Two weeks after announcing the departure of bassist Kim Deal, the Pixies this morning surprised fans with the release of “Bagboy,” the band’s first new song since 2004 and one that certainly sounds like it features the backing vocals of the group’s now-former bassist.
The 4:56-long song can be streamed and/or downloaded below, and you can watch the video.
UPDATE: That may sound like Kim Deal, but it’s not. Frontman Black Francis, posting, as he occasionally does, on the frankblack.net forums, writes: “I agree, it does sound a bit like Kim. But it’s my good friend Jeremy Dubs, one of the best people I’ve had the pleasure to know, both socially and professionally.”
Dubs is the singer of Bunnies, and used to be with The Bennies, a group that toured with the Pixies and Frank Black in the past, and who has previously been rumored to be involved with a new Pixies record.
On a Facebook post from Sean Rayburn, the band’s webmaster who is putting together a new Pixies photo book, Dubs confirms: “That’s not Kim, that’s me.”
In a statement, Black Francis says of the Gil Norton-produced track, which was recorded last October:
“The lyrics, coincidentally, were composed at a Starbucks Coffee in Harvard Square in Cambridge, about a hundred feet from where, 25 years ago, I composed some of the lyrics to an old Pixies song called ‘Break My Body.’ Twenty-five years later, some Starbucks in Harvard Square…I thought that was kind of interesting. The music for the song has been around for a few years. There are some demos I made with Joey and David a few years ago in Los Angeles, related to a film idea that still has yet to see the light of day, although work on the music continued. So a lot of the musical idea had been kicking around for awhile. It’s pretty simple, kind of a blues-based, two-note kind of thing, really.”
On June 14, the Pixies announced that Deal had decided to “move on” in a statement attributed to Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering that concluded: “We will always consider her a member of the Pixies.” Deal — who has spent much of this year touring with the reunited Last Splash-era lineup of The Breeders — has not publicly discussed her departure.
The Pixies broke up in 1993 after recording four studio albums, but reunited in 2004, and had performed sporadically since then. The band last toured in the fall of 2011.
Until today, the Pixies had released two songs since reuniting: the Deal-sung “Bam Thowk” and a cover of Warren Zevon’s “Ain’t That Pretty At All.”
Video: Pixies, “Bagboy”
Lyrics: Pixies, “Bagboy”
I had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings
I get no satisfaction from your very recent sightings
cover your breath
cover your teeth
cover your breath
polish your speech
like when I hear the sound of feet slapping on the runway
like a small bird pretty while it’s crapping on the new day
cover your breath
polish your speech
cover your breath
polish your teeth
so disappointed I was that I had made small talk with you
I’m not feeling your buzz I only smell your crock of stew
polish your teeth
alter your breath
alter your teeth
cover your breath
Bag boy bag boy bag boy bag boy
she had some beauty and manners but you look like a bug
migrations of their type are such good planners and not smug
cover your breath
alter your speech
cover your breath
alter your speech
Bag boy bag boy bag boy bag boy
you are proselytizing alone
listening to the voice with your ears
you have regurgitated the tone
now sat in your tract for many years
picked up from dead things that you licked
it’s a feedback loop you can’t evict
cover your breath
cover your teeth
cover your breath
polish your speech
cover your breath
polish your speech
cover your breath
polish your teeth
polish your teeth
alter your breath
alter your teeth
cover your breath
cover your breath
alter your speech
cover your breath
alter your speech
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Pixies announce departure of bassist Kim Deal: ‘We wish her all the best’
- Video: Tanya Donelly reunites with The Breeders in Boston at ‘Last Splash’ show
- Want to see Pixies’ Black Francis in New York? If you’re over 30, it’ll cost an extra $30
- ‘Pixies: A Visual History’: Kickstarter campaign launched to fund new photo book
- Kim Deal releases second limited-edition 7-inch in new ‘Solo Series’ — MP3s, too
- The Breeders’ ‘Last Splash’ 7-disc vinyl box set to feature live album, demos, BBC sessions
Wow, finally!
Any news about the new album?
I wasn’t really digging it until Kim’s voice appeared. Damn it.
This is (not unexpectedly) disappointing and underwhelming. The exact opposite of the MBV album.
What a fantastic song… it’s surprising of the quality of the song considering how long it’s been- it’s like they never left.
The chorus arrangement is excellent, with Kim’s voice and that howling Joey Santiago guitar line — sounds like they never left!
The rest of it I could kind of live without, though, including the implications of “cover your breath.” I don’t know if it’s entirely fair, but olfaction is a pretty awkward sense to write a verse around, e.g. “Mine Smell Like Honey,” “when the dogs begin to smell her,” etc.
I think the Pixies have written plenty of awkward lyrics over the years. This seems to fit them.
Unless your Paul Westerberg. “You’re the coolest guy that I ever have smelt.” CLASSIC.
“you’re” that is!
Or (since we’re in 4AD territory) “icky, icky breath with each and every kiss” in Lisa Germano’s “I Love a Snot.” I mean, I get it — it’s about awkwardness and low self-esteem. It’s definitely effective, as I suppose is this Pixies lyric….
I don’t know, just an observation, I guess.
What a very strange video.
it IS a weird video… esp when you get all the way to the end and then you have to go back to the beginning and say WTF???
and if you read the article, it says Kim Deal is NOT on this song, so don’t get excited about her vocals on this, and her “saving the song” since she’s not on it… :-P
I was pretty “meh” about this song until the part where the fake Kim Deal sings. That part is pretty cool and sounds like the Pixies. Now that I know the Kim Deal is fake, I like it less. It’s bad enough that they’re calling themselves the Pixies without Kim, but now they’ve got some dude faking her vocal parts?! That sucks.
Are you 7? 8? Drunk? Seriously? I hope your drunk. And 7. That’s the way I roll.
Huh? I bet that sounded better in your head.
Let me help dude, only a 7 year old (or a drunk) would change their opinion on the value of a piece of art based on the is it or is it not Kim. Is she whinging–no. She quit. They’re OK w/ it. She’s OK with it. They’re adults. Grab some big boy emotions of your own and move on, too. Clear?
So, you’re personally offended and being an anonymous dick on the Internet because I don’t share your opinion on a rock band, and you’re saying I need to grow up? Okay…maybe you should try some self-awareness, dude. But hey, good job putting together a coherent thought. Your second post was much better. A for effort.
And, yes, I think the fact that they’re trying to ape Kim’s vocal sound in her absence is lame. It just underscores how important Kim was to the band and why they shouldn’t be calling themselves the Pixies without her. Art doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and the performers and their motivations necessarily create context. If that context doesn’t affect your opinion, great, but it legitimately affects mine. So no need to be a dick about it.
There’s an interesting sound to this song, it makes me wonder what the next album will sound like. As long as Joey doesn’t leave the Pixies, everything’s cool.
While this is bums me out that it’s not in fact Mrs. John Murphy, I still like the song and to me it sounds like a prefect updated version of the Pixies sound. Light years better than “Bam Thowk”. More than anything, I’m not curious about this Bunnies band.
That said, I’m not convinced that this was a happy accident that it sounds like her, it sure sounds deliberate.
This exists: Bunnies – Alec Eiffel
http://open.spotify.com/track/2TnxhqrsFRvEQYzEopcTvH
That tribute is on American Laundromat Records:
http://www.alr-music.com/
yep, sounds like Deal.
It’s always been Charles’/Frank’s band, along with his buddy, Joey. Kim is/was the bass player. Kim wasn’t a founding member. She was great, of course. I’m still so bummed that she left. But she’s fulfilling her own passions with her own music in the Breeders. Gotta respect that. And that the Pixies are still the Pixies without her. Just different.
The part with female vocals sounds like good, classic Pixies material. The rest of the song leaves a lot to be desired.
REM finally called it quits a year or two ago, which would be at least 15 years too late.
Perhaps the Pixies need to do the same. They played an important part in the history of alternative rock and should be proud of that. Trying to last forever is not something to be proud of.