Rumors of a Pixies [ tickets ] reunion had been popping up for so long that fans of the influential college-rock mainstays had learned to ignore them.

So it came as a big surprise when, early this year, the band announced that it would embark on a North American tour that would culminate with an appearance at Southern California's Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.

Tickets for the reunion shows sold out almost instantly, prompting the group to line up a full slate of summer and fall shows, which recently got underway.

"Good timing," frontman/guitarist Frank Black [ tickets ] (born Charles Thompson IV) said when asked why the group decided to give it another go. "I don't know--lots of reasons, some of them financial, some of them spiritual or something. [We've been getting offers] to tour every other season or so since we broke up, so we finally said, 'OK, enough water under the bridge. Let's do it.'"

Black had been recording and touring in recent years with his group The Catholics, while Pixies bassist Kim Deal played in The Breeders (scoring a hit with "Cannonball") and The Amps.

Post-Pixies, guitarist Joey Santiago released some albums with The Martinis, and began composing movie soundtracks. Drummer David Lovering began performing as a self-described "scientific phenomenalist"--often bringing his magic act to rock shows.

As Black tells it, re-learning the old Pixies songs "was super easy and uneventful" for the quartet. "It was kind of like, 'What year is this?' It's easy to forget that it's 10 or 12 years later."

Black recently spoke to liveDaily by telephone from his Oregon home.

liveDaily: There's lots of talk about 2004 being a lousy year for the concert industry, but the Pixies are proving to be an exception.

Frank Black: We were lucky to get tickets on sale for a lot of the shows before the big, black cloud came in on the concert industry. Or, at least, we didn't become aware of the big, black cloud until it was almost summertime. So, we are weathering it quite well.

You were playing clubs with The Catholics for the last decade or so, and now the Pixies are playing much larger venues. Do you prefer the large shows or the intimate ones?

I like any show. I don't know if I have a preference, really, but it certainly is nice to show up at nice venue five minutes before I go on, walk out there with a towel around my neck, and--a minute after the show is over--step into my bus or car that's waiting to pick me up and whisk me away to my hotel. Certainly I would rather be Tom Jones, but hey--I can get into the blood, sweat and tears like Mike Watt any day.

Do you feel like you have to approach the big shows differently as a performer, or are you essentially the same guy?

Well, Pixies aren't exactly known for their choreography. We're about as regular-Joes as it gets.

You wouldn't peg the Pixies as a rock band if you guys were walking down the street.

Yeah, we're not real good at that whole thing. We came of age--career-wise, anyway--when we weren't actively projecting all of that because there were a lot of schlocky, showbiz moves going on that, obviously, we were trying to stand apart from.

Do you think this tour is a one-time thing, or is there more Pixies activity on the horizon?

I suppose it could go either way. It's not something that we actively talk about, but I suppose we'll play it by ear.

There was a lot of change in the music industry during the Pixies' hiatus--major label mergers, the Internet as a distribution channel. Do you view these developments as good things?

It's all good for me. I just accept whatever the state of the [music industry] is. I don't get all mad and upset because [shouts] "The corporations are taking over!" I'm sort of like, "Whatever. Let's go make a record and put it out on who ever will put it out."

When I first started out, it was, like, "Cool, we're getting played on college radio!" That was enough. We didn't need all of this help from the big guns--that wasn't what it was about. If you could make a living at it, fantastic. It's not really that important to be super-successful. If you get it, great.

It's sort of a macho thing. Are you going to be a musician or are you going to be a musician? Just do it. Be a part of this club or not. Some people are members of the club because they just stepped into it and they're beloved by millions of people all over the world, and other people have to hammer out a niche for themselves and win over their fans, literally, one by one, until their career is sustainable. Whatever. They're both in the club.

You're one of the most prolific rock musicians that I can think of. It doesn't seem like writer's block has ever been an issue for you.

Maybe there are certain seasons that I write better songs than others, but I certainly have no problem coming up with ditties or songs, or whatever you want to call them, and recording them. I find that to be really fun. So it's not super hard for me. It's not something I'm fantastic at all times, but I can do it.

I think you've got one of the best screams in the rock business. Is that something you had to work on? Where'd that scream come from?

I really don't know where it comes from. I know that a lot of times it has to do with how your body is made. That's something that's not talked about a lot in rock music, or in music in general. I was reading an old interview yesterday with Chet Baker, and he was talking about playing the trumpet over the trombone because his arms just weren't long enough to play the trombone, and that the trumpet was really suited to his physique. I would say that shouting, or screaming, or whatever you'd want to call it, is suited to my physique. I'm kind of big-chested, and I have strong neck muscles. I'm loud, and--at least in part--it's because of the way I'm built. I'm not sure that's 100 percent what the answer is, but if you're not built for it, you don't do it. Some people aren't built for shouting. Tom Verlaine sounds the way he does because of the way God made him, and that's what makes him interesting.

Interestingly enough, that's what makes a lot of people boring, I think. They don't try hard enough to be themselves. That's why you've got all of this bland music out there--all of these people trying to sound like some soulless diva or some soulless rock guy. They're not letting their real personality--or maybe even their physique--shine through.

I've always had a loud voice, and I've always done a lot of shouting, I guess. I got a little bit of encouragement in that department from a neighbor--a musician who gave me a singing lesson or two. Listen to The Beatles. Even a lot of their early '60s stuff has this real shout-y edge to it--in "Twist and Shout" or "I Want to Hold Your Hand," there's a lot of screaming going on. It doesn't sound like Black Flag, but it's got this kind of raspy, "WHAAAH!" And that was probably influenced by Little Richard and stuff like that. There were lots of people doing that stuff before I was born, so there's plenty of precedence.

What's the status of The Catholics at this point?

They're on sabbatical. (laughs) The last time I said that, the band was on sabbatical for 12 years.