Pixies on perfection: ‘We’re not a jam band’
The Pixies just made it to New Zealand in early March 2020, with borders shutting suddenly shortly after and the Australian leg of the tour being cancelled. Joey Santiago remembers it well, writes Amberleigh Jack.
It has been 35 years since one of Boston’s biggest rock bands the Pixies released the debut EP Come on Pilgram, but guitarist Joey Santiago says people still ‘‘want to hear the classics’’.
That desire to hear old hits is why the Pixies’ two Auckland shows in December will feature a combination of classic favourites and new songs.
For Wellington and Christchurch the band will reprise the Come on Pilgram ... It’s Surfer Rosa tour that was cut short by Covid-19 in 2020.
The Pixies just made it to New Zealand in early March 2020, with borders shutting shortly after and the Australian leg of the tour being cancelled. ‘‘Everything was shutting [at the time]. [I think] there was one case in Auckland. Just one, but it was enough,’’ Santiago says.
The Pixies formed in 1986 but split in 1993 before reforming 11 years later and touring again. In 2013 bassist Kim Deal was replaced by Paz Lenchantin but original frontman and vocalist Black Francis and drummer David Lovering remain.
For Santiago, his mindset has changed since the band got back together. Largely, he says, because he has a family now.
He seems to struggle to find the words he is looking for. He points out it is early in the morning in Wales where he is right now, and his brain is ‘‘jumbled’’. He says he is nervous about answering questions right, and pauses before he starts again.
‘‘Beforehand we were just doing it for ourselves, we had no family – nothing,’’ he says.
The band members, therefore, were in it all for selfish reasons, with ‘‘egos ... pretty much front and centre’’.
But now?
‘‘You’re not doing it for your own selfish needs any more,’’ he says. ‘‘There’s an overall difference in just growing older. [We] appreciate what we have now. This is what we do – this is the best we can provide for anyone right now. Not just for our family but for anyone.’’
Santiago spends a lot of his time in the studio. While there is no release date for new material, he says he’s enjoying the process more than usual.
He is the kind of person who will obsess over getting his music ‘‘right’’ and finds it difficult to not overanalyse or practise obsessively with studio recordings. This time, he says, he’s trying to let that obsession go a little.
‘‘I was practising, and there were millions of ideas coming. I need help,’’ he laughs.
‘‘I need someone to say … it’s OK, you can stop now. You can stop thinking about these parts. They’re good.
‘‘Or they’re bad,’’ he jokes. That obsessive streak comes from a belief that songs should be played the ‘‘right’’ way.
‘‘We’re not a jam band ... We really don’t improvise,’’ he says.
As for the live shows?
Santiago says that perfectionist streak is not just limited to the studio.
He may improvise slightly when live by staying silent on a note or playing it a little differently, but he says he would probably be the only one to notice, and it’s more a ‘‘way to entertain myself’’.
It would be fair to assume touring may become a bit repetitive, especially when playing classic songs from seven albums spanning four decades. Santiago says a major part of the band’s performance is ‘‘peaking at the right hour’’.
They are also a band that feeds off the crowd’s enthusiasm, although Santiago says this is something that was very different when they were younger.
‘‘Back then we fed off people that looked disinterested, or not into it. We’d go, ‘well screw you, we’re gonna give it to you, and you’re gonna get this’,’’ he says.
‘‘It was more like anger towards the despondent crowds. Like, why are you here? Why did you even bother?’’
Still, after more than 35 years since Santiago first helped form the Pixies, the band has inspired artists like Kurt Cobain and David Bowie. They’ve travelled the world and Santiago says he never imagined they’d still be touring and recording this many years later.
The highlight though? He barely pauses to think.
‘‘I’m talking to someone from New Zealand, and we’re playing there,’’ he says, adding he finds it ‘‘crazy’’ that the band gets to fly to the other side of the world to play their music.
‘‘I don’t believe it until we land, because there are so many things that could go wrong. It’s unbelievable we’re playing all over the world.’’
‘‘You’re not doing it for your own selfish needs any more... This is what we do – this is the best we can provide for anyone right now. Not just for our family but for anyone.’’ Joey Santiago
The first Pixies Auckland show is sold out, and Live Nation has announced a second Auckland show for Thursday, December 22 at the Town Hall.