Blame Kurt Cobain. By nicking and mainstreaming the loud-quiet-loud dynamic of, say, Gigantic, then crediting Pixies, he effectively reduced them to one-trick ponies in popular culture.
But the band have always been so much more, so much weirder, than simple sudden changes in volume and intensity. Their debut EP begins with a stuttering twangy surf guitar lick. It features what sounds like a folk song on meth about the “son of incestuous union”, and a pumped-up polka partly sung in Spanish.
All three songs (Caribou, a jazzed-up Nimrod’s Son, and Isla de Encanta) show up at Roundhouse tonight in a 37-song set that seems intent on showing absolutely everything that Pixies are about. There’s the pretty ’50s pop with its sweet harmonies, strummed acoustic guitar, and twangy Duane Eddy leads. (Take a bow, Death Horizon, Ana, and the eternally sunny Here Comes Your Man). There are the bizarre lyrics, often barked. (Please stand up, “Your bone’s got a little machine” or “There was a guy/ An underwater guy who controlled the sea”.)
There are the massively influential, massively varied indie rock anthems with their unmistakable basslines, male-female vocals, liquid guitar solos, punky energy, and (yes) tonal twists and turns. (Join the seemingly endless queue, Debaser, Gouge Away, Monkey Gone To Heaven, Wave Of Mutilation, Where Is My Mind?, Planet Of Sound. No Gigantic, though. Sorry, Kurt.)
And then there’s the continued need to keep creating: since 2014, they’ve released four albums. The latest, last year’s Doggerel, features heavily at the first of their two sold-out Roundhouse shows. Rightly so. It’s excellent.
Dregs Of The Wine has all the hallmarks of a classic: the memorable Black Francis lyric (“Took the boat to the Hacienda”), that Paz Lenchantin bass jangle and beautiful vocal harmonising, a Joey Santiago guitar solo that sounds simultaneously retro and futuristic, David Lovering’s deceptively simple drumming, the ebbs and flows.
Live, as on the record, There’s A Moon On is direct, immediate, and hugely moshable. (Plus the line “Make like a cock, cock-a-doodle-doo” must have been written for audiences to scream along to.) And Nomatterday — with its spoken vocal, shouted refrain of “Don’t. Waste. Your. Time. On. Me!”, another Santiago solo seemingly beamed in from outer space, and complete transformation halfway through — is easily one of their best.
The support act, Manchester’s The Slow Readers Club, are equally keen to showcase their own excellent new album. Released a month ago, Knowledge Freedom Power contributes two tracks — the shimmering motorik groover Modernise; the plaintive, then explosive Lay Your Troubles On Me — to a set that, like the headliners, highlights their full range.
Played back to back, the pounding All I Hear and more intricate, more pensive You Opened Up My Heart especially show off the light and shade of Aaron Starkie’s voice. The expansive I Saw A Ghost and Lunatic were written for venues much larger than Roundhouse, while Forever In Your Debt is moody, ever-evolving, and ultimately uplifting.
Touchingly, Starkie dedicates it to Pixies, who return the favour with their moody, ever-evolving, and ultimately uplifting set. Carefully sequenced, it builds in momentum and impact as slower, quieter, brighter songs like Cactus, All The Saints, Motorway To Roswell, and Get Simulated make way for the heavier, harder, punkier stuff, all delivered in the same unfussy way. For all the power of their songs and the force of their playing, the individual Pixies are remarkably low-key. Nobody really says anything. Santiago and Lovering have their caps pulled down low, as if they don’t want to be seen.
The only vague concessions to anything vaguely resembling showing off are Black Francis’ sunglasses (that never come off) and the red flower on the smiling and waving Lenchantin’s headstock. (But that’s the Pixies way. Short-term bass player Kim Shattuck remembered being told off for jumping into the crowd during a show. She was let go not long afterwards)
But who really cares whether the singer points and waves and poses when the songs are so good, so plentiful, and still so mind-altering.
Pixies
Roundhouse, London
20th March 2023
Photo: Simon Reed
- This article originally appeared on Louder Than War.
