Black Francis Is Back

Courtesy of Livedaily

Claiming he was imbued with the spirit of a deceased Dutch musician and painter, Pixies frontman Frank Black will reclaim his old moniker, Black Francis, and return with a new album this fall.

"I privately went back to the old stage name, if that even makes any sense, almost as a joke," said the singer in a press release. "I couldn't get The Pixies back into a studio, but I would transform into my alter ego of yesteryear. I spoke the magic syllables aloud and nothing happened; just as I thought.

"Soon after, my new manager asked me for a bonus track for a 'best of' compilation to be released later in the year. And as I prepared for the session, I became (honestly) gripped by the spirit of Herman Brood, and my bonus track expanded into an 11-song record called 'Bluefinger' in just a few days. Thank you Herman." Gander On for the Rest.

Brood, an eccentric Dutch rocker and painter, scored a Top 40 hit in the US in 1979 with the song "Saturday Night." The artist, known for outrageous and attention-grabbing antics, saw his paintings exhibited in art galleries around Europe before his health declined in the late '90s. Given only weeks to live by his doctors, Brood committed suicide in 2001 by jumping off the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton.

"John Lennon and Yoko Ono claimed the Amsterdam Hilton in 1969," Francis said in the press release, explaining his 'connection' with Brood. "The Pixies headlined their first big rock show in Holland in 1988. Herman Brood reclaimed the Hilton for his country in 2001, and now I feel he has even claimed back The Pixies, or at least me, Black Francis."

"Bluefinger," set for a Sept. 11 release, was recorded last fall in Portland, OR, with drummer Jason Carter, bassist Dan Schmid, and Francis's wife, Violet Clarke, on backup vocals.

Aside from playing dozens of gigs with the reunited Pixies over the last three years, Francis has toured extensively for more than a decade with several backing units, the longest lasting being The Catholics, with whom he recorded five albums in the late '90s and early years of this decade, the last of which was the 2002 combo of "Black Letter Days" and "Devil's Workshop."

"Bluefinger" is the prolific singer/guitarist's 13th studio album since debuting as a solo artist with his self-titled 1993 album, which appeared a year after the original breakup of the Pixies.