Interviews
Under the Big Black Sun: The Frank Black Interview
by Felix Thursday (photo by Lisa Johnson)
Frank Black has stopped trying to be Brian Wilson--at least for
the present. 
After releasing three acclaimed but, at times,
overzealous Pet-sounding albums since disbanding college radio gods,
the Pixies, Black and his newly christened cohorts, The Catholics,
chose to release a live 2-track recording, originally intended as a
demo, for their eponymous debut on spinArt records--a throwback to an
even earlier era.
"It's the way it used to be done back in the 50's," Black says
proudly. "There are no overdubs. The performance here is what
happened--it was live."
Lest the recent jump from Interscope records to spinArt, the
abrupt change in his recording habits, and the conversion of his
band's name to The Catholics cause you to think that Frank Black has
been born again in any way other than artistically, he is quick to
redeem himself:
"I've had exposure to religion just like most people," Black,
who had a Pentecostal upbringing, tells me. "It's part of poetry, it's
part of music, and it's part of me. So, it's a part of my life whether
I choose to follow a particular religion or not--I'm aware of it. It's
a religious world just as much as it's a secular world."
Though he's often praised as an alternative rock innovator for
his pioneering work with the Pixies, Black claims he is incapable of
predicting "the next big thing".
"I don't really anticipate the future in terms of what will be a
success five years from now. The thought never really crosses my mind.
I know that there will be good records in the future. I know that
there will be shitty records in the future. Really it comes down to
good music and bad music. There may be more bad music now than there
ever has been, but it's because there's more music now than there ever
has been. There are more pop releases--there are more releases,
period. Everyone having access to digital technology--it's endless."
Even with a greater number and variety of artists and releases
now than ever before, Black remains unimpressed with many of today's
indie auteurs.
"Isn't that what all these rages out in the desert are all
about? People hanging out doing their own thing, and people becoming
DJs and all that? Obviously I sound a little cynical about this. I
hear people talking about electronica music being a religious
experience and the DJs being like shaman--it's bizarre. Some guy with
a turntable as a shaman? That's what I call a crock of shit. I don't
even think Jimi Hendrix has shamanistic abilities. People get into a
particular art form so they put the people who create that art on a
pedestal or whatever."
Despite the current electronica craze, Black claims that he has
no plans to alter his sound to attract new audiences.
"My music has always been very much about a simple rock lineup.
I don't think I should do anything different with it. If that's
someone else's particular goal, then great. But if your goal is to do
something really traditional, there's nothing wrong with that either.
It's a really egotistical and presumptuous attitude that just because
something was done in 1967 or '57 or '77, or whatever, that it should
stop then and there and become something new. It's just like taking a
good thing and throwing it away. Maybe it should live for a thousand
years."
This interview appeared in section M magazine, Issue #4, December
1998. The Pixies got back together. Me say bad medicine. Me also say
that if you come to my house and ask to play a CD, please don't
fucking play the Pixies Doolittle--it used to be one of my most
favoritist albums and peoples' lack of curiosity or willingness to
listen to anything they don't know all the fucking lyrics to has
ruined it. Ruined it! And don't play the fucking Violent Femmes first
record either! They've ruined that, too. Ruined it!
