Jul 4, 2016
Bill and Brian welcome drummer John Petrick of the Stewart Dolly (thestewartdolly.bandcamp.com) to the podcast to discuss the Pixies sophomore full length release Doolittle (1989, 4AD). The band formed around the core of primary songwriter Black Francis and guitarist Joey Santiago after the two met at the University of Massachusetts Amherst before bassist Kim Deal and drummer Dave Lovering solidified the lineup. Signed to British indie label 4AD, the band took off with college radio and have since maintained their legacy as one of THE most important alternative bands. John shares how he discovered the band through looking up Weezer on allmusic.com. Bill, Brian, and John discuss Black Francis' name, whether or not his character in the songs reveals who he is in life, Joey Santiago's noisey guitars, Brian not knowing anything about superhero names, the monolithic nature of the album, how to learn to play bass using the Kim Deal method, how Black Francis' voice cracking during a particular song is John's favorite moment on the album, Ennio Morricone, a surprising amount about how the band is like the Beatles in many ways, and more as we make our way through the album track by track!
Hard to believe no one played loudsoftloud before Pixies. I can't come up with anything that blows the theory apart, or I might just not understand it very well. Leafing through classic rock canon from earlier decades reveals a few that might qualify - Tom Petty Here Comes My Girl; Queen We Will Rock You/Champions, Stones Moonlight Mile, Who Acid Queen, CCR Hideaway; Van Morrison Just Wanna Make Love to You, Listen to the Lion.