Pavement Photo: Tarina Westlund Photography
They were one of the biggest American alternative bands of the 1990s, but a lot of the inspiration for Pavement's unique slacker-rock sound came from the bands of New Zealand and Flying Nun Records.
Pavement formed in 1989 in Stockton, California, and ambled through the 1990s with catchy underground singles like 'Cut Your Hair' and 'Gold Soundz.'
The band have surprisingly found new life on TikTok these days with an obscure B-side, 'Harness Your Hopes,' which has gone viral and been streamed nearly 100 million times on Spotify.
Pavement's initial run ended in 1999, and frontman Stephen Malkmus went on to an eclectic well-regarded solo career.
The band reunited briefly in 2010 for a reunion tour that included a show at Auckland Town Hall, and are now back for two shows in Aotearoa in Auckland and Wellington next month.
Music 101's Charlotte Ryan talked to founding member Bob Nastanovich on the road in the tour van from Perth as they continue their world tour.
"We're better now," Nastanovich joked, and said the band has added new members to bulk up their repertoire on stage.
"I think compared to 2010 in general we're essentially doing the same thing except that we can play a lot more Pavement songs well.
"Everybody seems to be that much more mature and further removed from the original area of Pavement and we seem to be just in a better frame of mind to look back upon and celebrate that era of our lives."
Rebecca Cole has joined Pavement as a touring member and taking on the keyboard duties Nastanovich once did, leaving him free to do some percussion, backing vocals, and general hype-man duties on stage.
"What I've really been enjoying most is I have more time to engage the crowd and in this post-Covid area, it's lovely to engage the audience and look in their eyes and realise that people are very happy to be going to see live music again."
Pavement's distinctive lo-fi sound, a classic part of the 1990s music scene, owes a big debt to Flying Nun and the Dunedin sound, Nastanovich agreed.
Many of the band worked as college radio DJs or at record stores back in the day, he said.
"We were sort of engaged with the Clean and the Chills and the Tall Dwarfs and even things like Alpaca Brothers and Verlaines.
"Just about everybody in the band had the benefit of access to record stores and fanzines and college radio stations that were celebrating that fantastic cultural era in New Zealand.
"Many of us were in the front row for that. We were kind of fans of that whole golden age of New Zealand underground music."
When Pavement first began playing in New Zealand in 1993 they got to meet many of their idols.
"You know sometimes that can be a negative when you meet your heroes, but in the case of the ilk from New Zealand, the Flying Nun crowd and a lot of those legends, it only sort of improved our impression of the people involved because everybody seemed so lovely and welcoming."
However, not every New Zealand band was quite so welcoming, Nastanovich said.
"Everybody seemed so lovely and welcoming ... with the exception of the guys from The Dead C. They were a little unpleasant.
"They were just abrupt, they just thought Pavement sucked.
"I like it when people tell me that I suck to my face, and you're welcome to do so.
"They just thought that ... let's face it, some things are overrated at certain times - and I think some of the more bitter elements of that Dunedin scene might have thought that about Pavement, and fair enough."
One of Pavement's highlights in New Zealand was getting to jam with local music legend Chris Knox of the Tall Dwarfs in 1994.
"We had a day off in Auckland and Chris (Knox) who was opening for us playing solo, gave us an open invitation to go over to his house which was enticing for me and then he wanted to do some jamming. So (Pavement guitarist) Scott (Kannberg) and myself took him up on it.
"We ended up playing on two or three recordings on the Tall Dwarves record 3 EPs.
"It was just a matter of setting up and playing with Alec (Bathgate) and Chris. To both Scott and myself those were legendary characters that we looked up to.
"We were kind of that right kind of nervous, where you're tense but just sort of lucid.
"That was a very memorable afternoon."
Pavement now is admittedly more of a reunion than an active musical concern, but Nastanovich said while here they will try to draw on songs they didn't play back in 2010.
"We have a lot of songs in the Pavement arsenal and we'll pick 25 or so and hope to entertain people in Auckland."
"Right now at least at this point there's no discussion of anything new. We do have three members that are in active bands that kind of save their songwriting genius for their own acts."
Pavement's NZ gigs:
7 March - The Civic, AUCKLAND
8 March - St James Theatre, WELLINGTON
