There was definitely a time when I would have hated myself for such a thing.



Frank Black and his wife, Violet Clark, were on the phone. Or Black Francis. Or Charles Thompson. Or whatever the fuck you want to call the iconic Pixie who’s easily one of the most influential musicians of his generation.



That’s right. Frank Black of THE PIXIES, was on the phone with little ol’ me, lined up to talk about he and his wife’s relatively new project, Grand Duchy.



Although, for this project it seems he goes by Thompson. But that’s not really important. Trust me.



Having just released a debut full-length, Petits Fours, Clark and Thompson, together Grand Duchy, will be (believe it or not) making a stop at Jazzbones in Tacoma on Saturday. The duo will be in town as part of a warm-up tour for bigger things this summer.    



So, what did I end up asking about? What was our main topic of discussion? Where did I feel like we were most having a real conversation and least like we were engaged in some sort of symbiotic and forced music business interaction?



When we talked about kids. With the intermittent screaming of an infant howling in the background, through the magic of Skype, and brought to me live from a room at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Salem, Ore., Grand Duchy and I talked about rock and roll child rearing. We chewed the fat on the challenges of having five children under the age of 12, three of the youngest actually on the road, and trying to mesh that constantly feeding, changing, running late lifestyle with the act of putting out records and touring the country.



“It’s comfortable for us to have them here with us,” says Clark, having soothed whatever need it was that just a moment ago had incited such whaling baby screams. “I don’t know how much the kids get out of it.”



“We don’t know yet,” she replies when asked how it’s all going to work, with the first of 13 dates looming and summer festivals already on the docket after that. “We’ve got a really cool rock and roll nanny. We’re just in the process of figuring things out.”



“We’re really into our kids,” adds Thompson. “It’s a process. To go to the park takes an hour and a half, so you can imagine (what touring is like).”



Luckily, the conversation did delve into territory not soiled with mashed banana and baby shit.



Most importantly, of course, we talked about what exactly Grand Duchy is all about. It’s obviously not just another Black Francis side project (not that I mind those, necessarily), and it’s obviously more than an excuse for a cheesy married couple to make a cheesy record. Clark and Thompson are anything but cheesy, and Petits Fours is a legit amalgamation of Clark’s ’80s synth bent and Thompson’s, well, Frank Black Bent — making for an experience the likes of which Pixie fans have probably never dreamed. In a good way. Again, trust me. Clark’s voice, at times, is so reminiscent of Kim Deal — yet, as a whole, Petits Fours really couldn’t be further from the Pixies mold.



“It was a gradual, organic evolution,” says Clark of Grand Duchy’s conception. “(In the beginning) we didn’t even know we were making a record.”

 

Off Petits Fours, which was officially released in the United States April 14, “Fort Wayne” was the very first song Thompson and Clark recorded together on equal footing — not knowing it at the time, but as Grand Duchy. According to both of them, it soon became apparent that this would be more than just a one-song recording session.



“We did the song ‘Fort Wayne.’ We deemed it to be kind of special,” says Thompson. “We didn’t think we were going to have magic every time, but we did the first time.”



That magic, and Petits Fours as an entity, has been almost entirely well received, aside perhaps from a few Pixies diehards upset with the electro-pop slickness of it all. As you might expect, the reaction wasn’t of much concern to Thompson or Clark. After all, they probably had diapers to change. And there are plenty of things to worry about for Grand Duchy other than the objections of a small, teeny tiny minority of Pixies freaks.



Specifically, as it pertains to Saturday night in Tacoma, there’s the task of congealing as a band. Petits Fours is almost entirely Clark and Thompson, but during the mini warm-up tour — and, it’s assumed, all touring to follow — Grand Duchy will officially become a four-person act when on stage.



“I have to learn how to be less of a frontman,” says Thompson. “It’s a little bit of a load off. Usually, I feel like the guy pulling a train with his teeth. It’s a lot different (as part of Grand Duchy). I don’t have to project so much, emote so much.”



“We’re trying not to think about it too much,” says Clark, a baby once again crying in the background. “The less we analyze and the less we think about it the better.”



[Jazzbones, Saturday, May 2, 9 p.m., $15, 2803 Sixth Ave, Tacoma, 253.396.9169]