Frank Black talks recent Pixies lineup changes, thinks fans should mind their own beeswax
Last week, Muffs frontwoman and former Pixies bassist Kim Shattuck told NME that she was kicked out of the group for being “overly enthusiastic,” including a stage-jumping incident that apparently rubbed the band the wrong way. Shattuck suggested she didn't click with the members, who are far more "introverted," and expressed disappointment that they didn't tell her personally that she was being let go (though she said she’s still a fan of the band). Now Pixies frontman Frank Black has weighed in on the whole to-do, telling Yahoo that, basically, Shattuck just wasn’t working out in the lineup—not that he should have to explain that to anyone. Quoth Black,
“The big question mark is, if it was going so well, why are you changing it up again? I guess it’s a fair question, but what I would say is, just because some shows went well or a recording session went well with somebody, that doesn’t mean that now you guys are married and this is forever. It’s not really how it works when you’re a band. And it’s hard to explain to people, especially if they get emotionally attached to one person…
Frankly, you don’t want to explain it to anybody—it’s a lot of personal, private shit. It’s like politics and sports and people’s personal lives have all been smeared together in this modern world. It’s a very presumptuous attitude about a lot of things. [People say] ’Oh you’re shifting something in your world—we demand a statement as to why.’ I’m not the mayor, this isn’t the bus service for a town. This is a rock band. There’s been a shift in the lineup, big woop-dee-doo…as far as we’re concerned it ain’t that big of a deal.”
Shattuck has since been replaced by Paz Lenchantin, formerly of A Perfect Circle.