Do Pixies’ Kim Deal and Black Francis hate each other?
After four albums that single-handedly reshaped the landscape of alternative rock, Pixies were no more. Lead singer Black Francis announced the band’s split on BBC Radio, seemingly forgetting to tell his bandmates in advance.
Bassist and co-songwriter Kim Deal, who also sang backing and occasionally lead vocals for the group, was the last member to know. Over the previous seven years, she’d been the perfect foil for Francis, the melody to his noise, the smooth to his rough, the quiet to his loud.
The two had mesmerised and inspired with iconic vocal combinations on some of Pixies’ most celebrated songs, from Deal’s song ‘Gigantic’ on the album Surfer Rosa, to Doolittle opener ‘Debaser’. Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain was also one of many fans who wished Deal had been given the space to play a more prominent role in the band.
Deal even went one better in 1989, while Pixies were still together and had yet to record their latter two albums with her in the lineup, forming her own band, The Breeders, with sister Kelley. They released their second album, Last Splash, which went on to become by far their most popular and acclaimed record in the months following the Pixies split.
Francis, meanwhile, changed his stage name to Frank Black and released his own string of solo records throughout the nineties. None of them achieved the success, influence or acclaim of the Pixies, however.
So, is there bad blood between Deal and Black?
While Francis unilaterally decided to end the band in 1993 without consulting the other band members first, in reality, the Pixies hadn’t been working together for a year prior to their demise. And, in his own words, he and Deal “just didn’t get along well” at that point.
Deal was coming into her own as a songwriter and lead singer, and her debut album with The Breeders only deepened her well of creativity. The creative control Francis exerted in the Pixies stifled her creative aspirations, meaning tensions were going to come to a head sooner or later.
A decade after they split, however, Pixies reunited for what turned out to be the first of several tours with their original line-up. These included a track-for-track live set version of Doolittle to mark the album’s 20th anniversary in 2009. Then, in 2013, Deal was gone again. This time, she left of her own accord, and her departure was announced in a brief statement on the band’s website.
The following year, the first Pixies album without Deal, Indie Cindy, was released, increasing speculation that there had been more creative differences between Francis and his former songwriting partner. Was this the case, though?
It’s quite possible that Deal no longer wanted to be part of the band anymore for creative reasons, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there were personal differences between her and Francis. When asked by the Guardian in 2022 whether he and Deal hated each other, Francis strongly refuted this idea.
“I mean, we’re always friends,” he began. “You don’t be in a band together and not be friends.” He did admit that the two were no longer in touch, however. “I don’t recall when I last spoke to her, and I’m not very good at Christmas cards.”
“Nothing is forever” was the extent of his explanation for why they no longer talked. “You’re sort of damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
In an interview with AllMusic the following year, Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago concurred with this assessment of the situation. “We said our goodbyes, and that’s it,” he explained. “We really don’t communicate with her, but there’s no hard feelings on my end, and I’m sure there’s no hard feelings on her end.”
The four original Pixies will always have the music they made, the stages they shared and the tours enjoyed. But it’s difficult for multiple creative forces to be in close proximity with one another for any great length of time without friction arising.
We’ll always have those four inimitable albums to listen to for all time. And Black Francis still has new Pixies records to make and tours to play in the meantime. As for Deal, in the words of Santiago, “She’s living her own life”.
