Pixies’ Black Francis says Steve Albini was “almost dismissive” about their music
Back in May, legendary producer Steve Albini passed away at the age of 61. In his time, Albini had a profound influence on the underbelly of the ’80s alt and indie-rock scene. His no-bullshit approach to production lured in the likes of Nirvana, PJ Harvey and even the Pixies.
While promoting their latest record, The Night The Zombies Came, guitarist Black Francis reflects on the Pixies collaboration with Albini. The group worked with the revered producer on 1988’s Surfer Rosa, a dazzling indie rock and art punk spectacle that would later inspire Kurt Cobain when crafting Nirvana’s genre-defining 1991 grunge record, Nevermind.
READ MORE: Five essential Pixies tracks that guitarists need to hear
Speaking to The Independent, Francis remembers Albini fondly. “It was nice, in a way, to work with someone who wasn’t taking it all too seriously,” he reflects. “[He] wasn’t taking us that seriously, was a little… almost dismissive.”
While being “dismissive” might sound negative, Francis insists that Albini’s approach was beneficial when recording Surfer Rosa. “When you’re making your art or whatever that [tone] can be useful,” he explains. “It can be useful to not take it all too seriously. You have to be willing to just go, ‘It’s good, but we could just also destroy it all right now and start over.’”
He goes on to emphasise that “you have to not be so precious” when it comes to creating a record.
In Albini’s mind, labouring too much over a record was the death of creativity. When pitching to produce Nirvana’s 1993 release, In Utero, he wrote them a letter explaining that “if a record takes more than a week to make, somebody’s fucking up.”
“Everyone gets bummed and scrutinises every step,” his letter continued. “Making punk records is definitely a case where more “work” does not imply a better end result.”
Steve Albini. pic.twitter.com/DzYjvJykdx
— Nirvana (@Nirvana) May 9, 2024
However, following Surfer Rosa‘s release, Albini publicly dismissed the record. In 1991, he told fanzine Forced Exposure that he thought Surfer Rosa was “a patchwork pinch loaf from a band who at their top-dollar best are blandly entertaining college rocks.” [via Vulture]
“Their willingness to be guided by their manager, their record company, and their producers is unparalleled,” he said. “Never have I seen four cows more anxious to be led around by their nose rings.”
Albini later apologised for his harsh words. “I’m ashamed of the way I treated them,” he admitted on the Life of the Record podcast. “They didn’t deserve that… [Surfer Rosa is] a better record than I thought it was at the time.”
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