Cross Yourself: Frank Black and the Catholics
He may be an indie-legend who dabbles in surrealism,
UFO-proselytizing, name changing and singing like a scurvy-stricken
dog, but Frank Black has a rock & roll heart. While the records
he made with the Pixies, a band destined to grow in importance as
years go by, are quirky and sublime, Black’s latest outing (his
fourth solo record and debut for indie SpinArt Records) is a
flat-out four-four barn burner. He’s just wrapped up a string of
dates opening for Pearl Jam, for chrissakes, and he laments, with
good reason, the spit-shine on today’s pop culture. The gritty,
untamed Frank Black and the Catholics hits stores
September 8, and Black is ready to face the music once again.
I hear this record was recorded live to two-track? Was that
really the deal?
Yeah, it was live. You’re hearing the demo. The record was never
made.
What’s the story behind that?
We were making a demo for Rick Rubin, and, you know, wanted to do a
good job. He’s a hot shot producer and all that. I haven’t done
demos for ten years. Anyway, we were down in the studio, we were
pretty well-rehearsed, we went to a good studio, probably too good
a studio for a demo recording. But anyway, the second day of making
this demo, we all just were kind of in agreement that it sounded
really good and we were really pleased with it. Felt proud of the
live performances, and you know, in a certain argument, it’s really
the way that rock music should be. And it certainly never has been
that way for me; I come from the multi-track overdub recordings. I
mean, it’s been that way since whenever.
And Rubin didn’t like them?
He liked them as demos; he didn’t want them to be on the record.
And then it just kind of worked out that way. American was having
its own problems in the media business, so it wouldn’t have worked
out anyway.
So then you just shopped your wares elsewhere?
We didn’t really shop that much. We just kind of waited around for
people to call us and wait for information to get out there that I
was available. You name it, man, they passed on it. Most of the
record labels out there. SpinArt is the one label that kind of
managed to stick it through the end of a negotiation. Finally,
they’re gonna put it out.
What can people expect from this new material? Sounds to me
definitely more raw, without the UFO references and stuff like
that.
Yeah, there’s not any UFO references. I’d say that the lyrics — I
don’t want to say they’re real middle of the road — but certainly
there are some personal end or universal themes. There are no
universal UFO’s to be found.
You’ve been witness to a lot of stylistic changes. What do
you think of the rise of ska and swing, this kind of weird melding
that’s going on right now?
Well, I guess, to me those kinds of hybrid forms — and I
participate in hybridization, hybrid music, myself — I guess that
stuff looks better on paper than it sounds. I don’t know. I’m not
into modern ska music. I love the Specials. Maybe it’s because I’m
old. Is it because I’m thirty-three, and I’m not twenty-three? Why
is that? I don’t know. I really don’t want to diss anyone. I really
don’t like to do that. I don’t know, does it seem to you that a lot
of modern music is really souless? Whether it be country, or
so-called country, or R&B or pop music, whatever, there’s a lot
of emphasis on technique, especially among vocalists. Doing all
these vocal gymnastics. Whether LeeAnn Rimes, or Hanson, or any of
that stuff. There’s so much technique going on. Maybe it has
something to do with MTV. There’s a lot of, like, almost
impersonating or something going on with the super young singers.
Everyone seems really impressed by it. I don’t actually blame the
youngsters, the real young ones. They’re just doing what they do.
But the ones that are over twenty-one, that have their vocal
technique down — it’s really empty sounding. It just doesn’t give
me goose bumps, you know what I mean?
I keep thinking it’s about economics. The fact that we’re
in better times, so there’s just no power behind the music or
something.
Last night we had the television briefly stopped on the Maury
Povich show, and there was this kid doing this (growls and
screams), kind of like this bluesy Ella Fitzgerald or
something mixed in with, like, Whitney Houston and Hanson and all
these … she was this little white girl and she was on this song
about her man, and “I love you man, and you’re my man!” And she’s
like this eleven-year-old kid. It was so hard to hear the melody
because there was so much dive-bombing going on. It wasn’t good, it
was awful. I mean they just went nuts. The audience, they loved it
because it was this little kid. It just seemed really lame. And I
just feel like I see that everywhere now. I see it in modern rock
music in the buzz bin. You just see a lot of technique. Yeah,
they’re hitting the note, and yeah, they’re slick, but it’s so
empty. I don’t know.
Where’s the guts or grit?
That always spells it out for me in terms of my career. It’s like,
why has it taken over a year for me to get my record released?
“Hey, Mr. record company guy, got my new record? We recorded live
to two-track.” That’s the last thing they want to hear. And it’s
like, “Okay, see ya.” You know what I mean? They don’t even want to
hear it. It’s “What’s the angle,” “What’s the story,” “How are we
gonna market this?” Everything is just so marketed to death. Not
just music, but everything.
Seems like somebody would have wanted it …
I don’t know. I think a lot of indie rock — maybe I’m just
paranoid or worried or something — but I think I might bug a lot
of people. A certain type of taste, I don’t mean bad taste, I mean
good taste. I just think certain types of people, they don’t get
me, or they think I’m something that I’m not.
What do you think when you look back on this Pixies? Is
what the band meant coming into focus, or does it seem like it was
just yesterday?
Not quite yesterday, but the day before yesterday. What the band
meant, I don’t know. It’s really other people talking about it. I
don’t know, I’m not saying it didn’t mean anything. I mean, it’s
hard to really think of it that way. It just is. [People say], “How
do you feel about the fact that you’ve influenced all of these
bands today?” And I just sort of don’t believe it. I’m like, “Huh?”
I don’t get it. It just doesn’t ring true. I’m not saying it isn’t.
But it didn’t seem that obvious. People seemed to like it. And
certainly business people kept persuading me to do another record,
do another tour, “Keep going, man. You guys are gonna go all the
way. You guys are massive.” They seemed to like it. Seem to like it
now.