to in general so I'm not complaining at all."
I can't help but wonder what, if anything, on MTV rotation would interest Frank Black?
"Maybe I'm just turning into an old guy but I've never listened to current music," he says. "I've got nothing against it. I make current music. But if I've gotta sift through all that (pointing to TV), I don't wanna even bother.
"I listen to mostly older records, and I've always been that way ever since I was a kid. I tend to buy my records based on reputation. And there are so many records from the past that I just haven't found yet. I've got a list a mile long."
It's a list that includes Bowie, Pere Ubu, Husker Du, The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Velvet Underground. But the crown is reserved for Iggy Pop. In a recent issue of MOJO magazine Black wrote: "Once I heard his records it was – that's it, I'm doing it." Eighteen years later and Frank Black is still making music to influence generations.

As for the Pixies reunion scenario, no details are being released but hotpress can confirm from a source very close to the horse's mouth that the Pixies will definitely breathe again. At this stage a series of 'test' gigs around the States next summer is being mooted, but there is no indication as to the scale of what is planned for the Pixies Mark II.
Right now, however, I'd say that Frank Black is hoping for a Christmas free of the hype. And after that, we'll see what 2004 will bring.
One thing's for sure, Frank Black doesn't like to over-analyse his life or art. As far as he's concerned his music speaks for itself. "I have no manifesto to the people," he says. "I have no strong messages except… enjoy rock music. With me."