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Pixies’ Frank Black on Kim Shattuck’s Firing: ‘Big Woop-Dee-Doo’

Pixies Frank Black Fire Kim Shattuck Response

After more than 25 years as the female voice and lead bass of the Pixies, co-founder Kim Deal quit in June to focus on her other band the Breeders. The band then inducted Kim Shattuck, leader of the Muffs, to fill her spot on the just-wrapped world tour ‚ and when that wrapped, they bid “New Kim” a fond farewell, then gave her the boot via a phone call to her manager the next morning. They’ve now subbed in Paz Lechantin (A Perfect Circle, Zwan).

Pixies boss Frank Black has now responded to fans’ concerns over Shattuck’s firing. For her part, the Muffs frontwoman didn’t seem hurt. “I would have preferred it if they told me face to face as a group, but they’re nice people. I’m still a fan of the Pixies,” she told NME. She also speculated that she may have been too demonstrative for their tastes, and told a story about getting censured for crowd-surfing at a Los Angeles tour stop.

To be, um, Frank, Black doesn’t shed much light on his reasoning in speaking to Yahoo:

The big question mark is, if it was going so well, why are you changing it up again? I guess it’s a fair question, but what I would say is, just because some shows went well or a recording session went well with somebody, that doesn’t mean that now you guys are married and this is forever. It’s not really how it works when you’re a band. And it’s hard to explain to people, especially if they get emotionally attached to one person…

Frankly, you don’t want to explain it to anybody – it’s a lot of its personal, private shit. It’s like politics and sports and people’s personal lives have all been smeared together in this modern world. It’s a very presumptuous attitude about a lot of things. [People say] “Oh you’re shifting something in your world — we demand a statement as to why.’ I’m not the mayor, this isn’t the bus service for a town. This is a rock band. There’s been a shift in the lineup, big woop-dee-doo… as far as we’re concerned it ain’t that big of a deal.

So … it’s a fair question, but it’s not worthy of an answer. Got it.