Pixies were created when Joey Santiago (lead guitar) and Black Francis (vocals and guitar) decided to find a bassist and a drummer for their new rock band, in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1986. First, they were joined by Kim Deal and later David Lovering became the band’s drummer. The line-up began jamming in a garage while they were performing live at various bars.
Pixies recorded their first EP and eight of the songs were included in the band’s first mini-LP that came out in 1987. Their first album “Surfer Rosa”, was released in March of 1988 receiving positive critics. It contains the song “Where Is My Mind” which later became one of their most popular songs. “Doolittle” was the band’s second album, with a better sound and including the songs “Here Comes Your Man” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven”. After the end of their tour in the USA, the band decided to take a break.
The members rejoined and record their third album “Bossanova” that came out in the summer of 1990. The album contained a punk rock sound, with elements of surf and space rock and managed to reached the third place on the album charts in the UK, with the song “Velouria” to separate. It was followed by “Trompe le Monde”, a more alternative album in September of 1991. The Pixies began a worldwide tour and later they supported U2 in the “Zoo TV Tour”. The quarrels among the members were increased and in the beginning of 1993, it became known that the band has dissolved.
For about a decade each member followed its road and they dealt with various projects. Deal focused on The Breeders, Black continued with a solo career as “Frank Black” with the participation of Santiago in a lot of albums, who also created a band with his wife and wrote music for TV shows and movies. Lovering collaborated with other artists while he also became a magician and sometimes he was appearing in the Breeders and Frank Black’s shows!
Finally, Pixies reunited in 2003 and a few months later went on a tour around the world. Their new song “Bam Thwok” became a success and entered at the top of the UK Singles Downloads Chart in 2004. They took part in the “Enjoy Every Sandwich” tribute album about Warren Zevon and continued performing live in festivals and other live events, even in Australia.
After Deal left the band permanently, Kim Shattuck took her place in order to continue their European tour. A few months later, for the 2014's tour, Paz Lenchantin became the new bassist. Pixies’ fifth album named “Indie Cindy”, came out in April of 2014 and included all their songs from the recent EPs (EP1, EP2 and EP3). It was followed by “Head Carrier” in 2016, the first with Lenchantin on the record.
Pixies
