Frank Black Biography

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This article is about the contemporary musician. For the 19th century governor of New York, see Frank S. Black. For the TV series character, see Millennium (TV series).

Frank Black (born Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Black is best known as the leader of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, performing under the stage name Black Francis. Overview ))) | accessdate=2006-10-25 | author=Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic}}When the Pixies reunited in 2004, he did not specify whether he was adopting his Black Francis pseudonym again. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under his current pseudonym. After releasing several albums with 4AD, he left the label and formed a backing band, Frank Black and the Catholics. Black reformed the Pixies in 2004 and continues to release solo records while touring and recording with them.As of October 2006, the band are together and continue to tour.

Black's vocal style has varied from a screaming, yowling delivery as lead vocalist of the Pixies to a more measured and melodical style in later Pixies albums and solo career.Sisario, Ben. Doolittle 33â??. Continuum, 2006. ISBN 0826417744 p. 80 Black's cryptic lyrics mostly explore unconventional subjects, such as surrealism,Sisario, 2006. p. 30 incest and Biblical violence, along with dam collapses, science fiction and surf culture. His use of atypical meter signatures, loud-quiet dynamics and distinct preference for live-to-two-track recording in his career as a solo artist give him a unique style in alternative rock.His use of atypical meter signatures is present in songs such as "Gouge Away" from Doolittle

As frontman of the Pixies, Black's songs (such as "Where Is My Mind?" and "Debaser") received praise and citations from contemporaries, including Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. Cobain once said that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt at trying to "rip off the Pixies". However, in his solo work and records with the Catholics, he received less critical success and his fanbase diminished.

Biography

Youth

Charles Thompson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 6, 1965. His father was a bar owner, and he first lived in Los Angeles, California as a baby because his father wanted to "learn more about the restaurant and bar business".Frank, Ganz, 2006. p .4 Thompson was introduced to music at a young age, as his parents often listened to 1960s folk rock. Thompson's first guitar was his mother's guitar (a Yamaha classical guitar bought with money from his father's bar tips) which he started to play at age "11 or 12".

He discovered the music of Christian rock singer-songwriter Larry Norman at 13; Norman's music influenced Thompson to the extent that he named the Pixies' first EP (and a line in the song "Levitate Me") after one of Norman's lyrics, "Come on Pilgrim". Thompson later described the music he listened to during his youth:

Thompson's family moved around, disrupting his high school education. Just before his senior year, the family moved to Westport, Massachusetts, where he received a Teenager of the Year award (the title of a later solo album).Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 5 During this time, Thompson composed several songs that appeared in his later career, including "Here Comes Your Man" from Doolittle and the song "Velvety Instrumental Version".Sisario, 2006. p. 88Pixies Complete 'B' Sides liner notes"Velvety Instrumental Version" was later released, with lyrics, as "Velvety" on the Frank Black and the Catholics' 2002 album, Devil's Workshop.

College

After graduating from high school, he studied in the University of Massachusetts Amherst, majoring in anthropology. Biography))) | accessdate=2006-10-27}} Thompson shared a room with another roommate for a semester before sharing a room with future Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago.Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 9 The two shared an interest in music, and Santiago introduced Thompson to 1970s punk and the music of David Bowie; they soon began to jam together. It was at this time that Black discovered The Cars, a band he described as "very influential on me and the Pixies".Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 10 Santiago later recalled his time in college:

In his second year of college, Thompson embarked on a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico as part of an exchange program. He spent six months in an apartment with a "weird, psycho, gay roommate", who later served as an inspiration for the Pixies' song "Crackity Jones";Sisario, 2006. p. 12 many of the band's early songs refer to Thompson's experiences in Puerto Rico.The influence of his trip to Puerto Rico is most notable in the song "Isla De Encanta", named after the island's motto, "Isla Del Encanto". Thompson failed to grasp the Spanish language,His Spanish later improved, and several of his songs contained Spanish lyrics, most notably in the Pixies' first album, Come On Pilgrim. and finally left his studies after debating whether he would go to New Zealand to view Halley's Comet (he later said "it just seemed like the cool romantic thing to do at the time"),"No Time Wasters!" Q, No. 48, September 1990 or start a rock band. He soon wrote a letter urging Santiago, with the words "we gotta do it, now is the time Joe",Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 12 to join him in a band upon his return to Boston.Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 11

Pixies

He soon arrived back in Massachusetts, dropping out of college and moving to Boston with Santiago. He spent 1984 working in a warehouse, "managing buttons on teddy bears", composing songs on his acoustic guitar and writing lyrics on the subway train. He then formed the Pixies the following year with Santiago,Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 13 recruiting bassist Kim Deal (via an advert Thompson placed in a local paper requesting a bassist "into Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul and Mary") and drummer Dave Lovering. The band recorded their 18-track demo tape (named The Purple Tape by fans) in 1987 and subsequently signed to the English record company 4AD.Thompson's father helped the band financially, loaning $1000 in order to record the demo tape Thompson adopted the stage name "Black Francis" for the release of Come on Pilgrim, a name inspired by his father, who once said "it would make a good stage name".Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 56

The band soon recorded Surfer Rosa, with all material written by Francis, except for the album's single "Gigantic", which was written by Deal. Doolittle followed in a similar fashion in 1989. However, in the post-Doolittle tour, tensions between Francis and Deal,Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 132 combined with exhaustion, drove the band to announce a hiatus. During this time, Francis travelled across America with his girlfriend (due to an aversion to flying), and while doing so, performed "play to pay" solo shows to raise funds for furniture in his new Los Angeles apartment.

The band's later albums, Bossanova and Trompe le Monde (his first collaboration with Eric Drew Feldman),Feldman was a veteran of avant-rock bands Pere Ubu, Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, and The Residents were characterized by Francis' increasing influence on the band's output and focus on science fiction themes,Francis, Black. Lyrics. "Planet of Sound." (Trompe le Monde). LP. 4AD 1991. which he later explored in his early solo work. Deal had contributed to previous albums, but from Bossanova on, all the original songs were written by Francis. The band broke up in 1992 (although it was not publicly announced until early 1993 in a radio interview) after a hiatus,Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 173 due primarily to internal tensions between Francis and Deal.

Early solo career

While the Pixies' Trompe le Monde was being recorded, Francis had discussions with the album's producer, Gil Norton,Gil Norton was the producer of the Pixies' records from Doolittle onwards about a possible solo record. He told Norton he was keen to record again, even though he had no new material. The concept for this new solo work was a cover album, but by the time he visited a recording studio again in 1992, he had "plenty of tunes and musical scraps".

He collaborated with Feldman to record new material; they began by trimming down the number of covers to one, The Beach Boys' "Hang on to Your Ego". Feldman became the album's producer, and played keyboard and bass guitar on several songs, with Santiago featuring on lead guitar.Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 187-8 During the hiatus and breakup of the Pixies, he recorded the album, adopting the stage name "Frank Black" (inverting his old persona "Black Francis") and releasing the results as Frank Black in 1993. Frank Black was characterized by a focus on UFOs and science fiction, although he explored other eclectic subjects, such as "I Heard Ramona Sing", a song about The Ramones. The album was similar in style, both musically and lyrically, to the Pixies' recordings Bossanova and Trompe le Monde. Feldman later said that the first record connected his solo career with Trompe le Monde, "but at the same time it is an island, like nothing else he [Black] did".Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 188

The following year, Black released his second solo record, a twenty-two song double album entitled Teenager of the Year. The production method of Teenager of the Year was markedly different to Frank Black. In the previous album, MIDI templates were used when writing songs, but in Teenager, Black showed the parts to band members, who then played the song; Feldman noted that Black's songwriting became "a lot more spontaneous". Teenager included the song "Headache", a moderate success on rock playlists. Black had begun to stray from his style with the Pixies, writing songs that covered a variety of genres, and his new-found method of recording was closer to later albums than that of Frank Black and Trompe le Monde.

Both Frank Black and Teenager of the Year were critically well-received and remain fan favorites, although they enjoyed little commercial success. In 1995, Black left his longtime labels 4AD and Elektra. Biography ))) | accessdate=2006-10-23 | author=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}

1996 saw the release of The Cult of Ray on Rick Rubin's American Recordings; a turn away from the elaborate, sometimes lush production of his first solo works, the album was recorded primarily live with few overdubs. His band for this album featured sole "Teenager" holdover Lyle Workman on lead guitar along with bassist David McCaffrey and Scott Boutier on drums.Both had previously played in the jangle pop band Miracle Legion. Though the album was not a critical or commercial success, its stripped-down approach would increasingly define Black's working methods for the next several years.

Frank Black and the Catholics

Black dubbed this backing band "the Catholics", and the band's eponymous album Frank Black and the Catholics was recorded in 1997. Recorded live-to-two-track initially as merely a demo, Black was so pleased with the results that he decided to release the sessions with no further production. The album was delayed for over a year by internal conflicts at American, and was ultimately released in late 1998 by SpinArt Records in the US.Since leaving American, Black has avoided long-term contracts with labels, and has maintained ownership of his album masters, licensing each album individually for release. The album became the first to be posted to the eMusic service — they claim it is "the first album ever made legally available for commercial download". Critical reception to the album was in general mixed, with some writers noting Black's seemingly deliberate turn away from the "quirkiness" of the Pixies and his early solo work for a self-consciously straightforward approach. Overview ))) | accessdate=2006-10-23 | author=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}

Black would continue to eschew multi-track recording for the live-to-two-track technique for all subsequent releases under the group name.Live-to-two-track recording precludes the use of overdubs to correct errors or add texture; all takes are recorded continuously, and mixing is done "on the fly". On later albums, Black incorporated more musicians into the sessions to allow for more varied instrumental textures. Explaining his rationale behind the method, Black said:

Workman left the group in 1998 to pursue session and sideman work; Rich Gilbert was added to the group to replace him. The band released Pistolero in 1999 and then Dog in the Sand, which is often considered a high point of Black's career, in 2001. Dog in the Sand added Dave Philips on pedal steel guitar and lead guitar, and Eric Drew Feldman and Joey Santiago began making occasional appearances with the group live and on record.

Two separate albums, Black Letter Days and Devil's Workshop, were released simultaneously in 2002. A sixth album with the Catholics, Show Me Your Tears, was released in 2003. Show Me Your Tears' title and many of the songs in it were inspired by Thompson's recent divorce and entrance into therapy.

Pixies reunion, Nashville and beyond

In late 2003, following long-standing rumours, an official announcement was made that the Pixies were practicing for a reunion tour. They played publicly for the first time in 12 years in April 2004, and went on to tour extensively in the U.S, Canada and Europe in the same year, and recorded a new composition "Bam Thwok", sung and co-written by Deal, which was released on the iTunes Music Store.

2004 saw Black begin a collaboration with a group of respected Nashville session men that included Steve Cropper, Spooner Oldham, Reggie Young, and Anton Fig, as well as producer Jon Tiven, to record Honeycomb, released in July 2005 to generally favorable reviews. A second volume of Nashville sessions, a double album entitled Fastman Raiderman, was released in June 2006.

Black appeared at a concert by Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman in June 2005 in Salem, Oregon. Norman was the writer of the song, "Six Sixty Six" which Black covered on the album Frank Black and the Catholics. Norman and Black did a duet on "Watch What You're Doing", which later appeared on Norman's album, Live at The Elsinore.

Black continued to tour as part of the Pixies through 2005 and 2006. Though the Catholics were effectively defunct, two separate albums of Frank Black and the Catholics B-sides and rarities, Snake Oil and One More Road for the Hit, were released on the iTunes Music Store in March 2006 (with an eye towards a future CD release). On top of this, Black was also working on more new solo material with Eric Drew Feldman in the first part of 2006, some of which has already been performed live with Feldman. Black began his first solo tour since 2003 in the fall of 2006. In October 2006, Black announced plans for the Pixies to start rehearsing and recording a new album in January 2007.

Black currently lives in Eugene, Oregon and is married to Violet Clark, his second wife, with whom he has two children, Jack and Lucy.

Musical style

Influences

Black has drawn influence from a number of musical genres.

Songwriting and lyrics

During his stay in Puerto Rico, Black picked up a fairly fluent yet informal (at times incorrect) use of Spanish, which he has continued to use throughout his career. His earlier songs in Pixies reflected aspects of his days in San Juan and are heavily seasoned with local slang from the island. Since his later works with the Pixies, the use of Spanish drifted westward, reflecting places and aspects of the state of California and its culture.

His lyrics are noted for their obscure references to off-beat topics like outer space, unexplained phenomena such as UFOs, and even The Three Stooges (the last of these being the subject of "Two Reelers", a song from Teenager of the Year). He has also used the Bible as a source for his stories, most notably in the incestuous tale of "Nimrod's Son" and the stories of Uriah, Bathsheba in "Dead", Samson in "Gouge Away" and The Tower of Babel in multiple songs. Lyrics with a focus on science fiction were particularly prominent on later Pixies records such as Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, and on his three solo albums of the mid-1990s (Frank Black, Teenager of the Year, and The Cult of Ray).

With the Catholics, his lyrics have more often tended towards historical topics; for example, the song "St. Francis Dam Disaster" (from Dog in the Sand) is about the catastrophic collapse of the St. Francis Dam near Los Angeles in March 1928, and the All My Ghosts EP featured an account of the "Humboldt County Massacre" of Wiyot Indians in 1860 near Eureka, California.

Vocals

Black once said he modelled his vocal style on two simple words: "Scream it." He adopted the mantra from a Thai neighbor, who once asked him to sing "Oh! Darling" by The Beatles (from their album Abbey Road) and to "Scream it like you hate that bitch!"Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 6 Indeed, Black's powerful screams were a signature of Pixies albums, along with the band's typical song structure of quietly paced verses followed by thundering chorus lines and repetitive guitar staccato.

Television appearances and videos

See also: Pixies television appearances and videos

Black has appeared on a range of television shows solo and as part of the Pixies, ranging from 120 Minutes and The Late Show in the US, to The Word in the UK.

As part of the Pixies, Black was reluctant to film videos for singles such as "Velouria" and "Dig for Fire". Elektra Records' Peter Lubin commented that "to get videos out of them was a major, major, major undertaking and it only got worse over time", and by the Pixies' album Bossanova, Black refused to lip-sync to music videos.Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 140

"Los Angeles" video

In his solo career (particularly with Elektra Records), his videos were often more professional, particularly with "Los Angeles", which features Black riding across a desert on a hovercraft. John Flansburgh, who helped produce the "Los Angeles" video, later commented on the change in Black's attitude to music videos:Frank, Ganz, 2006. p. 188

Discography

Studio albums

* as Frank Black and the Catholics

Singles

Notes and references

External links

• Approved fan site
  
• Frank Black discography
  
• Frank Black's Allmusic entry
  

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