Black planet

>> Scoping out the strange world of Frank Black

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

Fronting the band that arguably spawned grunge and remains a seminal "alternative" act in its own right is no small feat. Add to that a respectable solo jaunt and, most recently, an accomplished trio of albums with a new band, the Catholics, and you've got Frank Black's remarkable, yet strangely unmarketable, career

. Despite the commercial cold shoulder, the underground will always love Black. The Mirror chatted with Mr. Black--Charles Thompson to some--about his latest, Stones-inspired album Dog in the Sand, his bad luck with Montreal ladies and those pesky Pixies rumours.



Mirror: So how long have you been on tour?

Frank Black: About 12 years.

M: What about this tour?

FB: Oh, you know--three days.

M: I saw an article claiming ex-Pixie Joey Santiago was going to join you on stage in London last November. Did that happen?

FB: No, but we played together in L.A., it wasn't really a big deal. That was just someone trying to get hits on their lame rock-music Web site. They said there might be a Pixies reunion 'cuz Joey was in London a week before I was. The person who wrote it called my manager for inside information, it was weird. That's like sleazy promoters deep in the bowels of Mexico or South America who call my agent and say, "You make a concert in Mexico City?" and he says, "Yeah, we'll talk about it." Next thing you know, some Mexican journalist is calling me up asking, "Frank, where were you? You make concert but you didn't come. They said you were sick, we were so sad." Nothing against Mexico or South America, that's just where this kind of thing happens. They're basically just scamming people with this fictional concert. There's a whole new breed of this kind of activity and it's on the Internet.

M: Your latest album has a very mid-'70s feel to it. Was this part of a master plan?

FB: We did go for that but we didn't have to try very hard. We record in a totally '70s studio, we used instruments from the '50s and '60s, we listen to a lot of that stuff. It's a lot easier for us to go into that area than to sound very 2001.

M: What would that be?

FB: You know, really soulless and shitty [evil laughter]. I'm sorry, I make a little joke.

M: That's okay. So I think that's about it--any final thoughts?

FB: Well, maybe you could convince more of your female readers to go to the show. We're all married, I don't mean it like that, but it seems like we get a very male audience. It's good 'cuz they're rowdy and it's kind of like [loud barking], but I'm always wondering why women don't come and see us in Quebec. It would be fun to have a balance. Inter-sex persons are fine too, hermaphrodites--I'm not trying to leave them out, but we'd like more of a yang or yin or whatever.

With Crackpot at Cabaret on Monday, Jan. 22, 9pm, $19.50