"All those Berlin albums by Bowie and Iggy Pop, they're all kind of dark and brooding and also very arty and poetic. So many bands have used those references as influences and tried to go to Berlin themselves to capture that. The Pixies recorded a song there, at Hansa Ton studios, it's not there any more, unfortunately, but the main recording room used to be a Nazi headquarters and it had a lot of leftover orchestral instruments, including a big timpani drum. The Pixies were tempted to use that on the recording - and I've since realised that on every record ever made at Hansa, you'll hear a timpani drum at some point."

Frank Black, Uncut, April 2001