Pixies have built up such a cult indie following over the past three decades that they've essentially become mainstream. Their old records — Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, in particular — are consistently lauded as lynchpins of the rock scene that engendered the '90s grunge movement and continue to inspire new bands.
Joey Santiago and David Lovering recently sat down with Alternative Press to talke about Doolittle on its 25-year anniversary.
"We were ready — we were very ready," Santiago said of the recording process. "The pre-production with [producer] Gil [Norton] was very intense. That was the first time we ever did pre-production. We were very familiar with those songs, because we practiced the hell out of them before Gil came. Some of them we were already playing live. All the parts were there."
Lovering said Norton was a huge part of the band's eventual fame.
"You know, Gil is also known as the fifth Pixie since he's done so many albums for us ... [And] you learn why a producer is so good," Lovering said. "His producing skills, his ear and everything is wonderful. But what a producer mostly also has is the gift of tact, and being an ambassador in running the ship in the social setting. And Gil is wonderful at it. That's why he's part of the family, the Pixies call him that."
The group knows that they connect with the kids of today, and they embrace it.
"When we did play the Doolittle tour — and not only the Doolittle tour, but I would say since 2004, since we reformed — when you look out into an audience, the majority of it I would say is kids that weren't even born when our records [were out], and they know every song, they sing every word," Lovering said. "What's funny about it, is now it's 2014, 10 years later — there are still the kids coming who are that age relatively, 14, 15 years old, who have heard about us, and this and that, and know all the songs. It's fantastic. We're a very fortunate band."
