Californian band Pavement play session for BBC Radio 6 Music
Photo credt: BBC
A brand-new session from Pavement recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios was played on BBC Radio 6 Music earlier.
Huw Stephens, who is sitting in for Steve Lamacq, played the session along with an interview with frontman Stephen Malkmus.
The Californian band are back playing live in the UK this month for the first time since 2010. In the thirty years since they first formed, the band have never recorded a session for 6 Music, and their last BBC session was for John Peel’s 60th birthday in 1999.
They are one of independent rock’s biggest success stories, which Stephen Malkmus once told Melody Maker was originally “a pathetic effort by us to do something to escape the terminal boredom we were experiencing in Stockton.”
Their acclaimed debut album, Slanted and Enchanted, was recorded for just $10,000 after they signed to Matador records in the early 90s. This was followed by 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, with their mainstream hit Cut Your Hair.
Malkmus announced to fans that he was calling it quits in 1999 after members were working on solo projects. He continued making music as Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.
Pavement reunited for a series of live shows in 2010 before another long break, then announced a reunion for a second time in 2020.
After being delayed by Covid, they’re back to the UK this month with shows in Manchester, Leeds, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow.