Frank Black
Frank Black
Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IVis an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black. After releasing two albums with record label 4AD and one with American Recordings, he left the label and formed a new band, Frank Black and the Catholics. He re-adopted...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth6 April 1965
CountryUnited States of America
Some have called we rock and roll performers who never retire 'troubadours.' I enjoy this misnomer immensely. While there are many differences between me and my distant predecessors in L'Occitane, I do believe there is a lineage that connects us of the last 70 years with those romantic singers of the High Middle Ages.
It's just, you gotta pay your dues if you want to sing the blues. Not that I've never paid dues in my life, but I just paid a lot in the last couple of years. What can I say? It just gives your songs a whole lot more legitimacy. Or it causes you to write better songs or something, I don't know.
I don't want to do children's music. I write kids songs, but the kids songs I write are for my kids - like when I'm putting them to bed. We sing some song that we made up but I don't want to make a record like that.
Bob Dylan is quite a songwriter, and a great singer and musician. I won't bother with comparing myself to him, but I will say that I heard his records at a very young age and I still listen to all his records.
A lot of the gentle singing style of (jazzman) Chet Baker I noticed more than once showing up in my delivery,
I've always liked P.F. Sloan's 'Eve Of Destruction.' It's the performance by the singer, Barry McGuire, and, um, I would say it's also the chord progression and melody.
We don't want to overstay our welcome. If we were gonna go on tour next summer, for example, we feel under a little pressure to record a record or something.
I did start down that path some time ago,
She's gorgeous. She's got lips like Angelina Jolie.
We've decided there is nothing to talk about unless there's some actual songs on the table. In our spare time we'll start to compile some demos, and if they start to sound good, we'll do something.
But the truth is that critics are by definition critical. That's their job.
The dumber half of the audience - whether they're male or female, and a lot of them are male - for some reason responds very quickly to the feminine voice. How can I put it? They kind of instantly react to the female voice in a positive way quicker than they would the male voice.
I like visual images and there are certainly other bands that have strong visual images going all the way back to Elvis Presley, but it's kind of like that's never really been my bag. Probably because I'm too shy.
You should never rely on interviews with musicians as being factual. Most of them are mangled and even have made up stuff in them, that is to say, made up stuff by the writer or editor.