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Show Friday. June 4, 1993 Francis to Frank: Black's humor, talent remain no. BY JOSHUA DALTON . Chronicle Music Critic Black Francis has made an odyssey in more than one way. He has left his old band. The Pixies, after producing some of the finest music in the greed decade. Now, after touring the nation in a Lincoln Towncar, he has settled into a big bus and an equally big tour. On this trip to the City of Salt, Black brought his new tour, his new sound, and his new alias, Frank Black, to DV8's stage. I sat down with him a few hours before the show, after he had completed his sound check. The following is an edited version of our discussion: JD: How long have you been in the music business in general? FB: I guess about six or seven years. JD: Was the Pixies the first big thing you did? FB: Uh-hu- h. get sick of it sometimes? but it beats my last job... Bartending. JD: It seems like you'd make a... FB: (Interrupts) Well, there's nothing wrong with bartending. JD: Do FB: Uh, yeah, JD: Well, you seem like you'd make an amicable bartender. FB: Hey, um, gotta make those tips, you know. JD: You were Black Francis, now you're Frank Black. Why did you go from one to the other? Just on a whim? FB: Whimsical. Something to do. More palatable, I think. JD: I like that it's close enough to Black Francis that Pixies fans would recognize it, but it's different too. FB: Sure, sure. It's both: derivative and different. JD: Do you think you'll ever do any work that is personal or reflective enough for you to ever use your real name? FB: Ah, you know.. .nothing in music. JD: Do you have other forms of art that you dabble in? FB: No. (Laughs) In all honesty, JD: Originally, you wanted to do a bunch of covers. FB: Yes. That was the original concept JD: Why did "Hang On To Your Ego" end up being the only cover you put on the album? FB: You know, for good measure. One good cover for good measure. JD: Do you like Salt Lake? FB: It's one of my favorite cities. JD: Why? FB: It's a great place. It's got the lake, all the history, you know. A lot of the Mormon history and everything is interesting. I mean, people give it a lot of slack, but you know, I don't have any problem with it. If people want to wear cheesecloth under their clothes, I don't care. JD: Off the top of your head, define for me the quintessential pause). JD: How come? FB: I've heard um...I made 'um...I wrote 'um. (Laughs) JD: What inspired the original alias, Black Francis? FB: Oh, some family names. And I needed a moniker to look good on the marque JD: Where from? do you put your lyrics FB: (Smirks disconcertingly) Mostly English language. (Laughs) the air.. .from From my brain..from various places.. .from poetry. JD: Do you read a lot of poetry? FB: No. I'm just saying, you know, using the basic cornerstones of poetry. Anyone can write a basic rock lyric. JD: I read in the bio. that you wrote yourself that "Czar" was about John Denver. (Mods) Can you tell me a little more about that? FB: Some years ago he offered $10 million to the U.S. space agency NASA, and also to the Soviets, for a ride into space and was denied. That was the main premise of the song. JD: I didn't know that. FB. Yeah, he's a bit of an aeronautics fanatic. JD: Are you a fanatic about anything? FB: Uhhh, I don't know if I'm a fanatic. JD: Well, do you have things that you get really into? FB: I hate to say no, but probably no. (Dry laugh) JD: What do you do with your spare time, when you're not doing any music stuff at all? FB: You know...I've got a compost pile going. (Long pause.) JD: Cool. Is there anything you want to say? Open mike. FB. Open mike?! (Groans) I hate open mike. (Laughs) D:(Knowing that it was just about time to end this one) Okay. Incidentally, what followed about three hours later was indeed a great concert. Black played every single d release song off of his after starting the show off with funky Battlestar Calactica keyboards thanks to "the Professor." He closed the show with a surprisingly soulful rendition of the Motown classic, "Duke of Earl." self-title- "sell-out- ." FB: I don't think there's any- thing.. .there's no such thing as a t. It's music coming out of a box, and if one work is considered under-sellin- g yourself, and another kind of work is considered watering down yourself so as to make yourself more palatable, so be it. I just don't care. I mean, there's just all different kinds of records, and if people want to, like, sell-ou- t, who cares. If you want to make bad records, make bad records, or whatever. JD: It's up to the artist? FB: It's up to the artist. In the end, it doesn't matter (Breaks down laughing) to me. I mean, it's too trivial of a subject, like music in general. You get all these precious little people and say (In a whiney voice) "I remember when they were good." JD: If you had to do Frank Black the LP over again, how would you change it, or would you? FB: Hmm, it's a little early to say sell-ou- quote-unquo- what much. I ill " . vj. K e - XM te '-- -- : rV ' - J would change, but not JD: Do you go back to earlier Pixies stuff and say, "Now that it's been a few years..." FB:(Interrupts) I never listen to the Pixies. (Pause) Never have, never will. (Another rather long PHOTOCeline Boddy CHRONIOf Reporter Josh Dalton speaks with Frank Black about bartending, compost piles and the Czar himself, John Denver. 10,000 Wallapaloozas wish you one very groovy summer JOSHUA DALTON Chronicle Music Critic BY f; v The year has come to an amazingrapid end. It soems only yesterday I was reviewing my first CD, and now here I am looking to summer 1993. Before we check out perspective happenings over the break, I need to take a second to offer my opinion of ly v I Kg " 'pl DD the Wallflowers1 0,000 Maniacs show at the Triad Amphitheater. I wasn't planning on reviewing the show, but after I read a certain "major" paper's review, I felt compelled to offer my spin on the concert. The Wallflowers opened the show with a far too short set. They once again displayed a solid ability to fuse 70s rock, '60s riffs with a '90s spin. The set was a combination of debut songs from their album, a few cover tunes, and a tantalizing taste of some of the new songs we can look forward to future self-title- d albums, including an incredible duet with the Maniac's Natalie Avenue "Sixth Merchant, Heartache." n The band had all of the comfort of five guys that have seen way to much of each other and still had the strength and energy to keep well-wor- the set clipping. If the audience, Steven Gustafson, (bottom) Merchant and Co. 9,995 Maniacs short: (top) Dennis Drew, Natalie Merchant, Jerome Augustyniak and Rob Buck. however, was pretty lethargic, perking up only when "the headliner," Ms. Merchant, came on stage once to dance and once to sing. Wallflowers lead vocalist Jakob Dylan explained that the band had been touring for the better part of a year. The last time the 'Flowers came through town, he wasn't talking at all about heading back to the studio, but this time, he said they were ready. "We have enough songs for four or five albums," Dylan said. Where the Wallflowers had the energy and drive of a young band, excited to be on the road, the 10,000 Maniacs were on automatic pilot for most of the show. With the exception of Merchant, the band showed almost no life energy during the entire set. It was pretty obvious that this was just another stop for the Maniacs. Ms. Merchant, on the other hand, chatter added enough between-sonto keep the audience enthralled. Her and incredipatented ble vocal skills were enough to band make up for the zombie-lik- e she was fronting, and that really says a lot. Beyond a doubt, she has become a diva of modern rock a full fledged icon. Her performance alone make the show worth attendg sway-dancin- g ing. I just can't help wondering how much better it would have been if the rest of the band had shown up. Anyway, on to the summer: That's right, Lollapalooza is finally coming to Utah. Of course, it will be Ogden, but don't worry. The only reason they chose Weber-vill- e was because of the cheap rent. Bands will include a whole slew see "Wall" on page eleven |