Interview with Frank Black

I recently had the distinct pleasure of talking to Frank Black regarding Minotaur, the forthcoming Pixies box set. He proved to be engaging, uninhibited and witty as we discussed a wide variety of topics including the music of the Pixies, their future plans together and the talents of those responsible for designing this gorgeous box set. Having the opportunity to talk with Black was legitimately quite a thrill for me, and it’s something I won’t soon forget. I’m sure those of you that are fans of the Pixies have been salivating over this set since it was announced, and now you get your opportunity to pre-order the beautiful Minotaur.

Erik Thompson: I’m excited to talk to you about Minotaur this morning. With the release of Minotaur and how it spans your entire career, how does this cause you to look back on your time with the Pixies and what are your overriding thoughts and feelings about the band and its place in music?

Frank Black: Well, I don’t know if it causes me to have any particular kind of thoughts… I mostly feel poised to defend a 500 dollar box set at the moment, which I’m happy to do. But you know, I don’t know if I’m feeling nostalgic about the band. Especially as we’ve been in this semi-reformed state for about four or five years. We haven’t really recorded anything much of anything new, nor do I know if we will, but yet there’s always this hope that we will. And perhaps to an even greater degree among the band there’s always this hope that people will ask us to keep coming to play gigs because we really enjoy having the status of a successful rock and roll band. You know, playing nice bills and staying in nice hotels, and having a day off, that kind of thing and getting paid well… because let’s face it, that isn’t always the case when you’re a musician. It certainly wasn’t the case when I started out. So it’s nice to be like—oh yeah, I got somebody to set up my amp for me. You know, whatever. I’ve been invited to have dinner with somebody, you get to have some, what I would call, nice adult experiences.

ET: Nicely put.

FB: The band enjoys that. We enjoy being adults and having adult experiences and not having to be about the struggle.

ET: The deluxe and limited edition versions of Minotaur that the Artists in Residence are putting out, they look absolutely beautiful. Do you think this is the way that artists can truly make money from music in this age of album leaks and file sharing—by giving fans more than just he music, by giving them an actual piece of art?

FB: Some people like objet d’art, and I would certainly put this box in that category. I saw a prototype at my house and it’s huge, it’s truly something that isn’t just a little box with some CDs in it and some liner notes. It’s kind of over the top. And there’s a lot of design in it and there’s a lot of art and a lot of photography, and a lot of thought got put into it.

I don’t know about you, but I am an adult and I have some of those objects in my possession. I mean, I’m not a big collector, but I’ve got a couple of paintings, I’ve got a couple of Taschen art books on my coffee table. I appreciate this kind of thing… so I would say this Minotaur thing is not for everybody. I don’t expect everyone to have 500 dollars of expendable income, you know, but some people do and some people covet these things. This type of thing. It is a way for artists, doing specialty editions, is a way for us to make money. That essentially what I’m saying; but I want to recognize the relationship between the artist and the patron. And sooner or later there has to be a connection between the artist and the patron. So if music is now basically free, because the second it becomes published it becomes widely available for free digitally, if that’s the scenario we’re dealing with, I except the scenario—there still has to be, sooner or later there has to be some sort of connection between the artist and the artist’s patron.

ET: How involved were you in overseeing the visual or artistic side of the project?

FB: Not at all. That has always been the situation with the Pixies and v23 or Vaughan Oliver… His main assistant in these matters will be a guy named Simon Larbalestier, who is a photographer, and he is responsible for photographing the images that Vaughan has decided will be photographed. Vaughan has always been, not just a graphic designer, but a real art director…

Our relationship with him has always been kind of carte blanche. We’ve always just said whatever you want to do Vaughan is fine by us, and he’s always polite, what do you think about this, and what do you think about that? And we always politely say we love it!

We never wanted to hinder him, or give him all kinds of parameters to work with. And he wouldn’t like that anyway, we don’t want him to grumble, we want him to be a happy artist just like we want to be happy artists. We don’t want the record company hanging around the recording studio, going, hey could you try it a little more like this or a little more like that? We wouldn’t like that, so I think we’ve just treated him with the same respect that we’ve been treated with and have never tried to direct him…

It’s always good to give talented people their space, and just let them do what they do. And even if you don’t get it and even if you don’t understand it, and even if it bothers you or something like that—I think ultimately it will stand the test of time, as we like to say.

ET: And Vaughan and Simon, their work has really gone hand in hand with the music that’s on the album that’s represented by their cover art or their package design…

FB: They take it seriously, I mean they’re really trying to represent me. I’m not saying that they always… how could they possibly truly represent my soul or my mind. They can’t. All they can do is be impressionistic, and have their own impressions. And bring whatever to the table they have to offer. And that works out. I’ve already represented myself, I’ve already represented my soul. I’ve written songs, that’s what I do, I’m a songwriter and I’m a singer. So I’m already represented. I don’t need to have some other guy—oh can you further represent me… I’m not really interested in that…

It’s much better to say hey, here’s my record, you do whatever you want to do. And he does and he shows them to me and I’m always like wow—what’s all this about. This is kind of interesting, or this is really sexy, or this is really strange, or this is really creepy or whatever it is, I just always have a reaction.

ET: What b-sides and rarities did you choose to include in the set.

FB: There are no b-sides or rarities or anything like that, the only thing I would say that’s outside is there’s a live DVD from a gig I think we did in 1989 or ’90 that is considered to be one of the better live tapings or filmings of the band in its heyday or whatever. And I don’t even recall what songs are on the DVD—so that’s the only extra thing included. They asked me if I would like to include anything extra beyond the studio albums and I decided that I would prefer not to have anything else represented. Because, you know, this is kind of a big artistic statement, this Minotaur thing… it’s all about the art and it really just needs to be the five records that the Pixies released. Those five releases are our manifesto, that’s when you get rid of all the fluff—if you distill it down to anything, that’s what you can distill it down to. It didn’t seem appropriate to me to stick a bunch of extra stuff on there, not for something that costs 500 bucks and has a lithograph in it, or whatever they’re putting in there. It’s just not that kind of thing. It’s not an all-retrospective, that’s just one element of it. What you’re paying for is this other stuff… the art, frankly. And a lot of new art. In a way, it’s the Pixies is what’s selling it, but really what it’s all about is this guy Vaughan Oliver and his company v23. This is what its all about—v23 does different work, but what they’re primarily known for is doing record sleeves. You could almost say they’re the last of the great rock and roll graphic designers…

ET: I live in Minneapolis and I was lucky enough to be at the Pixies show at the Fine Line five years ago…

FB: Right. That was our first ever reunion show.

ET: Do you have any lingering thoughts about that gig? I mean, the electricity in the air that night was amazing and the show was incredible. What made you decide on Minneapolis and why such an intimate venue when you could have sold out a venue five, ten times larger than that.

FB: It was our first show, and no offense to Minneapolis but it was a warm up show to the other shows that we were going to do. If it was going to be the only show we were going to do I suppose we would have dressed it up in some fancy way, but I think it was honest and it represented the band’s roots… We were a post-punk arty band that played in night clubs. That’s basically what we did the first time around. We got to headline some festivals and we got to play a few theaters and that kind of thing, but basically we were a club band. And I always feel at home in clubs. I love playing big events, but clubs is where I sort of feel I belong, it’s kind of my history. So playing in night clubs is always appropriate as far as I’m concerned.

ET: I just felt lucky to be there that night, that’s for sure.

FB: Yeah, it was cool. I think we were all pretty thrilled.

ET: What do you all have planned for the future for the Pixies and what are your thoughts about recording new material?

FB: We’re not real good with plans. So I don’t know… It’s always a little weird when everyone’s just texting each other on their Blackberries, it’s all just a kind of a lot of cheap talk, it doesn’t really mean much until you get into a room with four walls and no one else in it. Then it becomes the Pixies.

Frank Black: Culture Bully Interview [MP3]

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Minotaur is out June 15 in a $175 Deluxe Edition and a $450 Limited Collector’s edition that also includes a 96-page hardcover book and vinyl versions of every Pixies release.

The Minotaur Limited Edition version will include everything in the Deluxe Edition, as well as all five albums on 180 gram vinyl, an Giclee print of Oliver’s artwork, and a 72-page hardcover book, all housed in an oversized custom clamshell cover.