20-DATE UK & EU HEADLINE TOUR THROUGH APRIL & MAY 2025 WITH NINE UK HEADLINE SHOWS
Enigmatic album closer ‘The Vegas Suite’ sees Pixies inspired by the classic 1950s standard
‘Que Sera, Sera’ diving into the world of sci-fi, as frontman and principal songwriter Black
Francis describes:
“The closing track of the record is based on the song ‘Que Sera, Sera’, a standard
written in the 1950s. We originally did a version of it for a television programme about
not zombies but monster sci-fi creatures. So we thought ‘How can we make this fit
into this sci-fi monster setting?’ I did not know that this was going to end up on the
record. But then when our producer Tom Dalgety went to mix the record, he stuck it
on, and it was the perfect closing credits to a record called ‘The Night the Zombies
Came’.”
‘The Vegas Suite’ follows Pixies’ own cover version of ‘Que Sera, Sera’, released earlier this
year as the AA side to their first single of 2024, ‘You’re So Impatient’.
The Night the Zombies Came is Pixies’ tenth album, if you count their classic 1987 4AD mini
LP Come On Pilgrim, and first new music since 2022’s Doggerel LP. The album has seen
Pixies praised by MOJO, “the most thrillingly deathly of bands remains alive”, .
The Night The Zombies Came arrives ahead of Pixies’ live return to the UK and Europe. In
April and May 2025 the band will perform a 20-date headline tour, including nine UK shows
with two nights at London’s O2 Academy Brixton.
Pixies wowed UK fans in August with their mainstage performance at London’s All Points
East, described as “raucous” by Rolling Stone UK after their sold out Glasgow Academy
show was tipped as “a full-on head rush of classics” by the Scottish Sun and “as relevant in
2024 as they were over 35 years ago” by Glasgow World.
Black Francis will be appearing on CBeebies Bedtime Stories reading There Was a Young
Zombie Who Swallowed a Worm by Kaye Baillie and Diane Ewen on Saturday 26 October,
CBeebies and BBC iPlayer.
35 years since their groundbreaking Platinum-certified album Doolittle catapulted the band
into the UK Top Ten, and 20 years since their celebrated reformation at Coachella, Pixies are
deep into their second act, and in the midst of a creative purple patch.
Druidism, apocalyptic shopping malls, mediaeval-themed restaurants, 12th-century poetic
form, surf rock, gargoyles, bog people, and the distinctive dry drum sound of 1970s-era
Fleetwood Mac are just some of the disparate wonders that inform the 13 new songs.
For the new album recording sessions, the band returned to work with producer Tom
Dalgety, who drummer David Lovering refers to as “a fifth Pixie” after producing 2016’s Head
Carrier, 2019’s Beneath the Eyrie, and 2022’s Doggerel. Early on in the recording process at
Guilford Sound studio in Vermont, the band noticed the new songs were dividing into two
camps: what they came to call the “Dust Bowl Songs” – country-tinged, ballad-esque
numbers such as ‘Primrose’ and ‘Mercy Me’, and on the other side, the album’s furious punk
numbers such as ‘You’re So Impatient’ and ‘Oyster Beds’. Only ‘Jane (The Night the
Zombies Came)’ keeps its feet in both camps — reminiscent of early 60s Phil Spector, the
band hitting the sweet spot between mushy and abrasive, it’s a track that Black Francis
allegedly likened to being chased by a swarm of bees.
The Night the Zombies Came also sees Pixies welcoming new bass player Emma
Richardson (Band Of Skulls) to the line up; the first British band member to join the group.
There’s also an expanded role for guitarist Joey Santiago. After contributing his first-ever
Pixies lyrics on Doggerel, for the new record Santiago wrote the words to ‘Hypnotised’ by
completing a complex lyrical riddle of sorts, known as a sestina.
Pixies will head for New Zealand and Australia in November 2024 for stadium gigs with Pearl
Jam, closing a monumental year for one of the world’s most influential, revered, and deeply
adored bands.
The Night the Zombies Came is available now on black vinyl, CD, digital download, and on
streaming platforms. A crystal clear and red smoke LP is available at HMV and independent
record shops, as well as a limited edition pearlescent vinyl available from Blood Records. A
crystal clear and violet smoke LP plus merchandise bundles are also available from the
official Pixies store here.
The Night the Zombies Came Tracklisting
1 Primrose
2 You’re So Impatient
3 Jane (The Night the Zombies Came)
4 Chicken
5 Hypnotised
6 Johnny Good Man
7 Motoroller
8 I Hear You Mary
9 Oyster Beds
10 Mercy Me
11 Ernest Evans
12 Kings of the Prairie
13 The Vegas Suite
2024 Auckland and New Zealand Tour w/ Pearl Jam
November 8 – Go Media Stadium Mt Smart, Auckland, New Zealand [SOLD OUT]
November 10 – Go Media Stadium Mt Smart, Auckland, New Zealand
November 13 – Heritage Bank Stadium, Gold Coast, Australia [SOLD OUT]
November 16 – Marvel Stadium, Melbourne, Australia [SOLD OUT]
November 18 – Marvel Stadium, Melbourne, Australia
November 21 – Giants Stadium, Sydney, Australia [SOLD OUT]
November 23 – Giants Stadium, Sydney, Australia
2025 UK and European Headline Tour
April 25th – TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht [SOLD OUT]
April 26th – Lotto Arena, Antwerp
April 28th – Oosterport, Groningen [SOLD OUT]
April 29th – 013, Tilburg
May 1st – Tempodrom, Berlin
May 2nd – Palladium, Cologne
May 3rd – TonHalle, Munich
May 6th – Arkea Arena, Bordeaux
May 7th – Zenith, Nantes
May 9th – Palacio de los Deportes de Granada, Granada
May 10th – Sagres Campo Pequeno, Lisbon
May 13th – P&J Arena, Aberdeen
May 14th – O2 Academy, Edinburgh [SOLD OUT]
May 16th – O2 Academy Brixton, London
May 17th – O2 Academy Brixton, London [SOLD OUT]
May 19th – O2 Academy, Leeds
May 20th – O2 Academy Birmingham
May 21st – Utilita Arena, Cardiff
May 23rd – O2 City Hall Newcastle [SOLD OUT]
May 24th – O2 Apollo, Manchester [SOLD OUT]