Band Bio | Forum | Music | Images | Links | Web Team    
Main / Appearances / Directory | News / Updates    


"So I don't get to play on the radio. It's their loss. I don't listen to their radio station, and there are plenty of other people who don't either."
(Frank Black - Interview with Michael Gelfand)

 


 

 



Submit News | News Feed
2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024

1/26/2010
New Year's News
Brian (07:20 PST)

Happy New Year from all of us at FrankBlack.net! Our news section is one area of the site that we vow, in this new year, to update more frequently. So, here is part 1 of our resolution!

First of all, Non Stop Erotic (or is it NonStopErotik?) is due out on March 30th in the US and April 5 everywhere else. However, if you want to get a special sneak peak at the record, i might suggest checking out our March 1st edition of the FrankBlack.net podcast...just saying, it should be a special one.

Speaking of special podcasts, back in December we featured 7(!) pieces from the as-still-unreleased Golem box set, and spoke with three musicians involved with that record - Eric Drew Feldman, Ralph Carney and Jason Carter. It was one of the most fun podcasts we''ve ever done, and we hope that you check that, along with all of our other podcasts (including January''s Workout podcast) on our podcast page, and remember, the first of the month, EVERY month, we''re back with another new episode.

If you are a podcast kind of person, check out the most recent episode of Sound Opinions, a great "rock and roll talk show" from Chicago Public Radio and American Public Media that features our good friend Black Francis discussing Doolittle and the early days of the Pixies.

Sad news for all of us East Coasters - Black Francis''s participation in a March 2 tribute to the Who in New York City is no longer happening. Maybe we can convince him into making it up to us with a few shows...

...or if you are a Northern Californian, you have good news regarding some last minute acoustic shows coming up soon. January 30th, you can catch the man at the Hard to Find Showspace in Goleta and Feburay 7 at the Blue Lamp in Sacramento. The Goleta show is all ages, but it appears the Blue Lamp is not.

Mr. Francis, along with his lovely wife Violet Clark, is currently in the studio working on the second Grand Duchy record, tentatively titled Give the People What They Want. We will promise to update you as soon as we get more information.

Future Podcast guests and new friends to the site Joey Santiago and David Lovering have a band called The Everybody and a brand new record called Avatar (don''t worry - James Cameron didn''t touch this!) and a really cool new website which, among other things, features ways for you to collaborate with the band! It is a really cool idea, so go to TheEverybody.com and try to become part of Everybody Else!

And finally, since we all haven''t bought Doolittle enough times already, there is a new "Omnibus Edition" coming out from the Beggars Banquet Archival imprint sometime in the future. We''re being promised a surround sound mix, a Blu-Ray (of what? Audio? Videos? No one seems to know), mastered demos of most of the tracks, and a booklet full of new interviews. (Info from the amazingly titled website, Slicing Up Eyeballs) It actually does sound pretty cool - we'll keep you updated as more information becomes available.

-Brian

2/13/2010
The Golem Is Alive! And...Erotik?
Brian (07:04 PST)

Photobucket Photobucket The Golem is on sale NOW!

That's right, our friends at BlackFrancis have officially released the limited edition Golem Book - 5 discs, a 50 page book, and only 500 copies! Take a break from reading this news and go over to the BlackFrancis webstore...

...ok, are you back? Hopefully you got one. If you didn't, we've been assured that a rock songs version will be released in the future featuring just the full-fledged songs, but not the interludes/score/etc.

Check out the making of video here, and while you're there you can watch the WHOLE FREAKIN' THING on the blackfrancisnet YouTube account. I'll give you some more time to go do that...

Photobucket

But we're back with even MORE exciting news! Many of you have no doubt seen this on our forum or around the interwebs, but we have a cover and press release for the upcoming NonStopErotik (we can finally confirm that spelling!). I'll let the press release do the talking:

I finally came into possession of an old guitar someone had given me at a nightclub in San Francisco awhile back; Eric Drew Feldman had been holding it for me there on Haight Street. He convinced me that it looked cool (it was black) and had been given in the spirit of benevolence. Every time I picked it up a nice chord came out and so I lovingly cleaned it with red wine in the dressing room the following night and began to write. I told the tour manager that we would drive in my Cadillac directly to a recording studio in Los Angeles (and could he book one, oh, and a rhythm section, too?) from the gig in San Luis Obispo which would put us at the studio at about 4am. It all happened according to plan and we cut the initial tracks there in the wee hours over a few days, and then moved on to an equally haunted studio in London and Eric Drew Feldman joined us there and we finished the record in St. John's Wood. Like I said the studio was haunted and I wrote many a couplet by candlelight in the studio accommodation, slept very little, and only felt the need to get the fuck out of there fast on the last night. The spirits had not ever bothered me, other than low drama moral support, but I was informed that they had heard enough and it was time to move on; plus I had a gig in Ireland.

When I was a boy the plant we boys called a fern was code for vagina, and to this day I love fern plants. In my heart the vagina is almost everything, and almost everything else could be summed up in what cock and seed have to offer; and everything else? The love of the father, dead or alive, the pain of too much pleasure, till death do us part, the voice of another song man from the other side, with or without God, Teri and the Possibilities, where ever you may be, the smell of sex in the air, seduced, slain, on my knees in prayer, sucking at the only thing that matters, my own personal Meret Oppenheim, I am Man Ray and I want you and to be all the way inside you, the cameras whirring as we put some elbow grease into the scene, the audience watching us in the dark. - Black Francis January 2010, Central Oregon

Very interesting stuff, indeed. Now, if you can't wait until March 30, tune in March 1st for our FrankBlack.net NonStopErotikast - a podcast full of discussion and music from NonStopErotik plus a few other little surprises!

Until then,
Brian

9/13/2010
Frank Black Vs. The World!
Carl (23:22 PST)

Hello out there in FrankBlack.Net land! It’s been a long time and there’s plenty of news (and olds) to catch up on, so here goes… firstly, Frank’s classic “I Heard Ramona Sing” is featured on the soundtrack to new film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, a comic book adaptation which looks both fun and funny. The song is apparently used quite effectively in the film – if it works any near as well as the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?” In Fight Club, it just might make for a classic scene! In any case, the soundtrack is now available on iTunes. The soundtrack also includes songs from Broken Social Scene, Metric, and others.

Meanwhile, a new Frank Black/Black Francis compilation is apparently in the works. Set to be issued through BlackFrancis.net, Abbabubba will contain both B-sides and – in the words of the man himself – “other oddball tracks which have never been formally released.” As yet there are no details of a release date, but we’ll keep you posted. As you may or may not be aware, the Houston-based Catastrophic Theatre have prepared a musical based on the BF’s Bluefinger, a concept album based around the life of late Dutch rocker and artist Herman Brood. The show - which will feature songs from Bluefinger alongside compositions by Brood himself - is set to run from Nov 12 to Dec 18 at the DiverseWorks Artspace in Houston, Texas. Check here for more info. Elsewhere, FB has made an appearance in Don’t Ask Me Questions, a documentary about British rocker Graham Parker. Unfortunately, the film is a little short of funds for a release, but you can help get it out there by donating money here … and check out the trailer (featuring Frank) while you’re at it. Thanks to matto for the info!

There’s plenty of activity on the Grand Duchy front, too. Frank and Violet are currently putting finishing touches to Let The People Speak, a new album set for release early in the new year. You can take a look at the unofficial track list on the forum! Oh and by the way, NJ singer-songwriter Pete Yorn’s new FB-produced, self-titled album is due for release on Sep 28.

Elsewhere, Frank – as Black Francis, of course - is busy fulfilling his current US tour commitments in time for the Pixies North and South America shows. All four Pixies have been giving interviews over last while, which you can check out at their respective links… there are BF interviews with The Monterey Herald, the Boston Herald, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Have a listen to an interview with Joey on the Wayward Blog where he talks about the rigours of touring, cycling, and his solo work; read up on a conversation Dave had with Austin Town Hall, or listen to Kim dissing "Make Believe" and chatting Breeders with The Cleveland Scene. Although you might find an interview with Kim’s sister and fellow Breeders member Kelley more relevant - if only slightly.

The Pixies DVDs Acoustic: Live In Newport and Live At The Paradise In Boston have just been released together on a single Blu-ray, which is available from the FrankBlack.Net Store.

And finally, Brian and I would like to welcome Carl to the FrankBlack.Net News team and thank him for volunteering with the ongoing FB.Net project as well as writing this news update. Hopefully this is the beginning of a much more active news section.

-Dean




Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error '80040e14'

Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'FROM'.

/incs/tourdb.asp, line 45