FRANK BLACK ANSWERS UFO-VÄST
He's something of a fatherfigure for todays alternative rockscene. Risen out of the legendary band The Pixies who sold over a million records in US alone between ‘87 and ‘91. Nothing speciel about that you say, when there seem to be popping up popstars like mushrooms out of the ground with ready Japan-contracts in their hands. The difference is that his lyrics touches issues like UFOs, Aliens and space-travel. He's - Frank Black, aka, Charles Thompson!
By Jorgen Westman.
When I call him up in his home in USA and explain to him who I am and what kind of a magazine I do I meet with a suprised Frank who expected another cranky journalist who wants to put the "wierdo-sticker" on his forehead. And as Frank is well at home on the internet he ask me for the adress to WUFOC and he promise to check it out. All this while a feeling of compassion spreads through the telephoneline over the Atlantic.
- I don’t apologize for singing about UFOs or sciencefiction or space...or any of these things, but obviously, I feel like a real intruder sometimes...almost a fake when I know that there are so many people really involved with it and know so much more about it, so sometimes I feel a little bit guilty!
Two observations
With lyrics as “Motorway to Roswell“ and “Men In Black“, Frank (as he like to be called) has managed to find a corner all of his own in the musical-circus. What was it then that triggered this interest in UFOs?
- Well, if your really wanna know...I think the moment when I, at least subcounsciously, became interested in this..And I do wanna say that I’m not obsessed about it but I do allowe it to come up in the songs that I do...when I was about 18 or 19 years old my mother, who has absolutely no interest in this subject (UFOs) and not even anything close to it, very casualy described to me a large UFO, or a ”ship”..she described it as a ship, or a classic saucer, that hovered over the house we were at in 1965, in Nebraska. This was in broad daylight. There was many witnesses, there were many familymembers there, and they all came outside to the yard to observe the ship over the house, silent. They were all frightened and she even said to me: ”we thought it was the end of the world!” They called the police and a policeman came out to the house..the man later became my stepfather...And they got into the car as the ship has started to move slowly, and they followed it with the car as I gradualy moved faster and faster until they couldn’t keep up with it.
- Anyway, I was so shocked by this story...
Wasn’t you concerned why your mother wasn’t interested in this as she has seen this thing up close?
- Exactly! But you know, she’s a very religious person and has, as far as I know, absolutely no interest in this subject-matter. And I had never heard it being discussed in my house, and I never heard it being discussed again.
- Anyway...there’s another incident with a ship when I was 5. I was playing in the yard with my brother and a metallic-type of rocket..I was thinking about it like some kind of missile...
Like a cigarr-shaped craft?
- Yeah, exactly! It flew over the yard where we were playing and it was completely silent. And for some reason my brother and I just looked at it as it went over the house. We didn’t discuss it afterwards. And it made an impression on me, deep inside me...I mean, we were so young! We just went back to play.
- Now I’ve kept this memory with me for my whole life and I have never discussed it with my brother. And in my own mind I had invalidated it as an incident. I assumed I probably saw a military-plane fly over me...you know, I didn’t see a rocketship or cigarr-shaped missile or anything like that. And that’s what I’ve been telling myself for all these years. But for some reason...off all the airplanes I’ve seen flying over my head, the only incident I think about is from when I was so young!
- And last year my brother and I got in a discussion about UFOs, in a very casual conversation, when he said: ”You remember that thing we saw in the backyard when we were 4 and 5?”, ”The silver-rocket that flew over us and made no noise!” And I didn’t even think he had any memory of it at all! We had never discussed this in 25 years and then he can describe more details about it than I do. I don’t know if we saw a UFO or not, but for some reason this very...low key...memory of it has stayed with me and him, and I can’t help but think that there’s something odd about it. I mean, I can’t remember any other airplane that I’ve seen... Those two are my true incidents and I have had no other since then.
Personal connection
How has these incidents influenced you when it comes to music?
- When I started to write songs with the pixies the songs were very, very, abstract. Not really with any subject, or a combination of subjects. And as I started to write more songs I started to write songs with subjects. Songs that were still abstract - but less abstract and that had some focus. And I was looking for a topic and I think that I was attracted on a number of levels to, not only UFOs, but also to space, spacetravel and astronomy. But I think I was extra comfortable with the UFO-subject because, like: ”Oh yeah! I have a personal connection to this subject.” It wasn’t a heavy thing, it was...pleasent!
Do you follow the latest developments within the UFO-field. Like Richard C. Hoaglands claims of artifacts on the moon, the Mars-face and so on?
- Yeah...I mean, I’m interested in his concepts but I think that people like that kind of invalidate themself by their extreme personality (laughter) It’s hard to know, especially for someone like me who isn’t that involved, to figure out how much of it that is real and how much is about people trying to make money.
When I read other interviews with you, theres not one journalist that can relate to what your singing about. It’s always like ”yeah, yeah...he’s wierd...” And if you sing about Roswell, as an example, they might as well think you’re talking about a gasstation!
- Yeah, it’s all a bit frustrating because the journalist can’t stretch as far as thinking ”this is different”, and to be open about it. Their attitude is like ”This is not what I’ve expected...I don’t belive in it.”
Does it annoy you that people who buys your records and see you perform doesn’t take the time to get into your lyrics and find out whats behind the words?
- No. If they are enjoying the musical aspect of it and they’re not involved in the lyrics, I’m not offended or annoyed, no.
What’s all this about John Denver on the song ”Czar” on your latest album "The Cult Of Ray"?
- I wrote a song about him because I thought it was very interesting the he would use his fortune to try and persue space. He offered NASA and the Russian equival 10 million dollars if they took him along into space (laughter)...they both turned him down thou.
The issue of parallells between the myths in our religions on earth and a possible connection with pre-historic visits from extraterristrial life seems to annoy people more than it should. It’s like a taboo to the ordinary people...
- Yeah, I think that a lot of peolpe has been raised in a perticular religion, at least here in our western sociaty, and when they’re older, maybe they still follow religion or maybe they don’t, to talk about it stirs up something that started inside them when they were very, very little. I think that something that starts in you when you are very you, even if you reject it at some point in your life, psychologicly it’s very difficult to completely remove yourself from something - and I’m the same way.
I have noticed that the conspiracy-topic has exceeded fast along with paranoia in the states for the last 4 years. Is that USA in the large picture?
- Well, I think to to rebel and be suspicious of government is a thing that goes on all over the world. And I think in America it’s kind of a part of the personality with people, the way we were raised. You know, it’s almost celebrated in a patriotic kind of way...
And the issue is getting fuel from all these storys of secret bases like Area-51 with the hushed up experiments?
- Yeah, I mean that’s why we have all these TV-shows. And in my own way I guess I have contributed to it all also, but I don’t sell any more records from it, probably less! (laughter)
Here's some records you should check out from the Frank Black / Pixies catalogue:
Doolittle '89 / Pixies
Planet Of Sound '91 / Pixies
Teenager Of The Year '94 / solo
The Cult Of Ray '96 / solo
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