Pixies Black Francis talks Kim Shattuck Firing
Pixies' Black Francis isn't doing the band's PR department any favors. After the ax-ing of bassist Kim Shattuck and her revelation that the band are all a bunch of downers, the band's lead vocalist decided to play the whole affair off.
"Frankly you don't want to explain it to anybody - it's a lot of its personal, private shit" Francis told Yahoo!. "It's like politics and sports and people's personal lives have all been smeared together in this modern world. It's a very presumptuous attitude about a lot of things. [People say] 'Oh you're shifting something in your world - we demand a statement as to why.' I'm not the mayor, this isn't the bus service for a town. This is a rock band. There's been a shift in the lineup, big woop-dee-doo . . . as far as we're concerned it ain't that big of a deal."
While Francis is right that it isn't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, the fact of the matter is he's a musician in a highly influential and adored band. Fans are going to want to know about absolutely anything that happens within the bands ranks. It's the tradeoff for being a band as big as the Pixies.
"The big question mark is, if it was going so well, why are you changing it up again?" Francis added. "I guess it's a fair question, but what I would say is, just because some shows went well or a recording session went well with somebody, that doesn't mean that now you guys are married and this is forever. It's not really how it works when you're a band. And it's hard to explain to people, especially if they get emotionally attached to one person."
The Pixies will begin a 33-date US tour with new bassist Paz Lenchatin on January 15. EP-1, the band's first release in over 20 years, is out now.