Nearly two years to the day after its scheduled appearance in Tel Aviv was canceled due to COVID-19, veteran American alt rock pioneers the Pixies will take the stage at the Tel Aviv Expo on Monday, July 11.
This is the third visit to Israel for the Pixies. Its Holy Land debut came at a sold-out Bloomfield Stadium in Jaffa in 2014, and the band sold out two shows at the Caesarea Amphitheater in 2017.
Bearer of myriad musical descriptions
Bearer of myriad musical descriptions – from indie, noise and surfer rock to psychedelia – the Boston-based band was founded in 1986 by fellow University of Massachusets Amherst students front man Charles “Black Francis” Thompson (aka Frank Black) and guitarist Joey Santiago. Within just two years, the Pixies made an impact with the 1988 release of its first full-length album, Surfer Rosa. The loud-quiet-loud dynamic introduced in the album forever changed music, influencing seminal groups such as Smashing Pumpkins and PJ Harvey, but most prominently Nirvana, which adopted the technique as part of its grunge arsenal.
One year later, the Pixies released its first major label album, Doolittle, catapulting the band – that at the time also included drummer David Lovering and bassist Kim Deal – to rapid fame. The band broke up in 1993, but not before releasing two other albums, Bosssanova and Trompe le Monde.
After years of reunion rumors, the Pixies got back together in 2003, and over the next decade appeared in major festivals worldwide but released very little new music.
In 2013, Deal left and was replaced by Kim Shattuck, who was quickly replaced by Paz Lenchantin, the Pixies’ bassist till today. Since reshuffling the deck, the band has released three more albums, including its latest, Beneath the Eyrie, in 2019.
Monday’s show in Tel Aviv, which will feature an opening set by Alice in Chains founder, songwriter, lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist Jerry Cantrell, comes at the outset of the Pixies’ European tour. It also comes on the heels of the video release of the song “Human Crime.”
Contrary to expectations, “Human Crime” will not be on the Pixies’ upcoming album, Doggerel. What will be on the album, which is scheduled to go public on September 30, is the recently released “There’s a Moon On”… along with some 40 other songs that Black has written. And based on a recent interview with Pitchfork, Doggerel represents something very different for the band.
“This time around we have grown,” Santiago told the online publication. “We no longer have under two-minute songs. We have little breaks, more conventional arrangements but still our twists [are] in there.”
And Black added: “We’re trying to do things that are very big and bold and orchestrated. The punky stuff, I really like playing it, but you just cannot artificially create that shit. There’s another way to do this, there’s other things we can do with this extra special energy that we’re encountering.”
Which Pixies band will show up next week? We’ll soon find out
