When the Pixies reunited in 2004, it was an event most fans of the famously volatile alternative rock group never thought they’d see. Eleven years earlier, a few months after finishing a tour opening for U2, lead singer Black Francis surprisingly announced the band’s breakup after seven years during a radio interview. He later made it official by notifying them via fax.
The reunion has now lasted longer than the band did in its heyday, although only three of the four original members remain. Last year, the group released its first album since 1991, “Indie Cindy,” and will premiere new songs on its current tour.
amNewYork spoke with drummer David Lovering.
How did the reunion initially come together?
Originally, [lead singer and guitarist Black Francis] had said something on the radio once as kind of a joke. That led to, I’m not sure if it was rumors, but interest and buzz. He thought about it, spoke to [guitarist Joey Santiago], Joe spoke to me, we spoke to [since-departed bassist Kim Deal.] I never, ever, ever dreamed it would happen. It was quite shocking.
What were you thinking when you got the call from Joey?
At first I thought it was some kind of joke, but the way he was delivering it, I had to believe it after that initial “What?”
What are the new songs like?
[With “Indie Cindy”] we didn’t have much rehearsal time going in. We were sort of learning along the way. We thought it would be nice to go back to what we did in the ’80s, where we had a rehearsal space, then took the songs to the clubs and worked them out.
Do you ever worry about becoming a nostalgia act?
We’re a very fortunate band in the fact that there’s a very diverse age group that comes to our shows. What was surreal at Coachella in 2004 was seeing kids who were not even born when our records came out singing along and knowing all the words. Ten years later, we’re doing Coachella again and it’s the same thing. There are kids the same age as the kids back then. They still know all the words. We’re like the Grateful Dead of alternative rock in a way.
