The Pixies

'Rock Band' Game's First Downloadable Album Revealed, But Nirvana Still Just A 'Rumor'

18 Apr 2008 09:00:00 EDT

Judas Priest's Screaming for Vengeance will be available next week, with LPs from the Cars and the Pixies to follow.
By Stephen Totilo

Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance
Photo: Sony

In what is said to be the first of a steady stream of announcements, MTV Games announced Friday (April 18) that Judas Priest's 1982 album, Screaming for Vengeance, will be the hit video game's first fully downloadable, playable album. The album will be available next week. "That album was an important, seminal heavy-metal album in the early '80s," Alex Rigopulos, co-founder of MTV-owned development studio Harmonix, told MTV news during a Thursday phone interview. "It was on the short list of albums that had to be available on the platform." Following Priest will be the Cars' The Cars in May and the Pixies' Doolittle in June. While more than 100 tracks have been offered for download since "Rock Band" was released in November, albums — promised shortly after the game was announced — have yet to be offered. Rigopulos said that it has taken time for record companies to find full masters for classic albums and for the material to then get encoded into songs that can be played via his game's guitars, drums and microphone. The idea of offering a full album clicks with him, even if he recognizes that it's not the most modern of ideas. "In the last decade or so, we've gotten primarily used to listening to music as singles in our iPod," Rigopulos said. "But a lot of this music was composed and structured to be listened to as an album." Playing through the album can transform or enhance one's appreciation of a band, something that has already happened for him with the Judas Priest record. "I only knew about four of the songs on the album before this whole process started. It was by playing it in 'Rock Band' that I first experienced it as an album. It struck me how powerful it is to play through an album. ... Doing it as a play experience gets this music inside you." If you've been a follower of the "Rock Band" hype, you might be confused why Judas Priest is getting the debut slot. The first album announced for the game was the Who's Who's Next?, which Rigopulos said is still caught up in the process of a record company delivering the master music assets to the game developer. And what of Nirvana's Nevermind? Rigopulos said that one is just a rumor. (Regarding the Who, Rigopulos added that there has been so much interest from fans that there will be "another announcement of something" regarding that band and the game.) The developer wouldn't tease any albums beyond the three announced, but when asked if more recent bands like Fall Out Boy could also get the "Rock Band" album treatment, he said, "I think we're going to be doing all of the above, [keeping] in line with the platform strategy that will include all decades of rock and all subgenres of rock." Downloading an album for "Rock Band" won't be much different than downloading a song. The download will not include any special play-the-album mode or add-ons based on the band. It will strictly provide a new slate of songs. So don't expect to download Judas Priest avatars or anything. Rigopulos said Harmonix sees the character a "Rock Band" gamer plays as a projection of that player. "For us, the idea of injecting licensed characters doesn't make a lot of sense for 'Rock Band.' " While singles are released weekly for "Rock Band," Rigopulos said his team could not yet promise a regularly scheduled offering of albums, not even at the monthly rate. And in the weeks that albums do come out, no other singles may be offered. In the longer term, however, the offering of music will ramp up. Albums will be offered as $15 downloads on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The tracks can be bought individually for $1.99; Screaming for Vengeance has 10 songs. It will be downloadable on Tuesday on the Xbox 360 and on Thursday for the PS3. And to owners of the PS2 version of "Rock Band" or the upcoming Wii version? Downloading the albums won't be an option, but those gamers aren't being forgotten. "Suffice it to say that all of this content we're amassing for next-gen consoles, we want to make it available to as broad an audience as possible as we can." Also on Friday, MTV Games announced that more than 8 million songs have been purchased as paid downloads for "Rock Band" via the PS3 and Xbox 360, a significant increase from just three weeks ago, when the 6 million mark was achieved. Check out the Multiplayer blog, updated daily, for even more gaming coverage.

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Foo Fighters — And Friends — Announce Dates For Acoustic Tour

16 May 2006 21:11:00 EDT

Timmy Curran, Frank Black will open up on the stripped-down jaunt.
By Corey Moss

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl
Photo: Karl Walter/Getty Images

The Foo Fighters are finally living up to their promise to do an acoustic tour. Three days after singer Dave Grohl made a surprise acoustic appearance at KROQ-FM's annual Weenie Roast (see "Chili Peppers Look Back, Matisyahu Climbs High At Weenie Roast"), the Foos announced a full-band (and then some) trek through intimate theaters this summer. The outing, which kicks off July 11 in Seattle, not only marks the band's first acoustic tour, but will reunite Grohl with former Nirvana and Foo Fighters guitarist Pat Smear. Smear, who has most recently been playing reunion shows with seminal punk band the Germs, is one of four additional musicians who will join the Foo Fighters on the tour. Violinist Petra Haden (who has played with Beck and Green Day) and keyboardist Rami Jaffee (the Wallflowers, Everclear), who both appear on the Foos' In Your Honor, are also on the trek, as well as percussionist Drew Hester, who produced drummer Taylor Hawkins' side project, Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders. The eight-piece band will debut live most of the songs from In Your Honor's second, more mellow side, as well as mix in stripped-down versions of Foo favorites. "Instead of going out there and sweating my butt off every night, I'll be playing with my brushes quietly and stuff," Hawkins said in January (see "Foo Fighters Showcasing Their Softer Side On Upcoming Tour"). "I think it'll be good for us, though, as musicians to go out and explore that dynamic." Surfer-turned-rocker Timmy Curran will open for the Foo Fighters in July, and Pixies singer Frank Black will handle the duties in August. Before launching the acoustic tour, the Foo Fighters will headline their largest show ever on June 17 at Hyde Park in London. After selling out the 70,000-person capacity venue, the band obtained the city's permission to expand the concert grounds to accommodate 15,000 more fans. Additional dates for the acoustic tour will be announced shortly, while tickets for the announced dates go on sale Friday. Foo Fighters tour dates, according to their spokesperson:

7/11 - Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
7/13 - Berkeley, CA @ Berkeley Community Theatre
7/17 - San Diego, CA @ Civic Theater
8/16 - Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theatre
8/21 - New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
8/22 - Boston, MA @ Wang Center
8/25 - Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre

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Pixies Film Captures Onstage Magic, Offstage Indifference

17 Mar 2006 06:00:00 EST

'LoudQUIETloud' follows influential alt-rockers on 2004 reunion tour.
By Larry Carroll

"loudQUIETloud: A Film About Pixies"
Photo: Stick Figure Productions

They were ugly, beautiful, and then ugly all over again. They were obscure, influential, and then once again obscure. They were the Pixies and — thanks to a new documentary premiering this week at the South by Southwest Film Festival — they're being immortalized as one of the great contradictions in modern music. "The film is called 'loudQUIETloud,' and that's kind of what it was," director Steven Cantor recently said. "The Pixies had a reunion tour in 2004, and we followed them around the whole tour, and they are four very remarkable people. Very different people from each other, in wildly different phases of their lives. Onstage there was this incredible camaraderie and chemistry, and they sounded fantastic. "And offstage," he added, grinning, "they don't really talk to each other that much." If you're unfamiliar with the names Charles Thompson, Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and David Lovering ... well ... you're probably in the majority. The Pixies hardly broke any sales records during their original 1986-1993 run, their music videos were rarely seen by anyone but insomniacs, and you'd be hard-pressed to find "Monkey Gone to Heaven" available at your next karaoke party. Reminiscent of other ahead-of-their-time acts like the Velvet Underground or Big Star, however, the people who did buy their albums went out and started up their own bands, and proceeded to rip them off with the greatest of reverence. "I'm a huge Pixies fan," Cantor insisted, listing himself among a group of creatively minded admirers ranging from Modest Mouse to Queens of the Stone Age. "I heard they were getting back together, and my [co-director Matthew Galkin] and I were on the phone trying to get tickets. We were on the phone and were like, 'Wait, we gotta make this movie.' "We called their manager and he was like, 'Yeah, there were 17 other people who sent in their proposals,' " the director sighed. If you remember a band named Nirvana who built upon the "loud chorus/quiet verse/loud chorus" aesthetic with minor hits like "Smells Like Teen Spirit," then you know the Pixies. If you remember the key moment at the end of "Fight Club" when Edward Norton says, "You've met me at a very strange time in my life" while watching all of society collapsing around him, then you know the Pixies and their song "Where Is My Mind?" Indeed, if you've ever a heard a soft intro give way to a thunderous chorus in the last two decades, you've been touched by that band you've never heard of. "I don't think documentaries should necessarily have a visual style that you impose on a subject," Cantor said of the simple stare of his camera's lens. "You just think about what the subject is going to be, and then come up with a style and look that will suit that topic." For this particular project, that subject was the bandmembers' none-too-subtle disdain for each other, manifesting itself in a collection of love/hate moments that bring a double-meaning to the film's title. After their differences tore them apart in the early '90s, their solo projects were constantly met with questions about whether they'd ever reunite. When they finally did, Cantor and Galkin were there to capture the ugliness, the beauty and the noise that made them as contradictory as ever. "Onstage, there was like this electric chemistry and fans going crazy and telling them 'Kim Deal is God' and 'Charles, I wanna have your babies,' " he said, referring to some of the footage that fuels the film. "They're just these rock gods. And offstage, and behind the scenes, they're very regular people just living their lives, each with their own struggles." "There was pretty crazy tension," he continued. "Kim was trying to stay sober through the whole tour; she had insisted that it be a dry tour. Dave the drummer's father died, and that kind of made him go off the rocks and start drinking ... so that created some tension." "Charles, Frank Black, the lead singer, he was kinda into his girlfriend, soon-to-be wife, who's pregnant now with their second baby, and Joey was doing a documentary," Cantor shook his head. "Not really in sync offstage, but amazing together." Some things never change, and other things — like the Pixies' music — are better off that way. "There's no new stuff," Cantor said of classics like "Here Comes Your Man" and "Gouge Away" performed in the film. "It's all old stuff. They don't have a new album or anything." After South by Southwest in Austin, the film is aiming for a major release that might help polish up the legacy of a band that history has largely forgotten. The music in "loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies" is anything but steady; the love of their loyal fans, however, remains loud-loud-loud. Visit Movies on MTV.com for more from Hollywood, including news, interviews, trailers and more.

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"LoudQUIETloud: A Film About Pixies" Photos

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For The Record: Quick News On Green Day, No Doubt, Cuban Link, Bright Eyes, Clay Aiken, Pixies & More

19 Oct 2005 18:20:00 EDT

Latin VMAs postponed; Bright Eyes live album in works; Clay plans holiday tour.
By MTV News staff report

Photo: Getty Images

MTV Latin America announced on Wednesday (October 19) that it has postponed its fourth annual Video Music Awards until further notice due to the increased intensity of Hurricane Wilma, currently a Category 5 storm brewing off the Gulf of Mexico. The Latin VMAs were slated to be held on Thursday in Mexico's Playa Del Carmen resort in the Caribbean, which MTV felt was a bit too close to Wilma's projected path. "While the eye of the storm is not expected to hit the Mexican Caribbean, we feel its effect is close enough to greatly impact our production," MTV said in a statement. "Unfortunately, given the magnitude of this event, we could not wait for further developments to make this decision without jeopardizing the creative integrity of the show. Furthermore, the safety and security of our staff, audience, talent and clients is our top priority." There is no word yet on when the show will be rescheduled. ... A charity auction to help victims of Hurricane Katrina will go online at noon PT on Monday with items donated by Blink-182, Good Charlotte, Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, New Found Glory, Nirvana, No Doubt, Ozzy Osbourne, the Ramones, Rob Zombie, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Used, 311 and dozens of other bands as well as music and extreme-sports companies. The Unite the United charity organization was founded by the organizers of the Vans Warped Tour and Taste of Chaos Tour; for more information or to bid, go to www.UniteTheUnited.com. ... A Bright Eyes live album, Motion Sickness, will surface November 15 through Conor Oberst's Team Love Records — but only in independent record stores. The album will contain 15 tracks that were recorded last winter. Look for the disc to include "Land Locked Blues," "Old Soul Song" and a cover of Elliott Smith's "The Biggest Lie." ... Cuban Link is getting himself in trouble with the law, at least on television. He guest stars in an upcoming episode of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," in which he plays Enrique, a pimp who works with child prostitutes that a nun is trying to get off the street. When that nun turns up dead in her inner-city church, Vincent D'Onofrio's detective character questions Link, who leads him to some not-so-usual suspects. The episode, called "The Acts of Contrition," airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on NBC. ... Clay Aiken won't be home for the holidays — he's going on what he calls the second installment of his Joyful Noise Tour, a follow-up to the holiday trek he did last year. This time, he'll sing songs that he recorded for the platinum Merry Christmas With Love that didn't appear on the album, as well as new arrangements for some traditional tunes. The tour will also feature a new element, a series of vignettes with a running storyline that Aiken wrote, featuring two main characters and supporting roles which will be cast in each city with local actors. The 40-date tour kicks off November 2 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and concludes December 30 in Clearwater, Florida. Meanwhile, Aiken has been in the studio recording his next album. ... Prosecutors in the criminal trial of Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, the owners of the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island; and Daniel Biechele, Great White's tour manager, want the judge in the case to reject the defense's motion to have some of the charges against the three men discarded. According to The Associated Press, the three each face 200 manslaughter counts — 100 for the lives lost in the 2003 blaze at the club, and 100 as the result of criminal-negligence claims. The defense feels 100 of those charges should be dropped, because the Derderians were never given advance notice of existing fire-code violations at the club — the same code violation cited as the impetus behind the involuntary-manslaughter charges. The defense further argued fire-code violations weren't justifiable grounds for a manslaughter charge. The AP reports prosecutors countered that, by installing illegal flammable soundproofing foam, the Derderians created the unsafe conditions that led to the blaze. ... Want to go bowling with Jimmy Eat World? They'll play with you for two hours on November 12 in Chicago if you're the lucky winner of their bowling-party auction on eBay (travel not included). Proceeds from the winning bid will be donated to P.L.A.Y., which provides creative outlets for young people exposed to violent environments. ... Jack Johnson, who is recording music for February's "Curious George" soundtrack (Will Ferrell voices the Man in the Yellow Hat in the movie), will release two DVDs on November 22: "Live in Japan" (from August 2004) and "A Weekend at the Greek" (shot last month). Johnson has also just signed ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra), his opening band this summer, to his Brushfire Records. Their album will be released in January. ... The book "Fool the World," an oral history of the Pixies, is now due in the U.S. in March (though it's already out in the U.K.). Written by Josh Frank and Caryn Ganz, it tells the story of the group from the mouths of the bandmembers as well as those around them, such as tour managers, producers, engineers, album designers, label employees and other artists, including Thom Yorke, Beck, Bono, Courtney Love and Perry Farrell. ... Eric Clapton has sold the world rights to his life story and plans to write an autobiography to hit stores in spring 2007. Clapton has rarely granted interviews and has never spoken in great detail about his life, but his publisher, Doubleday, says that the legendary musician will write about every aspect of his personal and musical history, along with collaborator Christopher Simon Sykes, a close friend of Clapton for nearly 40 years. The book will also come out in audio form, to coincide with a box-set retrospective and a world tour. ... Tired of touring, touring and, well, more touring, Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock has gone and created a record label, called Glacial Pace, and has announced his first signing: Minnesota singer/songwriter Mason Jennings. The label business is nothing new for Brock; for a while, he worked as an A&R rep for Seattle's Sub Pop Records, and recently signed Montreal buzz band Wolf Parade to the label. ... 10.18.2005 A couple from Fantasia Barrino's hometown have a bone to pick with how the "American Idol" winner describes High Point, North Carolina, in her autobiography, "Life Is Not a Fairy Tale." Kyle Sandler and Jennifer English have launched a Web site (www.FantasiasLies.com) in protest of Barrino's claim in the book that she couldn't read after attending local schools and that she and her friends used to call High Point the "land of the dead," according to an Associated Press report. The pair wants signs promoting Barrino at the city's entrances taken down because they think her book portrays the city negatively. A city council member said the signs are not permanent, but there is no plan to take them down. ... The star-studded charity cover of Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven," originally recorded to benefit tsunami victims but now benefiting hurricane victims as well, has finally been released — on iTunes. The single features Gwen Stefani, Scott Weiland, Pink, Mary J. Blige, Elton John, Kelly Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Steven Tyler, Robert Downey Jr. and Gavin Rossdale, among others. Proceeds will be disturbed to those in need by Save the Children. "The magnitude of these natural disasters surpasses anything we've seen in our lifetime," said Sharon Osbourne, who executive produced the song. "With this single and other relief efforts, our intent is to keep these tragedies in the forefront of everyone's minds. We must not forget and do all we can to help these people rebuild their lives." ... Usher has been added to the list of performers for a concert next week in Los Angeles celebrating the 25-year anniversary of BET. Alicia Keys, R. Kelly and Mary J. Blige will also perform on "25 Strong: The BET Silver Anniversary Celebration," airing November 1 on BET. ... Punk legends the Dead Boys will reunite for an October 31 concert in Cleveland to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the band's formation. The concert will feature the remaining members of the Boys' original lineup: drummer Johnny Blitz, guitarist Cheetah Chrome, bassist Jeff Magnum and guitarist Jimmy Zero. Frontman Stiv Bators was hit by a car in 1990 and died from resulting injuries. ... Thrice's Vheissu hasn't even been in stores for 24 hours, and already the California rockers are calling on fans to remake the disc's first single, "Image of the Invisible." To the winner goes "a sick prize package" of $4,000 in home recording equipment. The band posted all the tracks and guitar tabs from the song online. "You or your band can do a remix or a cover of the song in any style you want, with no restrictions," instructs the band's Web site. Submissions are due November 1. ... Elton John is slated to perform a charity benefit for the New York Restoration Project, which is conducting an online auction in which bidders can win the chance to go backstage at a Dave Matthews Band concert, record with Faith Hill in her studio, watch Robert De Niro direct his latest movie, hang with Hugh Jackman on the set of "Prestige," race with Jeff Gordon, spend time with Martha Stewart in her private gardens or get advice from Dr. Ruth over lunch. The auction (at www

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Pixies One Fight Away From Finishing New LP, Release Live DVD

05 Oct 2005 18:26:00 EDT

Joking aside, leader Frank Black says band is getting along.
By Corey Moss

Photo: John Shearer

Frank Black joked on Tuesday that the first new Pixies album in 14 years is only one step away from being finished. "I haven't removed enough Kim Deal compositions from it yet," he deadpanned, referring to his former nemesis, the band's bassist and other singer/songwriter. "We'll have a fight about that or something. And of course, in the end I will dominate" (see "Frank Black Says Pixies 'Getting Closer' To Making New LP"). The truth is, Black and Deal are getting along, which is the key to the album Pixies fans never thought possible until the band reunited to tour in 2004. In fact, intra-band scuttlebutt has it that Deal wants to revisit a potential Pixies song that Black wrote for the "Shrek 2" soundtrack, which was abandoned in favor of Deal's "Bam Thwok." (That song never made the soundtrack either, but was finished and released on iTunes.) "It's an old song that I've written lyrics to a few times and I've never been satisfied with, so Kim has expressed interest in some of that publishing money — I'm just kidding," Black said. "No. Kim said, 'Hey, maybe we should start on that one.' I was very surprised to hear that. I would say that is considerable progress, that she has expressed interest in not only working on a song, but one of my songs. "I think Kim is a little more afraid of the legacy being ruined, which is fair enough," he continued. "But I think Joey [Santiago] and I are like, 'We're willing. We just want to ride this cash cow into the arena. We're just like, 'Come on, let's just do it, man. We're the Pixies, of course it's going to be good.' And she's all, 'Yeah, but what if it's not good.' So we'll see what happens. We haven't really been able to think about it up until now, because we've been too busy collecting money from all these festivals we do. It takes a lot of counting to get through all that cash." In the meantime, this week the group released Pixies Sell Out, its first concert DVD. Most of the footage was taken from a show in Belfort, France, on July 3 of last year, although there are also bonus songs from seven other 2004 shows, including Austin City Limits, New Orleans' Voodoo Music Festival, Japan's Fuji Rock Festival, England's Move Festival and Scotland's T in the Park. "I made one comment in the edit, and that was to remove the shot of the topless gal on top of her boyfriend's shoulders in the crowd," Black said. "[Producers] try to get you involved, but I find with that sort of material ... I kinda just look out of the corner of my eye. If I get too involved then it might never come out." Black has yet to watch the finished product, but he actually watched the Belfort show just minutes after performing there. "Whoever it was that was filming the show had a rough cut of the performance on a DVD for us, and we all watched it on the bus and were all surprised that we could look at something so quickly," he recalled. "We all agreed that it looked good at the time. I think it probably was the best filmed performance." The bonus material on Pixies Sell Out also includes some songs from Coachella, the reunited Pixies' first festival (see "Cure, Pixies Hottest Things At Coachella (Aside From Weather)"). "The show was kind of off/on, of/on, off/on — and much to everybody's relief, especially the promoter's, we did in fact show up," Black said. "And it was [near] L.A., so of course everyone in the audience knew who we were, as opposed to, say, Spokane." Although the Pixies have been slow in getting their reunion album off the ground, Black has been rather prolific with his solo material (see "Frank Black Covers Elvis, Duets With Ex-Wife On Dylanesque Album"). His follow-up to this summer's acclaimed Honeycomb — which he says will not be called The Sicilian, as he'd previously said, but will be called something else — is near completion and could include upward of 25 songs when it's released early next year. "They won't all fit on one CD so we technically would have to go over to two CDs, so I don't know," Black said. "Is it really good enough? I might be opening myself up to all the classic kind of criticism. It's either gonna be like, 'He hit a triple, and now it's a home run!' Or it could be like, 'Yes, we all like Honeycomb fine and dandy, but please don't irk us with more of your natural mush.' "So I need to decide if it's gonna be a self-indulgent epic or if it's gonna be a lean and mean kind of thing," he continued, before adding, "I'm more of a self-indulgent epic kind of guy." Pixies Sell Out DVD track list:

"Bone Machine"
"Wave of Mutilation"
"In Heaven"
"Something Against You"
"River Euphrates"
"U-Mass"
"Cactus"
"Ed Is Dead"
"I Bleed
"Monkey Gone to Heaven"
"Hey"
"Levitate Me"
"Subbacultcha"
"Dead"
"Gouge Away"
"Velouria"
"Mr. Grieves"
"Crackity Jones"
"Broken Face"
"Isla de Encanta"
"Tame"
"Here Comes Your Man"
"The Holiday Song"
"Where Is My Mind?"
"Vamos"
"Wave of Mutilation"
"Gigantic"
"Caribou"
"Here Comes Your Man"
"Debaser"
"Gigantic"
"U-Mass"
"Crackity Jones"
"Nimrod's Son"
"The Holiday Song"
"Subbacultcha"
"Vamos"
"No. 13 Baby"
"Planet of Sound"
"Is She Weird?"
"Into the White"
"Where Is My Mind?"
"Monkey Gone To Heaven (MX)"

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Pixies At Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI 7.7.2005

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The Pixies

Frank Black Says Pixies 'Getting Closer' To Making New LP

29 Jul 2005 10:14:00 EDT

'We gotta do something else if we're going to ... continue to make money,' he says.
By Corey Moss

Photo: Chapman Baehler

After the San Diego Street Scene on Saturday, the Newport Folk Festival next weekend and a European tour in August, the Pixies will call an end to their triumphant reunion — and that could be a good thing for fans. "We gotta do something else if we're going to go out there and continue to make money," singer/guitarist Frank Black explained recently. "I mean, we could keep doing it the way we're doing it, but it might ... at some point, we'll be overstaying our welcome, so to speak, as the reunited band. We have to either stop being reunited and go back to our lives or do something vital and relevant." That something could very well be the first Pixies studio album in 14 years. Fans have speculated about the possibility of another album since the band first reunited last spring, but the Pixies have avoided the subject in interviews and seemingly with each other (see "New Pixies LP Unlikely, But Another New Track's On The Way"). But, "as the high-paying gigs get fewer and fewer, yes, we're getting closer," joked Black, who was known as Black Francis during the Pixies' initial tenure. "We haven't thought about it too much. I'm sure we'd make a fine record, we just haven't done it yet." The recording sessions would not come immediately, however, as bassist Kim Deal is making another reunion album of sorts, with the Breeders, and Black is hoping to tour behind his just-released solo album, Honeycomb (see "Frank Black Covers Elvis, Duets With Ex-Wife On Dylanesque Album"). Black is also putting the finishing touches on another solo album he recorded in October, tentatively titled The Sicilian. "I guess there's a Mario Puzo ['The Godfather'] book called 'The Sicilian,' so I don't know, I can't decide if I should continue to call it that," Black said. The Pixies singer wrote some of the songs with Reid Paley, who co-authored the Honeycomb tune "Another Velvet Nightmare," although Black said the follow-up is quite different. "I did a song that's musically based on some famous classical music," Black said. "So that has a sophisticated, kind of Leonard Cohen vibe. I don't know. The record hasn't officially been declared finished. We're just not in a rush." As for this summer's Pixies tour, the band has added some different tunes to its set, including "Stormy Weather," but otherwise, not much has changed. "It sort of feels like the same summer," Black said. "I have to keep reminding myself it's a different summer." For an in-depth interview with Black, check out the feature "The Pixies: Living Large."

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Lollapalooza Thrives In Withering Heat With Killers, Weezer, Pixies

25 Jul 2005 14:46:00 EDT

Eclectic festival makes sizzling return for sole summer appearance.
By Gil Kaufman

Photo: Getty Images

CHICAGO — OK, it wasn't the traveling festival that defined a generation a decade ago. But Lollapalooza — a pair of shows in downtown Chicago on Saturday and Sunday — seemed reinvigorated in its new setting despite withering heat, dust storms and some performers' inappropriately dark stage clothing. (Click here for photos of Weezer, The Pixies, The Killers and more at Lollapalooza 2005.) Scorching sets by the Killers, the Pixies, Weezer, Spoon, Louis XIV, a reunited Dinosaur Jr. and the Arcade Fire were among the weekend's highlights. But with 60 performers on six stages, whether you were into hippie jams (Blue Merle, Widespread Panic), Latintronica (Los Amigos Invisibles), psychedelic freakouts (the Dandy Warhols, the Warlocks), or new-wave power pop (OK Go, the Changes), festival co-founder Perry Farrell had something for each of the nearly 66,000 people who showed up over both days — even if the lineup lacked the diversity of past Lollas in favor of lots of indie rock played by (mostly) young white guys. Rather than the usual outdoor sheds Lolla has played in the past, this year's festival was located among four baseball fields in the middle of the Chicago waterfront's sprawling Grant Park. With the four main stages alternating activity at opposite ends of the field all day, attendees ebbed and flowed like a large dusty amoeba. By early Saturday, the field was filled with couples, clusters — and families. Yes, families. With free attendance for kids younger than 10, strollers appeared as hip a fashion accessory as lip rings. Parents with shorties in tow steadily rolled over to Kidzapalooza, located in a shady grove off the main drag. Kid-friendly performers, an instrument "petting zoo" where wee ones could try out real rock gear, and a tentful of professional stylists sculpting punk hairdos offered diversions for the strollerpalooza set. Saturday's early performers hit a thematic get-back groove, ranging from the Beatles-y pop of Chicago's Redwalls and the psychedelic goth noise of Los Angeles' Warlocks to the electronic jams of France's M83 and the Dead 60s' Clash-inspired dub-reggae rock. Pleasant surprises included former Porno for Pyros guitarist Pete DiStefano's kids-stage set of acoustic songs from his new album. While some tykes looked a bit bewildered during "Hypocrisy," their parents perked up when Farrell emerged to jam on a few Porno songs. In addition to "Pets" (who knew it could be a children's song?), the pair unveiled the new "Agua." Farrell — wearing a striped shirt, brown pants and a short, dazzling clownlike tie — said the tune, written while he vacationed in Samoa, was about "being like a dolphin and swimming away when people try to talk to you." This time the kids nodded while parents looked confused. Former Chicagoan Liz Phair got off to a rocky start, seeming nervous and somewhat out of step with her band on "Supernova" and the midtempo title track from her upcoming album, Somebody's Miracle, due in October. But Phair hit her groove a few songs in with the decidedly family-unfriendly "F--- and Run." Across the field, meanwhile, the Kaiser Chiefs were throwing down a sweaty "I Predict a Riot" during which singer Ricky Wilson climbed up a lighting rig to get a better view of the growing crowd. Dashboard Confessional's emo set was nearly drowned out by the shambolic Brian Jonestown Massacre, who punctuated their allotted hour of whispered dreamy folk pop (and repeated slagging of Dashboard) with long bouts of tuning up and knob-twiddling by frontman Anton Newcombe. Unlike past Lollas, this year's event was light on sideshow diversions, DJs and hip-hop. A far-flung side stage featured Cypress Hill DJ Muggs' mash-up set, a b-boy breakdance demonstration and sparsely attended DJ sets over the weekend from Mark Farina, Z-Trip and Chicago house legend Derrick Carter. The main stages, though, drew huge late-afternoon crowds for Cake, the Bravery and buff old-school punk Billy Idol. When Billy yelled "Sweat, sweat, sweat!" during "Dancing With Myself," it wasn't hard for the audience to comply as the temperature rose to a steamy 95-plus degrees. Listeners got a brief break when a light rain fell, but by the time Ohio duo the Black Keys took the stage an hour later for a blistering set of Delta blues, the only thing to remind the weary crowd of water were the two huge inflatable ducks onstage with Primus. It was a rough night to be New York's Walkmen, with most of the crowd checking out the sunset gig by alt-rock gods the Pixies. The crowd chanted along to alterna-hits such as "Bone Machine" and "U Mass" and shouted out the choruses to lesser-knowns like "Caribou" and "I Bleed." A surprisingly large contingent also threw up six fingers during "Monkey Gone to Heaven" in conjunction with the line, "And the devil is six." As the sun set behind Sears Tower, profusely sweaty singer Frank Black sang about "big, big love" in "Gigantic," making for a postcard-perfect end to a long peaceful day in the grass. But not before the day's only main-stage hip-hop act, the reunited Digable Planets trio, lost out attendance-wise to show closers Weezer. Rivers Cuomo and company hit a home run with a mix of classics ("Undone — The Sweater Song") and recent hits ("We Are All on Drugs," "Beverly Hills"). If the Pixies are the unofficial rulers of the aging alternative nation, Lollapalooza's national anthem is "Buddy Holly," which even the weariest 'Paloozers were crooning as the night wound to a close. Sunday With news that Sunday's temperature would creep dangerously past 100 degrees, it seemed probable that day two's crowd would be thinner — and it was, at first. While many families stayed away, diehards slathered on sunscreen, guzzled water and bopped along to OK Go's unironic noontime rendering of their hit, "You're So Damn Hot." Sunday's only mainstage hip-hop performer, conscious poet Saul Williams, mesmerized the lunchtime crowd with a flaming set of rhymes about black identity and antimaterialism complemented by a thick stew of piano samples and DJ Ad Lib's beats. Following a set by reunited indie-rock legends Dinosaur Jr., Farrell used a midday slot to debut his latest project, Satellite Party. The unlikely mash-up of No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal and former Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt played a meandering set of jam-funk originals with such titles as "Revolution Solution" and "Flash Mob," with Farrell musing aloud about space travel and parties among the planets. Just when it seemed the 33,000 brave souls who endured another scorching day had nothing left in them — although, surprisingly, only 60 people were treated for heat over the course of the weekend — Montreal's Arcade Fire turned up the temperature another notch. Dressed in black like an Amish party band, the nine-piece group played a manic set of songs from their 2004 debut, Funeral. Singer Win Butler was treated like a conquering hero when he jumped into the audience after a lovely extended take on "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," wading all the way to the rear as the crowd parted before him and offered hundreds of sweaty high fives and hugs. Unlike Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara (who succumbed to the heat during their set), Las Vegas' Killers seemed unfazed by the setting sun's glare as natty singer Brandon Flowers worked the stage in a plaid jacket over a black T-shirt and tight black pants. He barely broke a sweat during "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" and worked what looked like the weekend's biggest crowd into a frenzy during their hit "Smile." Though Flowers and company were wisely booked for the day after their nemeses in the Bravery, you could be forgiven for thinking things were going to get ugly when Jonestown Massacre's Newcombe was spotted sitting onstage during the Dandy Warhols' set of droning freak rock. Although portrayed as his arch enemies in last year's acclaimed rock documentary, "Dig," the Portland band invited Newcombe to join them for a long rambling take on the Massacre's "Oh Lord" and "Jesus," thus confounding at least some Dandy fans. Farrell was surely smiling somewhere as the sticky night ended with Death Cab for Cutie's emo anthems and Widespread Panic's second set of extended improv rock bouncing off one another from opposite ends of the park. He'd earlier envisaged a satellite party in space, and now, rather than emptying out into a generic parking lot, his people were instead wandering through Grant Park's urban oasis, stopping to gaze at majestic Buckingham Fountain's changing colors and temporarily transforming at least one corner of Chicago into an earthbound version of his cosmic dream. For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

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For The Record: Quick News On 50 Cent, Eminem, Marc Anthony, Michael Jackson, Kylie Minogue, Pixies & More

15 Jun 2005 17:54:00 EDT

50 to re-release The Massacre; Eminem shows up at NBA Finals; Jackson family shops reality show.
By MTV News staff report

50 Cent is readying a re-release of The Massacre this summer so that he can include a video for every song as well as some new tracks. According to Fif's label, the new additions aren't set yet, but may include anything from anyone in the G-Unit family. And that family is about to grow by four men: the members of Mobb Deep and M.O.P. Though their record deals haven't been inked yet, it looks like the only thing holding them up are business technicalities. ... Several Detroit luminaries came out to Tuesday night's NBA Finals game between reigning champs the Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs. Eminem, Kid Rock and Anita Baker all cheered on the Pistons as they took game 3. ... Marc Anthony is hitting the road once again, and this time around he's bringing a couple of friends with him. The Latin-music superstar is teaming up with fellow crooners Alejandro Fernandez and Chayanne for a 15-city cross-country trek that will kick off August 15 in Houston and wrap September 17 in Miami. ... What's good enough for Britney Spears is apparently good enough for Michael Jackson and his family. The Hollywood Reporter reports that a six-episode reality show revolving around the pop-music clan has been pitched to a number of networks, including ABC, FOX and A&E. According to the pitch, the show — which was being shopped around a week before Jackson was acquitted on charges of child molestation — would offer a behind-the-scenes look at how the family rallied around Michael following his indictment in November 2003 and the family's attempt to rehabilitate their public image. ... Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon told NBC's "Today" on Wednesday (June 15) that Jackson's young accuser is having a "difficult time" coping with the pop star's acquittal. The prosecutor spoke with the boy immediately after the not-guilty verdicts were announced on Monday. "He's very down and he's having a difficult time understanding why people didn't believe him," Sneddon said. ... A few weeks after surgery to remove a lump from her breast, Australian singer Kylie Minogue posted a message on her Web site thanking her fans and assuring them that she will return. "I am getting through this one step at a time, and your messages of love and support have been greatly appreciated," Minogue, 37, wrote on Monday. "Rest assured I am being well looked after, though it will be a long road ahead. I will be receiving future treatment on my return to Europe." She also said she was heartened to hear that since her diagnosis, thousands of women have become more aware of breast health and many young women have signed up for breast exams. ... Back in May, Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman went looking to hire two members for a "Recycle Team," to hit the road all summer long, help keep fairgrounds clean and organize local volunteers. You wouldn't think that this would sound particularly appealing to most kids, but Lyman was swamped with so many e-mails that after hiring his two team members, he's expanded his scope. Now, every fan attending Warped will be given bags, and for every bag they return filled with recyclables, they'll get raffle tickets to win some prizes. The Warped Tour kicks off this weekend in Columbus, Ohio. ... The Pixies' highly influential 1988 album, Surfer Rosa, has finally reached gold status, meaning it has sold 500,000 copies. The band was presented a plaque at its Monday show in Washington, D.C. This is only the group's second gold album; Doolittle, released in 1989, was certified gold in 1995. ... Dinosaur Jr. have added a leg of West Coast dates to their summer tour, beginning August 13 in Las Vegas and ending August 22 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The first leg begins July 7 in Orlando, Florida ... After playing with both the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. (and many others) at Lollapalooza in Chicago, Liz Phair will hit nine cities on an acoustic tour. The outing, which will feature tunes from the singer/songwriter's upcoming fifth album (due in September), begins July 26 in Boston and ends August 19 in San Francisco. ... Drowning Pool's manager has confirmed that the band has chosen a replacement for vocalist Jason "Gong" Jones, who left the group this past weekend, two years after taking over for the late Dave Williams. An announcement is expected in the coming weeks, after the band works out some last-minute details. The new singer is "not an unknown," according to the manager. ... HMV stores in Canada pulled all of Alanis Morissette's albums from their shelves on Monday as a protest to the Ottawa-born artist's deal with Starbucks to sell her new acoustic version of Jagged Little Pill. The coffee chain has the exclusive rights to peddle the CD for the next six weeks, after which it will be offered to traditional music retailers. ... Luther Campbell is looking for Ms. Freaky Soul 2005. The 2 Live Crew leader needs a spokesmodel for his upcoming CD/DVD/audio book, "Luke Campbell's Soup for the Freaky Soul: The Sexploits of Uncle Luke," which is due out in September. The winner will go on tour with Campbell, appear in ads for the collection and receive a $5,000 prize. The CD, Don of All Dons, is a tribute album to Luke with songs featuring Petey Pablo, Jacki-O, Pitbull and Trick Daddy. The two-disc audio book will offer "choice, autobiographical moments" from the raunchy free-speech advocate's life, and the DVD will feature footage of the notorious Luke Girls. ... 06.14.2005 In the wake of his client's across-the-board acquittal on Monday, Michael Jackson's lead defense attorney, Thomas Mesereau Jr., spoke on Tuesday (June 14) to NBC's "Today" and said the pop star will no longer share his bed with young boys. "He's not going to do that anymore," the silver-haired lawyer said. "He's not going to make himself vulnerable to this anymore."... This weekend, Green Day will perform before 60,000 screaming fans at the Milton Keynes Bowl, in (duh) Milton Keynes, England. In order to preserve the two-night stand for punk posterity, they're making a live film — and you can help. The company producing the film, Ridley Scott Associates Films, is asking for fans attending either night's show to send in photos and videos of themselves explaining why they love Green Day to greenday@rsafilms.co.uk. Who knows, you could end up appearing in "Green Day Live at Milton Keynes," which will be available on DVD later this year. ... Primus have been added to the lineup of this summer's weekend-long Lollapalooza concert in Chicago (July 23-24). The addition was announced Tuesday afternoon by concert founder Perry Farrell during a telephone press conference. At one point, Farrell was asked what plans he has for his former band Jane's Addiction. His response? "When the sky rains money is when we're getting back together." ... Since the release of Medulla last summer, Björk has been busy recording music for the soundtrack to "Drawing Restraint 9," which, according to her Web site, is "a visual artwork in film form made by Matthew Barney," the father of the vocalist's child. The film, which also features Björk's acting talents, tells a tale of "tea ceremonies, Vaseline, a shinto marriage and of course, the old classic whale-shapeshifting ending." The soundtrack, which hits stores July 25, will include the tracks "Gratitude," "Holographic Entrypoint" and "Antarctic Return." ... Tori Amos has lined up 26 dates for her North American Summer of Sin Tour, which kicks off August 8 in Atlanta and wraps up September 17 in Los Angeles. ... Longhaired Louisville, Kentucky, rockers My Morning Jacket have finished recording their second album for Dave Matthews' ATO label, called simply Z. The LP features 10 tracks, with titles like "Wordless Chorus," "Gideon" and "Dondante." It was recorded in upstate New York by Radiohead and Stone Roses producer John Leckie and is due in stores on September 20. ... While they've been lauded by the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub and other Scottish indie rockers, Orange Juice remain relatively unknown in North America. Fronted by Edwyn Collins (known for his 1995 hit "A Girl Like You"), the seminal Scottish twee rockers may finally receive some Stateside notice with The Glasgow School, a compilation of their out-of-print material. Due July 26 on Domino, the deluxe 22-song package contains nine early singles released on Postcard Records, two unreleased rarities and the group's aborted first album, Ostrich Churchyard. ... Eighties staples the Violent Femmes will release a greatest-hits album on July 12, Permanent Record: The Very Best of Violent Femmes. The disc will also come with a DVD, which will feature the group's complete videography as well as live footage. ...

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Frank Black Covers Elvis, Duets With Ex-Wife On Dylanesque Album

22 Apr 2005 19:56:00 EDT

Pixies frontman calls Honeycomb 'a mixtape for a peaceful hike.'
By Corey Moss

Frank Black
Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

Charles Thompson was barely 1 year old when Bob Dylan released 1966's classic, genre-blending Blonde on Blonde, yet the double album eventually had a profound effect on the man who later founded the Pixies (under the name Black Francis). "It just stuck with me, and for years," said the singer, now known as Frank Black. "I always wanted to do my own sort of version, Black on Blonde." More than a decade ago, Black mentioned this idea to producer Jon Tiven, whose diverse credits include Robert Plant and B.B. King, and the two decided to make it happen as soon as it fit into their schedules. Ten years later, Black was finally ready. "The Catholics had just come off an exhausting tour — actually several of them — and seemed to be pretty much done," Black said of his post-Pixies band. "There was nothing going on with Pixies, and I'd just gotten divorced and moved to this new city [Portland, Oregon], so it finally seemed the time to do this thing." As fate would have it, though, Black learned hours later that plans for a Pixies reunion were in the works. Both projects started coming together, and by the time they were in place, Black had only four days to record with Tiven. Fortunately, the session players the producer lined up work fast. "It actually made it cool," Black said. "It was like, 'Yeah, I'm gonna knock out a record in Nashville for a few days before I head out on my world tour.' It was very Dylan." To play on the album, Tiven put together a who's who of veteran session musicians that included Steve Cropper, Spooner Oldham, Buddy Miller and David Hood, who among them had recorded with some of the biggest artists in country, R&B and rock, from Otis Redding to Elvis Presley. "I don't think they really knew my stuff, but it didn't really matter," Black said. "I would show them the basics, and they would catch on so quickly it was literally one or two takes for every track." While those musicians were unlikely collaborators for Black, the singer topped them with the special guest he brought in to duet on "Strange Goodbye": his ex-wife, Jean. "I suppose it's just kind of my joke on the album," Black said. "Everybody else, all of our friends, were always so uncomfortable about it, so I thought I would throw this at them." Along with recording several of Black's compositions, some of which he wrote years ago, the band also logged a few covers, including "Song of the Shrimp," which Elvis performed in the movie "Girls! Girls! Girls!," and "Dark End of the Street," made famous by Percy Sledge. None of the tracks sound anything like Black's previous work. It's more like a mixtape for a peaceful hike, heavy with alt-country and Van Morrison-like light rock. An updated Blonde on Blonde is about accurate. In the end, however, Black chose not to call it Black on Blonde because "it was a little too campy." Instead, he borrowed the title of the one of the tracks, "Honeycomb." "It was just a cool word that sounded singer/songwritery, but not too wimpy," he said. Black is currently trying to line up the same musicians for a tour to promote the album, due July 19. "I'm not sure how much demand there is, though," he said. "[It's] certainly not like the Pixies." Black is hitting the road with that band, too, for about a month beginning May 26 in Portland. Although he's the one who originally broke up the band years ago, he thoroughly enjoyed the comeback tour, one of the most successful treks of last year. "I forgot how good it feels to be with these guys, not just onstage, but offstage," he said. "We have the same sort of sense of humor and all that. And we're being rewarded financially for something we did 20 years ago, and I'm not embarrassed by that. Isn't that what art is about? Being recognized?" When asked if the Pixies plan to record new material, Black promptly answered, "We're a reunion band. People want to hear the old stuff." Later, however, he said, "We'll record eventually. It's just easy not to do when promoters are calling every day with crazy money trying to book shows."

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Weezer, Killers, Pixies, Dashboard Confessional On Board For Lollapalooza

22 Apr 2005 13:28:00 EDT

Dinosaur Jr., Death Cab For Cutie, Kaiser Chiefs also in two-day festival's lineup.
By Gil Kaufman

Photo: Getty Images

After last year's false start, Lollapalooza has stacked the deck for its return. Among the acts who will headline the now-sedentary two-day affair in Chicago on July 23 and 24 are Weezer, the Killers, the Pixies, a reunited Dinosaur Jr., Widespread Panic and Dashboard Confessional. The show will take place at Hutchinson Field in Grant Park with around 30,000 fans expected each day. Also on board are former Chicagoan Liz Phair, the Dandy Warhols, Cake, the Arcade Fire, Billy Idol, Kaiser Chiefs, the reunited Digable Planets, Tegan and Sara, Kasabian, the Bravery, Louis XIV and the Walkmen. Organizers are promising 60 bands on five stages. According to the festival's producers, 2,000 $35 tickets offered for presale recently sold in about 80 minutes, with regular tickets priced at $85 for a two-day pass. Ticket prices will eventually rise to between $100 and $115. Children under 10 will be admitted for free when accompanied by a paying adult, and some kid-friendly activities are promised on site. Through the festival's official Web site, producers are asking visual artists and inventors of "man-made machines" to submit works for use during the show. In addition the usual array of art, vendor booths and food, non-music diversions on tap include a runway fashion show. Lollapalooza's organizers are also planning on shooting a movie of the event and have asked fans to submit stories and photos to a historical area on the Lolla Web site. The rest of the lineup announced on Friday includes G. Love & Special Sauce, Blonde Redhead, the Black Keys, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Z-Trip, Los Amigos Invisibles, M83, VHS or Beta, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Soulive, Ambulance Ltd., Shout Out Louds, Blue Merle, the Warlocks, DeSol, World Leader Pretend, the Redwalls and the Changes. The revival of Lollapalooza comes one year after the festival was canceled due to poor ticket sales for a bill that was to feature Morrissey, PJ Harvey, Modest Mouse, String Cheese Incident, the Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth (see "Lollapalooza Canceled; Organizers Cite Poor Ticket Sales"). Its resurrection comes at a time when two-day "destination" festivals such as Bonnaroo and Coachella have become increasingly popular.

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