After yearly rumours that '90s indie rock titans Pavement would get back together one of these damn days, and coming 24 hours after an unofficial "according to sources" report, the band have finally announced their reunion.

Domino records posted an official statement overnight, confirming the news:

Domino is delighted to make it official that the line up of Mark Ibold, Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg, Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich and Steve West is reuniting for dates around the world in 2010.

Following years of speculation and extremely polite answers to obligatory reunion questions, Pavement, the most influential band of their generation, have announced details of their first show in over a decade.

The first show announced is a New York performance on September 21, 2010 at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. A pre-sale begins at 10:00 AM EDT on Friday, September 18, 2009 (tomorrow). The password for the pre-sale is ZOWEE and the ticketing link is www.ticketmaster.com/event/00004330A3C355DD. The general on-sale is slated for 10:00 AM EDT on Friday, September 25, 2009. Please note that tickets will be available without surcharges from the Nokia Theatre box office in Times Square and from Earwax at 218 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.

Please visit www.crookedrain.com for details on this on-sale as well as all Pavement news as it develops.

Renowned for the thrilling ride of their live shows, Pavement’s unique sense of wit, style and pop chaos ensured the band’s iconoclastic run of LPs, from Slanted & Enchanted to Terror Twilight Is the most assured canon in all of indie-rock. And set the template for pretty much everything else that’s followed.

Bearing all that in mind however, the band would like it to be known that the tour does not constitute a full-on permanent reformation.

Rolling Stone followed up the announcment with an interview with current Australian tourist Kannberg, in which he explained how the reunion came together:

“Steve [Malkmus] 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.”

"The most assured canon in all of indie-rock?" "Set the template for pretty much everything else that’s followed"? Woah, slow down there fellas. While this is all good news - I'm a fan - I don't buy this "most influential band of their generation" hot wind. Nor rampant exclamation marks. Yeah the band meant a lot to a select few at the time, and their wobbly tuned guitar turnouts hold up and have resonated ever since. No doubt. But it's hard to see how Pavement had more of an impact on music nerds than any number of more garish '90s alternative icons.

As unfortunate with hindsight as it may have been, far more kids bought a guitar and grew their hair thanks to Smashing Pumpkins, NIN, Faith No More, Weezer, etc etc than they did due to Malkmus and Co. And if we're talking strictly lo-fi indie rock tropes, Sonic Youth, Sebadoh and later on Elliott Smith were just as (if not more) influential. (And then there's the whole Nirvana thing.) If anything, Pavement - with their playful non-sequiturs, loquacious imaginings, comfortable dress sense and vague aloofness - were more influential to the kinds of people that became music writers. Hence the payback now.

And shit, they were - at least subconsciously/probably - responsible for Coldplay's 'Yellow':


Pavement - 'Here'
 
As reported back in January, Pavement guitarits Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg told US mag Loud and Quiet that the band thought that 2009 would be "a good time to do it":

"Scott Kannberg the guitarist told us, "I don't see why not, you know, it could be a fun thing to do, go and play your favourite songs every night!”

Confirming that "everything's fine now" amongst him and his ex-band members, Kannberg went on to say, “2009 would be our twenty-year anniversary too, so that'd be a good time to do it, but I think that's too soon, it might have to be pushed back later."

The buzz comes at a fortuitous time for Pavement members currently touring Australia. Kannberg launches his solo album this Saturday in Melbourne at the Workers Club under his Spiral Stairs moniker and Stephen Malkmus lands in the country this Sunday for a week of shows with his band The Jicks. And given that Kannenberg is soon to move to Melbourne permanently, one posits that Australia is a prime location for the reunited band to visit. Support from a similarly reunited Gersey a lock, no?


STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
Real Emotional Trash Tour

Sunday 20th September The Zoo, Brisbane
Tickets $49 + BF from www.thezoo.com.au & www.oztix.com.au

Tuesday 22nd September, Metro, Sydney
Tickets $45 + BF from www.metrotheatre.com.au

Wednesday 23rd September Prince Bandroom, Melbourne
Tickets $45 + BF from www.princebandroom.com.au or 03 9536-1168

Thursday 24th September Fowlers, Adelaide
Tickets $45 + BF from www.fowlerslive.com.au & www.moshtix.com.au

Friday 25th September Amplifier Bar, Perth
Tickset $40 + BF from www.moshtix.com.au

Sat 26th September Wave Rock Weekender, HYDEN WA
Tickets from www.waverockweekender.oztix.com.au