Fans of indie rock icons Pavement are gearing up for the band’s first new music in a quarter-century.
The California band was originally active from 1989 to 1999, releasing a total of five albums, including 1992’s Slanted and Enchanted, 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and 1997’s Brighten the Corners. When the album became a hit, the group peaked at number one on the US charts. 70th place on Billboard 200.
The group initially disbanded in November 1999, with the previous month’s Major League EP being their last original work. Since then, band members have been hard at work on other projects, including a series of reissues that supplement the original album with countless unreleased and rare tracks.
Pavement reconvened for a reunion tour in 2010, but went on hiatus again before announcing a second reunion in 2019. Those dates have been postponed until 2022, with the band’s latest (and ostensibly last) performance taking place in October of this year as part of a reunion. New York premiere of Alex Ross Perry’s experimental biopic/documentary Pavements.
“Pavements” premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September, and preparations are underway for a wider release, with the film’s soundtrack also scheduled to be released in conjunction with the film’s release.
In an interview on the podcast “Creative Control,” Pavement’s Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kanberg, along with Perry and producer/editor Robert Greene, spoke to host Vish Khanna about the film and its upcoming releases. I paid attention to the soundtrack. When asked about Pavement’s current activities and the band’s future, Kanberg explained that the band’s new songs will also be featured.
“There’s going to be a new Pavement song on the soundtrack. That’s all I’m going to give you,” he explained. “I heard the mix today and it’s really good. It’s not a big deal, it’s something different and it’s a song that we all loved playing, so it’s just cool.”
Kannberg says the as-yet-unnamed song was born during rehearsals for the band’s recent reunion, but previous setlists indicate it wasn’t played at any of the shows.
Pavement’s official status is currently unknown, but at a recent show in New York, percussionist and vocalist Bob Nastanovich told the crowd that this would be their “last show for a long time.” That same month, vocalist and guitarist Stephen Malkmus began performing live as one-quarter of the indie supergroup Hard Quartet, along with Chavez and members of the Dirty Three.
