Come On Pilgrim

Come On Pilgrim is the debut mini-LP release by the American alternative rock band Pixies. Produced by Gary Smith, the album was released in September 1987 by 4AD.

Background

In March 1987, Pixies (Black Francis, guitar/lead vocals; Kim Deal, bass/vocals; Joey Santiago, guitar; David Lovering, drums), entered Boston's Fort Apache Studios with Fort Apache owner/record producer Gary Smith to record a demo tape. The resulting 17-song cassette, later dubbed "The Purple Tape" eventually found its way to Ivo Watts-Russell, president and co-founder of the influential British record label 4AD. Pixies' manager, Ken Goes, was also the manager of Throwing Muses, who had become the first American band to sign to 4AD a year earlier. Despite being initially unimpressed by the demo, Watts-Russell was urged to sign the band by his girlfriend, a secretary for 4AD. After her insistence, he walked the streets of New York listening to The Purple Tape on his Walkman and, in his words, finally "got it."