Pixies' Black Francis pensrock opera

Mon 27th Sep, 2010 in International News

Earlier this year Pixies’ leadman Black Francis claimed to have finished with ‘the arty farty part’ in favour of making money but his new venture seems to clash with that statement. After all, nothing quite says “arty farty” like writing a rock opera.

Following his two visits to Australia this year with Pixies Francis has been keeping busy by appearing on Ray Davies’ upcoming collaborations album , beside Metallica, Bruce Springsteen and Mumford & Sons, and preparing a new rock opera.

The opera about the life and death of Dutch performer Herman Brood, who leapt to his death from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton in 2001, draws on music from Francis’ 2007 album Bluefinger, which made up a strong part of the set list during his solo Australian tour in 2008,

Bluefinger: The Fall And Rise Of Herman Brood will run from 13th November to 18th December at The Catastrophic Theatre in Houston, Texas.

Texan musicians Michael Haaga and Matt Kelly will play the roles of Francis and Brood respectively, while two live bands will play 20 songs from Francis’ back catalogue as part of the performances.