Review of loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies (2006) by Charles James I — 24 Jan 2011

Pixies reunite and sell out. Thank Zeus.

It becomes evident by the end of this tour, that the Pixies did the right thing back in the early 90s to split up. I was hoping the direction of the film was headed more towards history, but it was more or less a reality television program of the tour.

They all made millions of dollars, and reveled in their aftershock-style stardom, that is almost unreal. You read it on their faces as the shock settles into their brains. Almost completely unaware of how influential they were on the world, and how they stood on the stage like GODS, reincarnated. It was as if they had no realization whatsoever of their importance to music, as if they had no recollection of ever making those albums long ago, or on top of that, HOW. They were clearly harnessing something from a higher plane, channeling through massive amounts of drugs and youthful angst. It becomes clear, they made something so great, it was even outside of their own comprehension.

Kim Deal chainsmokes cigarettes and drinks non-alcoholic beer, struggling with sobriety and depression. Frank struts around with the same thought many others have, that he IS the Pixies... also sober. They both criticize, quite harshly, their bandmate David for taking Valium on tour, which I thought was a hypocritical move on their parts. And who cares anyway? Rock and roll man. It is quite awkward to see them all performing these songs that they wrote completely inebriated, and doing it dead sober. The awkwardness overflows into the backstage banter, which is unnatural and forced. How could a band full of people that don't even like each other, create such raw and inspiring music together? It blows my mind.

As far as rockumentaries go, loudQUIETloud is subpar. More suitable and enjoyable for hardcore Pixies fans and sycophants.

"I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies." -Kurt Cobain, Rolling Stone Magazine 1994.