Pixies first album in 23 years has familiar sound, but band has a different look

When the Pixies played their first reunion show a decade ago at the Fine Line in Minneapolis, the band's frontman, Black Francis, had at least a hunch that their new era would not be short-lived.

"Mostly what I remember is that it felt like a continuation," the man doubly known as Frank Black said of the 2004 gig. "We managed to pick up where we left off. It felt good, and it felt very familiar."

With a new record finally issued a decade later — their first studio album in 23 years — the Pixies still sound remarkably familiar, but they definitely don't look the same.

Original bassist Kim Deal quit last year during sessions for the album, "Indy Cindy." She has since been replaced twice. Paz Lenchantin, former bassist for A Perfect Circle, ultimately landed the job.

Known for its influence on everyone from Nirvana to Radiohead — and for its own small batch of rock-radio staples such as "Monkey Gone to Heaven," "Gigantic" and "Where Is My Mind?" — the Pixies will play their first Twin Cities show without Deal at the State Theatre in Minneapolis on Saturday.

What's the Deal with Deal?

Talking by phone last week en route to a San Francisco gig, the band's sometimes testy frontman sounded a tad annoyed when the subject of his former bandmate and singing partner came up. (Deal herself has yet to talk specifics to the news media.)

"She signed on, and then she signed out — that's it," said the real-life Charles Thompson. "She left for reasons that are between her and herself. We continued on. It's not like she was kicked out."

With a more amicable and playful hue, he added, "Looking at her activities since then, she's been working with her old band, the Breeders, and I suppose sometimes you just want to be the captain of your own boat. Sometimes there's only enough room for one control freak in the room."

Just getting all four original Pixies into one room to make a new album proved quite a challenge. Black Francis, guitarist Joey Santiago, drummer David Lovering and Deal toured with all old songs in the interim. During their last concert in town, a 2011 date, they played their 1989 album "Doolittle" front to back.

"It was getting a little weird," the frontman admitted. "That's a long time to be doing the same routine."

Songs from "Indy Cindy" have helped freshen up the shows. Issued through their own Pixiesmusic label, the 12-song collection landed modest radio/online hits with "Bagboy" and "Greens and Blues" but earned mostly lukewarm reviews. Even the more negative write-ups, however, often remarked how closely the record hewed to certain formulas from the band's heyday albums — the juxtaposed screaming verses and melodic boy/girl choruses, the surfy-to-screechy guitar work, etc.

Writing under his old moniker for the first time in two decades, the reborn Black Francis admitted that he tried hard to live up to the name.

"I edited myself a lot more," he said. "I fretted over the songs more. I felt like they had to be extra good and live up to the expectations people have for a Pixies record — which is a good thing."

Just as the songwriting took time and care, he said, the band had to make sure that its new bass player fit the Pixies mold. Without knocking the talent of Deal's initial replacement, Milwaukee's Kim Shattuck (who was let go after a few months), he said, "If you're in a real rock band like ours — not a slicko rock band with an army of producers — the fit has to be right. You can tell if it's not."

Lenchantin, who also played in Billy Corgan's band Zwan, proved to be the right fit — which meant that the Pixies bandleader had been wrong.

"Paz was one of the ones who auditioned for us originally, and I was the one who sort of passed her over and said to use the other one," he conceded with a laugh. "Fortunately, she was still willing and able to join us."

A song for Slim

Speaking of replacement band members, one of Thompson's more recent recordings was a cover of Minneapolis music hero Slim Dunlap's song "The King & Queen" as part of the "Songs for Slim" series to benefit the former Replacements guitarist, who suffered a severe stroke in 2012. Thompson recorded it under his solo name Frank Black with help from the Suicide Commandos and his personal pal Tommy Stinson, Dunlap's former bandmate.

"That was a way of me paying back the Replacements, a band I feel indebted to," he said. "They paved a way for a band like the Pixies. They were that kind of admirable band that taught other bands you can do whatever the hell you want to do."

Conversely, the Pixies may have taught Stinson and Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg a thing or two about cashing in on a reunion when your old band's influence greatly outweighed its commercial success.

Black Francis recounted a conversation he had with a veteran, sage-like roadie early in the Pixies reformation that helped shape his outlook on playing the reunion card.

"He told me, 'You wrote some good songs, made some good records. You've been given this opportunity to play them again, and you should keep playing them for five years or however long you can. You've earned the right. You deserve it.'

"Well, we did it for 10 years, and we're still doing plenty of those original songs. Where we're at now — playing nice venues where tickets cost $50 to $100 — you have to meet people's expectations and play a lot of certain songs. And I'm fine with that. I think there's a lot of honor in that, actually."

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658