Former Pixies frontman Frank Black changed his stage name from Black Francis to Frank Black when he went solo. Black may not command the same star presence that he did in the Pixies' heydey, but his solo music is still out there on the edge, taking chances and causing its creator to sweat up more of a storm than ever onstage. Working with former Pere Ubu member Eric Drew Feldman, Black occasionally heads into the ferocious post-punk guitar territory that marked such landmark albums as Surfer Rosa and Doolittle. His self-titled 1993 debut album mixed pop styles ranging from surf rock to heavy metal, from Beatlesque pop to new wave. Black's second album, 1994's Teenager of the Year, was a sprawling and diverse album that amplified all the best points of Frank Black. Although it received favorable reviews and had an alternative radio hit with "Headache," it slipped off the charts two weeks after its release. Black parted ways with Elektra and 4AD in early 1995, signing a new record contract with American in the U.S. and Sony in Europe. Black released his first album for American and Sony, the hard-rocking Cult of Ray, in January 1996. Early in 1998, he signed with Play It Again Sam in England, and he released Frank Black and the Catholics that spring. He was left without an American record contract until spinART picked up the album for release in the U.S. in August. Pistolero followed in 1999. Dog in the Sand was issued two years later. In 2002, Black returned with two albums, the ambitious Black Letter Days and The Devil's Workshop, a more laid-back effort. Show Me Your Tears, which was inspired by Black's therapy sessions, followed a year later. Black returned to prominence in 2004 with a Pixies reunion, a project that included North American tours that spring and fall, an appearance at the Coachella festival, dates in Europe and the U.K. that summer, including a performance at the T in the Park festival, Pixies- a DVD retrospective, a new best-of collection- Wave of Mutilation, The Best of Pixies, and last but not least, the possibility of a new Pixies album. That fall, Frank Black Francis, a double-disc set of early Pixies demos and reinterpretations of Pixies songs by Black and the Two Pale Boys, arrived in the midst of all this activity. The Pixies reunion tour continued into 2005. That summer, Black released Honeycomb, a collection of songs recorded in Nashville, TN, featuring performances by session greats such as Spooner Oldham, Reggie Young, Anton Fig, and Steve Cropper. He reunited with this crew and added a host of other guest stars for 2006's sprawling double album Fast Man Raider Man, which he supported with a string of dates opening for Foo Fighters. Though 2007's Bluefinger was a concept album about the life and death of Dutch painter/punk rocker Herman Brood, it featured some of Black's most ferocious rock in years, so much so, in fact, that it was credited to his Pixies persona Black Francis.