Welcome to our “Psychedelic Lunch” series where we find out how deep the rabbit hole really goes and explore music from the 60’s to today. Weekdays At Noon EST. Enjoy the trip!

Black Francis’ real name is Charles Thompson. When The Pixies broke up, he used the name Frank Black.

Many of their songs were slow in the verses, but would explode with the chorus. They were a major influence on Nirvana.

At some of their shows, they played the songs in alphabetical order. In others, they would start with the encore and play “backwards.”

Kim Deal formed The Breeders as a side project in 1990.

The Pixies were slightly ahead of their time. Grunge bands that they influenced had lots of success and radio play just after they broke up.

In 1992, they opened for U2 on the Zoo TV tour. They were not well received by fans waiting to see the headliners.

Francis, an astronomy lover, decided to either travel to New Zealand to observe Halley’s Comet or form a band. He chose the band.

Santiago comes from one of the wealthiest families in the Philippines.

Deal responded to an ad put out by Francis in the Boston Phoenix looking for a bassist who liked both Husker Du and Peter, Paul and Mary. She brought her friend, Lovering, with her.

“Most of those adverts were guys going, ‘Looking for blonde singer aged 19-22. Hair must be between shoulder length and mid-back,’ or, ‘Looking for drummer with a PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE’,” Deal explained to NME. “So, ‘Looking for someone into Peter, Paul and Mary and Hüsker Dü. No chops’ caught my eye. I thought it was funny.”

On their first two albums, Deal is referred to as Mrs. John Murphy.

Joey Santiago and Black Francis shared a dorm room at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

David Lovering has a PhD in Physics and tours the US with a science show. He’s really quite good at it.

The band regrouped in 2004 and released a single, “Bam Thwok,” featuring Kim Deal on vocals.

Kim Deal didn’t know how to play bass when she joined the band; she didn’t even own one.

The group arrived at its name after Joey Santiago selected the word “pixies” randomly from a dictionary. He liked its definition of “mischievous little elves.”

After Dave Lovering’s friend Grant-Lee Phillips took him to a magic convention in the late 1990s, the drummer was inspired to take up a magic career. As the Scientific Phenomentalist, Lovering performs science and physics experiments on stage.

Many Pixies songs are under two minutes long, and very few run more than 3:30. “I think just about everybody play their songs too long,” Frank Black said.

Francis’ favorite hobby is painting. He told The Sun he enjoys working on his artwork because there are no other people involved. “I don’t have to answer to anyone. I can do it for hours and hours. I can listen to music or not listen to music. I can be alone and I can do it all day every day,” the singer explained. “If this music thing doesn’t pan out, or if I take a sabbatical, I would totally just do painting.”