Pavement Reunite!

After years of rumors, seminal indie-rock band Pavement have finally confirmed they are to reunite. New York-based blog Brooklyn Vegan was first to declare these rumors were the real deal, and on Thursday guitarist Scott Kannberg (a.k.a. Spiral Stairs) confirmed the reunion in an interview with Rolling Stone. The first confirmed date is a Central Park, New York show on September 21 next year. Referring to frontman Stephen Malkmus, Kannberg said "Steve and I just had a conversation on the phone, and we’d never talked about it before at all. We’ve talked over the years, but the subject never came up. Then our agent asked us about these New York shows, so we went around to everybody in the band, and they said, ‘Yeah, the time is right If everybody’s ready to do it, then we’ll do it and see what happens.’ There was no real impetus — it just kind of happened naturally.” Pavement split up ten years ago after releasing five hugely influential albums. While never big sellers, their reputation has only grown in the years after they broke up, so their reunion shows are sure to be attended by big crowds. "There’s festivals and stuff that we’re talking to, like Coachella," Kannberg added. "After that, anything that happens in the future is in the future."

It's also been confirmed by Pavement's record label, Matador, on their blog.

"After years of speculation, the most important American band of the 1990’s is returning to the stage, with the lineup of Mark Ibold, Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg, Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich and Steve West reuniting for dates around the world in 2010."

They also say that a pre-sale (password ZOWEE) for the Central Park show begins tomorrow. That's right, if you want to guarantee a ticket, you need to pre-pay a year in advance!

--Ally @ SoundUnwound

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