Loud Quiet Loud: A Film About the Pixies

I have pretty much all of the currently available DVDs on the Pixies and while all of them have their merits, this one far outstrips the others in giving an inside glimpse into the band and its members. I found it far more interesting than THE PIXIES SELL OUT, which concentrates almost exclusively on their stage performances on the tour that, or any of the other Pixies concert DVDs. What sets this one apart is the incredibly immediate and personal approach of the filmmaker. The live performances are not neglected, but the focus is far more on the individual members of the band and the particular struggles they undergo during the making of the documentary.

The Pixies are, in my opinion, the last truly influential American rock band. True, Nirvana was more commercially successful, but as even Kurt Cobain admitted, Nirvana was heavily influenced by the Pixies. In fact, most of the big bands of the nineties were heavily indebted to the Pixies. But the Pixies never reaped the financial benefits that the major alternative bands of the nineties enjoyed. Though none of them received the kind of international critical acclaim that the Pixies basked in, many of them sold far more records. They broke up in the early nineties due to intense acrimony between singer/songwriter Black Francis (aka Charles Thompson aka Frank Black) and bassist/vocalist Kim Deal. They reunited in 2004 for a concert tour for a variety of reasons, some having to do with a desire to reconnect with their fans and more having to do with economic need. The title refers to the way that they would shift from very, very quiet music to intensely loud and raucous, with Thompson moving from a near whisper to one of the great screams in the history of rock.

The portraits of the various band members that emerge are almost without precedent in rock documentaries. Several members of the band are a little worse for wear. In particular Kim Deal appears to have gone through some rough times. In watching some other DVDs featuring performances from their reunion, I was disappointed to see Kim Deal drinking a number of beers throughout. She has struggled with alcoholism and drugs and seeing her sipping from the bottle through the concerts seemed like an open embrace of her addictions. I was delighted to learn from the film that in fact the tour was an alcohol free tour, with the other three members of the band agreeing to not having any alcohol backstage. The beers that I saw Deal drinking in the other DVDs were non-alcoholic beers like O'Doul's. In fact, as the film reveals, Deal has waged a more or less successful battle against her addictions. She comes across in the film as a survivor, but a somewhat fragile one. She enlists the help of her identical twin sister Kelly, herself the veteran of struggles against addiction, for emotional support.

We get similar portraits of the other band members. David Lovering is shown having struggled with a variety of problems, including borderline poverty and homelessness. But he is also shown endearingly as someone who embraced other interests after his time with the Pixies, including magic (he is now a practicing magician) and, very curiously, searching for metal on beaches using a metal detector. The tour is a godsend for him, helping pull himself out of his financial difficulties. Unfortunately, he also struggles with drug use as he self-medicates to deal with the grief following his father's death. One of the odder moments in the film comes when Lovering continues to pound away on the drums even though the song has come to an end, Thompson and Deal having a bit of a conference to decide what to do (they tell the audience that they are going to take a brief break to regroup). Joey Santiago is the Quiet Pixie. Even at the end of the film you don't have much of a sense for what he is like or what drives him. He is shown as a loving father to his wife and two kids and we see him working on his Notebook on some film scores, but we simply don't get close to him.

The huge presence in the band, figuratively as well as literally, is Charles Thompson. Although the Pixies are a great band, with all members contributing to the sound, Thompson is clearly the band's resident genius. But even though he is the leader of one of the great bands ever, he seems to struggle with his own disappointments. He clearly feels the pressure to write songs for a new Pixies album and is disappointed that he has not had more success in his solo career (in part of the film he discusses with his producer what label might be willing to release his latest album). And there are things not discussed. There is not a single word about his absolutely astonishing weight gain. Charles Thompson just might be the most obese rocker ever. He has probably gained a hundred pounds since the break up of the Pixies in the nineties. Yet there is no mention of this in the film.

Despite all the problems each individual faces, the music is still astonishingly great. They truly do sound as good as ever in this tour. The film also shows how validated they felt by the reception they received upon coming out of retirement. Their entire tour sold out in only a few minutes upon the tickets going on sale. I tried to get tickets but failed (I could probably have gone stood outside and cadged a ticket, but I wasn't in the mood the night of the concert here in Chicago). One of the most touching moments in the film did occur in Chicago when a young who couldn't have been out of her mid-teens (I don't remember it being an all ages concert, but it had to have been) talks about reading an adolescent book in which the protagonist continually talks about the Pixies. The book inspired her to looks into their music and subsequently to strive to form a Pixies cover band. She is front and center during their performance at the Aragon. I loved it when at the end of the concert Kim Deal leaned over to one of the guards and asked him to give her pick to the girl. As the opening credits come up we get to hear her band play for several measures and while they lack somewhat vocally, they managed to play quite credibly.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed the Pixies absolutely has to see this DVD. Although there are several DVDs that have been released in the past couple of years, this is far and away the best. Rarely has any film given us such a personal glimpse into the lives of musicians.

If you love Pixies this is certainly a must see. It is not overtly revealing, I mean go figure that they have their weirdnesses. But the pure explosive chemistry of them onstage is incredibly miracluous. This is made even more so by the fact that there is on painful scene where they just don"t talk to each other."We don"t talk much to each other. I mean, we like each other. We just aren"t those kind of people".

There is some fragility reflected...Kim Deal,in recovery, needs support from her sister. David Lovering comes across like an on the edge whack job. But there is humanity too. Black Francis(Charles Thompson) actually comes across as a fairly ingratiating person at times. Joey Santiago seems like the rock that holds them all down.

And essentially, in the end, it is the music that galvanizes this piece....as well it should be. Some people hate Pixies(my wife for one) but there is no denying their impact, surrealistic, dynamic, innovative, melodic and nuerotic.

I was so excited to see this, and I am glad I did.

Okay, so these guys had UNFETTERED access to the most anticipated band reunion, well, ever... and this is it? This is all they do? Don't get me wrong, it's nice to see the guys playing again, and watching Kim get sober along the way, wander the towns, etc. But the main problem with this doc is that it's absolutely BORING. And they fumble the key issues in all true fan's minds: the reasons for the breakup, and the possibility of new music. In fact, the best part of this movie (aside from the music) is the impromptu interviews of the fans Kelly does. She starts asking questions! What a concept!

This is such a wasted opportunity. The film makers were either inept, or too star-struck and "honored to be chosen" to make a film with any depth. We're left with a lazy, fly-on-the-wall love letter. Tiptoe filmmaking.

Look, I love all things Pixies. Period. And on a certain level, this is a nice to see just because I love this band so much. And if you're a big Pixies fan, you will probably enjoy it to a certain extent. But again, from a FILM standpoint, and what this piece SHOULD have been about, this is a gigantic let down.

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