The Pixies are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1986.
They met at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The Pixies achieved relatively modest commercial success in their home country, but were significantly
more successful in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe.
The group disbanded in 1993, but reunited in 2004.
The group is credited as having significant influence on the alternative rock boom of the 1990s.
The Pixies' legacy and popularity grew in the years following their break-up.
-Wikipedia
From:
Boston, Massachusetts
Genres:
Alternative rock
Years active:
1986-1993, 2004-present
Associated acts:
The Amps
The Breeders
Grand Duchy
The Martinis
Name Origin:
The group arrived at a name after Santiago selected the word "pixies" randomly from a dictionary
and took a liking to how it looked and its definition as "mischievous little elves".
Their Influences:
Francis :
Husker Du,
Captain Beefheart, and
Iggy Pop.
Santiago:
Black Flag,
David Bowie
Deal:
The Everly Brothers,
Hank Williams.
Lovering:
Rush
Influence on Others:
Artists including
David Bowie,
Radiohead,
PJ Harvey,
U2,
Nirvana,
The Strokes,
Weezer, and
Pavement
have cited admiration of or influence by the Pixies.
Bono of U2 has called the Pixies "one of America's greatest bands ever", and Radiohead's Thom Yorke
has said that, while at school, "the Pixies had changed my life". Bowie, whose own music had
inspired Francis and Santiago while they were at university, has said that the Pixies made
"just about the most compelling music of the entire 80s."
Kurt Cobain in a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone said:
"I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have
to admit it [smiles]. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so
heavily I should have been in that band—or at least in a Pixies cover band. We used their sense
of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard."
Current Members:
Black Francis (lead vocals, rhythm guitar)
David Lovering (drums).
Joey Santiago (lead guitar)
Paz Lenchantin (bass, backing vocals)
Founding Members:
Black Francis (lead vocals, rhythm guitar)
David Lovering (drums).
Joey Santiago (lead guitar)
Kim Deal (bass, backing vocals)
Past members:
Kim Shattuck (bass, backing vocals)
Pixies Quotes:
"Those are the two basic components of rock music [. . .] the dreamy side and the rockin' side. It's always been either sweaty or laid back and cool. We do try to be dynamic, but it's dumbo dynamics, because we don't know how to do anything else. We can play loud or quiet—that's it".[
"But who knows what kind of psychology was going on? I haven't really analysed it. I made a joke, they took it
too far, so it was in all the papers ... But I was for the first time psychologically open to playing with
those guys again."
Frank Black
"It's like those schoolboy dreams when you don't do your homework and you don't study for the test. I'm at the gig and we're hanging out, but it's an utter failure and I don't know the songs, and hardly anyone turns up and people walk out. That's what I'm afraid of, that it'd be a big, big failure."
Frank Black
"I was involved in this relationship that was absolutely terrible. I was bottoming out. And I'm on the way to the bank and my cellphone rings. It's Joe; he says, 'Guess what?' And I just jumped through the ceiling."
Lovering
Tour Dates: