It's been three years now since Kim Deal split from the Pixies, but the band's upcoming Head Carrier extends an olive branch to the iconic indie bassist via a tributary track called "All I Think About Now." Now, an interview with frontman Black Francis has him explaining that his relationship with his former bandmate isn't so bad at the moment.
Speaking with Rolling Stone about the song, Francis revealed that bassist Paz Lenchantin asked him to write the lyrics for the piece, which she sings, as "a thank-you letter" to Deal.
The lyrics to the song take a look back at Francis' off-and-on friendship with Deal, including reconciliatory lines like "If I could go to the beginning / Then for sure I would be another way / Make it better for today."
When asked if he ever gets in touch with the founding four-stringer, Francis conceded: "We've all got each other's numbers."
"It's kind of like she's one step removed from being in the band," he added of the situation, which doesn't necessarily seem like they talk very much, but appears to be friendly.
"And even the people I'm in the band with, we don't sit around and call each other all the time, like hardly ever," he elaborated. "We get back for a tour or a recording session and I don't speak with them until the next time we're together. We don't live in the same town and we've all got lives and wives and families and everything. The only person I occasionally talk to is Joey, and even that is just an out-of-the-blue conversation and it's usually strange and not anything to do with anything."
The interview also had the singer-songwriter noting that he's done making solo records. Pixies is his full-time project.
"I can't really justify it," he said. "It takes a lot of energy, ultimately, to put out a record. Then people want you to go on tour to promote it. The Pixies are pretty successful in the touring realm. I can't really say, 'OK, kids, I'm going on tour again, bye. But this time I'm not going to make any money. I'm just doing it because I'm an artist.'"
Head Carrier is out September 30 through Pixiesmusic/Play It Again Sam.
Speaking with Rolling Stone about the song, Francis revealed that bassist Paz Lenchantin asked him to write the lyrics for the piece, which she sings, as "a thank-you letter" to Deal.
The lyrics to the song take a look back at Francis' off-and-on friendship with Deal, including reconciliatory lines like "If I could go to the beginning / Then for sure I would be another way / Make it better for today."
When asked if he ever gets in touch with the founding four-stringer, Francis conceded: "We've all got each other's numbers."
"It's kind of like she's one step removed from being in the band," he added of the situation, which doesn't necessarily seem like they talk very much, but appears to be friendly.
"And even the people I'm in the band with, we don't sit around and call each other all the time, like hardly ever," he elaborated. "We get back for a tour or a recording session and I don't speak with them until the next time we're together. We don't live in the same town and we've all got lives and wives and families and everything. The only person I occasionally talk to is Joey, and even that is just an out-of-the-blue conversation and it's usually strange and not anything to do with anything."
The interview also had the singer-songwriter noting that he's done making solo records. Pixies is his full-time project.
"I can't really justify it," he said. "It takes a lot of energy, ultimately, to put out a record. Then people want you to go on tour to promote it. The Pixies are pretty successful in the touring realm. I can't really say, 'OK, kids, I'm going on tour again, bye. But this time I'm not going to make any money. I'm just doing it because I'm an artist.'"
Head Carrier is out September 30 through Pixiesmusic/Play It Again Sam.
