Pinback has made a comeback.
In October, the band released Information Retrieved, its first album in five years.
Formed in San Diego in 1998 by two men, Rob Crow (vocals, guitar) and Armistead Burwell Smith IV (better known as Zach Smith, bass, vocals), Pinback took its name from a reference to a character in a 1974 John Carpenter film, Dark Star.
“We took five years off from the band,” Crow says. “But we also both had solo projects, a variety of other projects, working on other records and a lot of things. Plus I had a kid and Zach had a couple more.”
So, in other words, it wasn’t like they were hanging out at the beach and surfing, dude, Crow wants to make clear, although clarity is not really a Pinback quality.
He does not want to goon the record as ever having played in central Arkansas before, but reckons that in 15 or so years of touring, either in Pinback, or solo or their various other bands, it’s a possibility.
And though they think of themselves as a group, Crow and Smith are the core members. Reference materials list a dozen musicians who have been part of the live Pinback, including Donny Van Zandt (Crow says that is not the Southern rocker with ties to Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special, however).
“On our records, it’s just the two of us, but for our live shows, we take a drummer along on the road,” Crow says.
Pinback started its recording career in 1999 with the self-explanatory This Is a Pinback CD and followed that two years later with Blue Screen Life. The band released Summer in Abaddon in 2004 and Autumn of the Seraphs in 2007. There have also been 10 EPs and eight singles, plus appearances on three soundtracks: Elizabethtown, Yo Gabba Gabba! and The O.C.
The band cites Captain Beefheart, The Residents and The Shaggs as its influences, but plays only its own originals in its shows.
“Our message can only be deciphered by listening to the music at the shows,” Crow says. “Live, there’s more energy and we feed off of each other to try to make each show a unique experience.”Pinback
Opening act: JP Inc.
9 p.m. Saturday, Revolution
Room, 300 President Clin
ton Ave., Little Rock
Admission: $12 advance;
$15 day of show
(501) 823-0090
revroom.com
Weekend, Pages 32 on 03/21/2013