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ON THE COUCH WITH: Black Francis

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

Access All Areas.net.au: Hey mate, how’s it going?
Black Francis: Hey I’m good, just with my son at the moment, he’s keeping me busy, how are you?
Access All Areas.net.au: Yeah, I’m good, thankyou.

Access All Areas.net.au: Well in the last 12 months you have had a couple album releases & some touring, just wondering how things are going for you musically?
Black Francis: Yeah its all really good, there’s been a lot of things happening so I’m keeping busy. We have been on tour lately doing some really good shows on the new records & we have received some good feedback on our new records, so everything’s going well.

Access All Areas.net.au: You have in the last 12 months released 2 releases, with other projects & things going on such as the reformation of your old band, the pixies, how did you find time to write for the records?
Black Francis: Well time for me is not really an issue, it’s more of a lack of time that I like to have. I like to look at writing as a process that really doesn’t need to be drawn out over a long period of time, when you can simply write something up in like 10 minutes, say out on a smoke break. The songs for the record were written over a reasonably short period of time as the songs really weren’t too difficult to write for me. I really feel that what we did for this really was better than what we could have done, like for example we could have spent like 6 months in the bahamas or somewhere writing up the songs & taking a long, drawn out time, not that there’s anything wrong with going to the bahamas its just the process. We feel that by just getting in & writing & recording, we were able to do something we could really enjoy.

Access All Areas.net.au: With these records, you saught direct inspiration & influence from dutch & irish folk heroes in Cúchulainn for Svnfinger & Herman Brood for the previous release Bluefinger. What made you look to these folk heroes for inspiration, was this a concept or something musically that was inspiring to you?
Black Francis: Well it really was an inspiration & real look at the life of the artist when it came to people like Herman Brood with regards to the new record. The man was an incredible artist & musician & was a major name in the dutch community. I mean, like there’s photos of him being arrested & the cops are like “wow, its herman” you know, kind of like us americans with say Frank Sonotra, he really was that big. So really when looking at him, it gave an inspiring feeling & really helped in making the record, like as if he was calling to have me make the record around him, so it worked well & I was happy with the resulting record in bluefinger.

Access All Areas.net.au: With the releases, you have followed up with your usual recording method of live to two track recordings. Do you feel this gave more to the records than the normal multitrack recordings may have done?
Black Francis: Well actually, we have started heading away from that recording method in recent times, but we’ve used similar techniques on the records. For example, the title track “blufinger” we recorded that one live in the studio & was really up close & personal. With this, we pulled out some scratch vocal mics & hooked everything up & had mics like only a few feet in front of the drums & amps & stuff. We found that this was the best take for the song as no retakes could get the same soul or vibe that it gave on the live take. This is what we feel the recording method gives to the music, by recording live & using no digital programs or softwares, you get the raw & live feel to the record which gives it the soul of the music, which comes through on records. I’ve got no problems with artists using the digital recording methods, I’m probably going to move towards using it in recording sessions in the future, however it’s just not the same feel or vibe as what you get with the live recordings.

Access All Areas.net.au: You will be doing an australian tour in late september & early october, you haven’t been down here on a solo tour for almost a decade, how do you feel about coming back to australia for the tour?
Black Francis: Well for me its not that really new as I was there around 2 years or so ago touring with my other band the pixies when we came down to do some festivals. I personally feel like I’ve just been down there due to this tour, so it won’t be really that refreshing but will be different as I’m back down there with my solo stuff this time. We last came down I think around the late 90’s on our second trip & this time around it will be heaps of fun as we’ve got plenty of new material to play while in Australia.

Access All Areas.net.au: You were supposed to be playing at the great escape festival in sydney, however it was cancelled. Were you disappointed not to be able to come & play a large festival appearance alongside your own shows?
Black Francis: Well personally I’m not really disappointed at all. I hate the state of music festivals as they currently are, with all the advertisments for cell phones & cigarettes & alcohol its really not the same as it was a long time ago. We really always look to come out & play a great set & that’s it. By that I mean we have no talk-ups or fireworks or other stuff that’s not us playing & we look to just play. We also feel that at a festival that we will stop if the crowd is playing around or something, for example I was there a couple years back with my band the pixies doing a festival & the crowd started playing with an inflatible shark or something, I stopped the set & was like “yo we’re the show here, not the inflatible thing, ok”. This really makes us stand out at festival shows, but hey, that’s just us & we’re a rock band who want to play rock ‘n’ roll & do nothing else. I swear at the festivals you have the new bands who do all the show stuff & they look at us like we’ve got 2 heads or something, its really funny. One great memory of a festival was a manager saying to our manager “we’ve got fireworks, lights & other stuff, what you got?” & he was like “25 great rock songs & nothing else”. So we’ve had some great experieinces & we will no doubt have more in the future.

Access All Areas.net.au: With the tour, regarding the set, what kind of mix can the fans of your solo works be looking forward to, as you have a large back catelogue of solo material over the last 15 years?
Black Francis: Well it will be a mix of the new with the old, the fans can expect to see plenty of great songs that they will know & love from our records. We try to produce as much music as we can for the fans, but you know its only whats in the budget that we can produce & sometimes its whats not in the budget that goes into the records. You know with our songs there’s plenty of stuff we’d love to do for the fans but its just not possible due to restrictions in money, as we don’t sell that many records & stuff. I mean like there’s records we’d like to do, like say something like iggy pop or something but for that it would take lots of time & money & its not possible. I really have to look at how I spend the money I have these days, with a family its not easy, even with the money I have I have to be careful, as I can’t go around blowing my money on needless things.

Access All Areas.net.au: Finally, it has taken almost 10 years for you to come back, can your australian fans possibly see you back in the country in the near future, possibly sometime sooner than the last time between trips?
Black Francis: Yeah, I’m sure I’ll be making a return in the future, probably sooner than the last time between trips, but you know I can’t plan anything at the moment, we take things on day to day levels, so we will just wait & see as to when we can get back, but we would love to be back as soon as we can.

Access All Areas.net.au: Well I’d like to thankyou for your time this morning, I hope you have a great australian tour & have a nice day.
Black Francis: Yeah, thankyou mate, hopefully you can make something out of my rambles, I’ve enjoyed chatting to you.

Interview By: Ben Coby.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

It’s rare for a musician to hold an influence in the music world for over twenty years. It’s rare for a musician to excel as frontman in one of the most respected bands of all time, and solo artist in their own right. But Black Francis has, which is why it gives The Frontier Touring Company great pleasure to confirm that Black Francis will headline shows in Fremantle, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne this September/October – his first in over a decade.

This tour will see Black Francis perform in support of his two most recent releases; 2007’s Bluefinger (out now through Shock) and 2008’s mini-album Svn Fngrs (out now through Shock). Boisterous and meticulous, Bluefinger and Svn Fngrs have announced to the world that Black Francis’ songwriting and performance skills are as potent as ever.
Bluefinger – speculated to be the material originally ear-marked for the Pixies’ new record - sees Black Francis at the top of his game. Dutch artist Herman Brood – the man widely considered to be the epitome of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll - is heavily referenced through the album, continuing Black Francis’ penchant for expressing his unique take on the world.

Of the album, the NME gushed: “The unlikely, ghoulish inspiration of a dead Dutch pop star has forced Pixies' frontman Frank Black into making his finest album since the demise of his influential '90s alt.rockers.”

Mojo expressed similar sentiments: “Bluefinger marks an artistic rebirth for the king of quiet/loud.” And Rolling Stone concurred: “On Bluefinger, it sounds like the Pixies' fantastic reunion shows have allowed Black to finally shed his ambivalence about rocking out. So he does.”

Even the notoriously fierce Pitchfork couldn’t maintain their usual veneer of nonchalance: “Bluefinger is the best overall solo record Black has released in a long time…”
It’s been over a decade since Black Francis last played headline shows in Australia. Tickets to see Black Francis play as part of the Pixies in 2007 sold out in a frenzy. You don’t need svn fngrs to figure out what the equation will be in 2008.

Tour dates are:

Sunday 28 September Metropolis, Fremantle
Moshtix 1300 438 849 or www.moshtix.com.au

Monday 29 September HQ Complex, Adelaide
Venue*Tix (08) 8225 8888 or www.venutix.com.au
Wednesday 1 October Arena, Brisbane

Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au; Arena Online 1300 762 545 or www.arenaonline.com.au

Thursday 2 October Forum Theatre, Melbourne
Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au

www.blackfrancis.net

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MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

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Your most memorable Festival moment or experience?
Playing in Norway at Hove festival was great. We were on boats all day People seemed to know us a lot more than they should and we played before the fleet foxes.

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Fleet Foxes. Passion Pit.

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The Mystery Jets. The xx. Friendly Fires. Radiohead.

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