 Frank Black - p: T.Roberts Frank Black - singer and songwriter for the Pixies, Frank Black and the Catholics, and his solo career - came to Salt Lake City on Aug. 9 to play a solo acoustic show at Urban Lounge. Black played songs spanning his career, including tracks from his new album "Frank Black: Fast Man Raider Man." The new album was produced over a two-year span by Jon Tiven, who recorded albums by B.B. King, Wilson Pickett, Graham Parker and Black's last record, "Honeycomb." "Fast Man Raider Man" features artists like Levon Helm from the Band, Tom Peterson from Cheap Trick, Buddy Miller, Matty Brown, P.F. Sloan, Steve Cropper, Reggie Young and Spooner Oldham. It's an admirable lineup, and the album displays how well these legends can play together. Frank Black kicked off his solo acoustic tour here in Salt Lake and will tour for about a month, playing some shows with the Foo Fighters. Perhaps influenced by Utah and its strong family ideals, Black brought his entire family along with him on tour. I was able to call Black a few days before his show here in Salt Lake and talk to him about his new album, songwriting and Salt Lake - and here's what he had to say:
You have a great lineup on your new album. How is it to walk into the recording studio and have a room full of legends in there? Is that intimidating, or are you used to it?
Not really. I mean, ya know, you gotta have a certain amount of ego in this business to do it. So, if you got some legends coming to your session it's OK to have a few butterflies, but you gotta get over the intimidation factor and just make a good record. I know that, and they know that. So, if anything, there's a certain connection there. There's a connection between the legends and the less legendary. We're all just guys and we gotta make a good record. Are we gonna make rock history, or are we gonna suck? Ya know, let's do it. Sure, they are (legends), but musicians are musicians and ya know what I mean - let's play music.
You yourself are considered a legend in the punk world for your work with the Pixies. Now here you are in a different realm, playing a completely different genre of music. In a sense, do you feel you started over in a new genre?
Um, not really. I like songs, ya know. Certain producers and certain musicians can change the atmosphere in which that song appears, in which I appear. But there's not a lot of transition as far as me the songwriter. I just write a bunch of songs, and songs are just songs. They're not connected with any particular genre, and I don't think of it that way. The genre emerges during the sessions. It emerges through the players, maybe through the producer - you know, those sorts of things. To a certain extent it's all disco; it's music driven by drums. That's really where I'm coming from. If people perceive it under the lines of genre after the fact, that's fine, and I can't really do anything about that. From my point of view, it's all disco. I'm making music and we got drums and some songs might sound punky. Some songs might sound twangy.
How big is the concept of the song when you go in to record it? Do you have words written down and an idea of what you want the outcome to be? Or do you know exactly what you want the finished product to be?
 Frank Black - p: T. Roberts
Does this happen in the studio, or whenever?
Sometimes it's a hotel room, sometimes it's a recording studio, sometimes it's a coffee shop. I mean, there are all sorts of different places. I don't want to say that there's a thousand different ways to write a song, but there's probably 25. I don't even worry about that too much. The only thing you need is a quiet room.
With the others playing on the album, I imagine the songs are created as you go along. Or is there preparation beforehand? How does that play out?
There's all kinds of subtle stuff going on: people reacting to the music, people reacting to the lyrics, people reacting to my personality, people reacting to their personality. There's all this kind of back-and-forth feedback going on. It's hard to define what it is and say, "Oh, this is what's going on." I mean, you know there are 50 different things happening and reacting to each other. It's kind of complicated and most musicians don't analyze it too much. That's what's happening. There are random accidents going on affecting (the music). I'm not saying it's like that for everybody. I mean, some people really have everything mapped out. But that's just one type, and there's another type that's a bit more free-flowing. I mean, I wish I could just sum it up and say, ya know, we're all just letting the song just play itself. Ya that's going on, too; I wouldn't say it invalid, but there are people trying stuff out from practicing the day before. There are people who focus on the lyrics and are trying to be all emotional about it. There are other people who aren't thinking or analyzing, they're just jumping off a cliff and letting their fingers go where they go. There are all these different personalities. Even if, on the surface, there appears to be someone in the driver's seat - a hard-headed band leader or a producer leading the whole situation - even though there's someone doing that, there's all these different forces doing their thing. It's kind of a mystery to me.
So on your upcoming tour, are you going to promote the new album and play mostly songs from that album?
I don't know, actually. I will play some stuff, but I'll probably play a bunch of other stuff, too. I may play stuff that's brand new. Ya know, I feel I'll do anything in particular. I'm a little weary of the tour becoming a political campaign. Ya know, "Here I am on the Fast Man Raider Man campaign." I don't know. I'm getting a little bored of that, I guess. I feel a little restricted in that concept, so I've been doing this for 20 years now and I hope that I can say, "Well, I've been doing this for 20 years now, and I'm just going to play a bunch of Bob Dylan songs tonight." But who knows? Probably a hodgepodge of things.
You join the Foo Fighter a little later in the tour. Are they friends of yours? Who made that decision?Well yeah, sure. Ya know, Dave Growl and Nirvana could not have existed without me. Umm … (laughs). I know Dave Growl and I think he digs my scene, ya know. Anyway, I think his agent is partners with my agent and you know you get a phone call: "Hey, you wanna go play the Foo Fighters?" I'm like, sure, I'll go play the Foo Fighters. Ya know. I'm sorry to de-mystify everything, but that's just the kind of guy that I am. I wish I could tell you stories dripping with whatever, but some things are just very practical.
As you know we're a Salt Lake magazine, so I always like to ask: What are your feelings on Salt Lake and playing Salt Lake?
As you know, Salt Lake is dripping with stuff (laughs). I mean the history of the place and everything. I really enjoy playing there. There's a Vietnamese restaurant that I enjoy, and a lot of Mexicans, so I always feel confident that I'll get a decent taco. I like that. I like the fact that the place is chock-full of Mormons and buildings dedicated to Mormonism. I am not a Mormon, just to clear that up. I think it's interesting that there's a whole group of anti-Mormons and jack Mormons who are sort of wandering around, reacting to Mormonism. So it's an interesting atmosphere. There's a lake there, sort of a mysterious lake with brine shrimp in it, and nothing else. There's the beauty. There's Robert Redford up in the mountains looking down. There's the film festival that seems to get more and more popular every year. The weather's really interesting and cool. There's the whole legacy of Native Americans there. It's a totally fascinating place. It's a long way from everywhere. It's a day's drive to Vegas and 800 miles to L.A. You're a long way from Denver and Reno, and there's not a lot in between except for mysterious Air Force bases and stuff like that. It's great, I love it there. And I have a cousin there named Michelle, so I always enjoy going there because we don't get to see each other very often, except when I get to do a gig. I get to see her, so that's nice.
Your whole family is coming on tour. Is that something they asked to do and are excited for?
(Turning to his kids) Hey, kids, are you excited about going on tour?
Kids: "Yeaaaaaah!"
Alright, there you go. There's your answer. We're all excited about going on tour in a big tour bus!
Are there some club and theater shows you're going to let them see?
Yeah, they're gonna see some shows. You know, I wrote a song about Salt Lake City. It's on the Pixies last record: "Palace of the Brine." It was inspired by some things that I read in a book once. Did you know that … back in World War II there were a lot of military flights that would go across from Colorado, where the military is based, to distant bases in San Francisco, or wherever. So there's a lot of military flying over that area and there always has been. There was this small plane with some military personnel in it that crashed into the Great Salt Lake in the 1940s. What happened is, they found it back in the 70s, I think, and everybody who was found in the plane was perfectly pickled.
Huh.
Because of the salt content of the lake, ya know. Kinda eerie.
Yeah.
 Frank Black - p:T. Roberts
Yeah.
They banished him out there with a bunch of sheep, and he lived with the sheep for some years until he broke down a shed and built a raft and took off. They don't know if he lived or drowned or what happened. Anyway, it's a fascinating place. Did I express my enthusiasm for Salt Lake enough?
Yeah, I think so.
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