Pixies' guitarist Joey Santiago talks to RVA Magazine in Richmond, Virginia about Pitchfork reviews, Kim Deal, & Kim Shattuck.
Check out the quotes below.
What did you make of some of the reviews you got, especially the 1 out of 10 rating from Pitchfork?
We don't give a shit. That's Pitchfork and I know it's kind of what they're known for, but I think it was a joke. I think it was their way of getting readers or getting noticed or publicity or whatever. I mean, I just don't know what the guy did to review it. The idiot probably didn't even listen to it. Maybe for a second, or just a half-assed listen in the background, but I don't think he really listened to it. I mean, how could you slam something like that and not find anything good about the music? You don't even deserve to be a music critic at that point. At that point, it seems like you don't even like music at all. Just seems like you hate everything. Jesus Christ, the guy probably would have slammed Picasso when he went through his cubism stage, writing something like "What the fuck is this?" What an asshole. He just seems to enjoy destroying music which is the exact opposite of what I want to do. I want to create. He wants to destroy. Guy's a dick. Let me know where that fucker lives, all right? [Laughs]
Was Kim the one putting the brakes on releasing new music as rumoured?
Well, she was definitely one of the main hang-ups, but she wasn't the only one and it's not like she was completely against it. Charles [Thompson, aka Black Francis] was kind of a hold-up too. He was very concerned about where the sound was going to come from or what the sound direction was going to be. The birth of a song and waiting for the muse to happen, those sort of things. I don't write the songs, so that was on him. He comes up with the songs and then presents them to us. At that point, we become his toughest critics, except we actually really listen to his songs, unlike other critics. He just had to get us all on board.
So then how did your first single back, "Bagboy," come about?
He's always had it. At first, it was a blues riff that was a lot faster. He simplified it into just the two notes to create more space for the other parts of the songs. We had it before with Kim Deal. Kim recorded "Bagboy" and three other songs with us and that was it. She was on board with the new stuff and totally loved it. For some reason or another though, she had to go. She had to leave. That's a mystery to us. We had dinner, she told us, and she wished us well. It was pretty sad, but it was a very amicable parting because that's how professionals part with each other, if you catch my drift. I mean, it's nice to have one Kim that's professional.
Going off that subtle reference, how's your new bass player, Paz Lenchantin, working out?
Oh, Paz is awesome. She's a professional. She does her homework. She learned the lyrics without even being asked. She's flawless as a bass player and as a singer. She's got great manners too and we welcome her with big open arms. Hopefully, she loves us more than we love her. We got in touch with her through a recommendation from a great friend of mine, Josh Freese. He's a great drummer and he played with Paz in A Perfect Circle. When he recommended her, I asked him if there was anyone else he could think of, because we were doing tryouts so we didn't want to just have one person show up. Josh called me back and said, "I don't have anyone else. Just try Paz." He was basically telling me that we didn't need to try out anyone else but Paz. We tried her out and she was just awesome, so Josh was right. It was a great fit.
The full interview can be found
here.
