The Pixies are back on the road again

The alt rock legends finally announced they'd be releasing new music for the first time in years, but also parted ways with iconic bassist Kim Deal at the same time.

Deal's departure came in the middle of recording sessions for new music and left the band having to decide whether to carry on making music or throw in the towel.

"For about two days after she left we were kinda lost for words," recalls singer Black Francis.

"We continued to work, but it was just to keep busy more than anything else and we didn't know what to do.

"We had a meeting in the kitchen of the studio [in Wales] and one of the options was let's just stop doing this.

"We determined that wasn't what we wanted to do. We'd put all this effort in already, demoed new songs and booked all this studio time - the whole project already had momentum and it seemed a waste to stop it because Kim left."

Instead, they regrouped and released new songs, firstly with the song Bagboy and then the four track EP1.

Aside from a single song released in 2004, they're the first fresh Pixies material since their original spell in the late 80s and early 90s, when records like Doolittle made the group underground heroes, and influenced a generation of bands.

Released through the band's website, the group now plan to release new songs regularly through the site, rather than release a full album yet.

They'll also be playing these new tracks at the Barrowland on Friday, as they hit the road again. For Francis, it was the right time to attempt fresh songs.

"The reunion went well for the first couple of years and we thought that'd be it, but we kept getting more tours offered," he explains.

"We still felt relevant touring, and not feeling like old-timers - it didn't feel like we were trotting out hits, we were just doing gigs.

"I think after a while, of eight or nine years it started to feel like at some point we're going to become instant oldies.

"We'd played most relevant places after all and the band's inner voice was we better make some new music."

Given the group's status as one of the most beloved rock bands in recent times, adored by David Bowie, Nirvana and Radiohead among others, that was easier said than done.

Aside from Deal's departure (she's been replaced on the current tour by Kim Shattuck) the remaining trio - Francis, guitarist Joey Santiago and drummer David Lovering - faced the tricky problem of trying to write songs that were fresh, but reminiscent of classic Pixies too.

"We weren't sitting around saying how can we make it sound like old Pixies records," he says.

"We never listened to our old records, not once in the process.

"But there is a feeling of having to have something that sounds like the Pixies, and you're trying to balance that with finding something new.

"You don't want to sound the same, but it's a difficult thing to manoeuvre - I did the best I could."

EVEN though the band's newer material has been released online, that doesn't mean the group aren't looking at it as a whole body of work.

To Francis, tracks on EP1 are tied in with other songs that might emerge down the line.

"We're still looking at the songs as a season of work, a long play artistic statement that's abut 12 songs and 45 minutes long," he says.

"Really though, the format is now this digital archive where you can pick what you want from it."

Technology has changed other things in the music business, as well how people listen to music at home. It's altered the atmosphere at gigs, too.

"We went into Where Is My Mind the other night and it was a sea of cell phones in the air capturing the moment, but no-one lives in the moment," he argues.

"Me and my wife are like that, we'll always be taking pictures of our kids and they eventually called us on it and said do you really need anymore pictures?

"So we stopped trying to capture every moment and just lived it, and have that memory and have something that actually means something."

Hopefully Friday night at the Barrowland will provide memories that mean something, and also avoid a repeat of the Pixies infamous SECC gig in 1991 where the stage collapsed.

"Glasgow's one of those towns where everyone throws their whole heart into it," says Francis.

"If you buy a ticket then you better be prepared to have a good time, and they're committed to that. That's always nice to play to an audience that has those kind of inclinations."

n Pixies, Barrowland, Friday, sold out, 7pm.