Pitchfork

Typically, when a band with two strong songwriting voices goes belly-up and two new bands form from the wreckage, fans are offered the audio emollient of now having twice the music to blow their paychecks on.

It looks like San Diego's Three Mile Pilot plan to go their fans one better. The prog-ish indie band never officially broke up, of course, but their progeny-- noir-meisters Black Heart Procession and the more angular, pop-oriented Pinback-- proved successful enough that Three Mile's hiatus after 1997's Another Desert, Another Sea appeared terminal.

But Black Heart's Pall Jenkins and Pinback's Armistead Burwell Smith IV (aka Zach) both recently confirmed that new Three Mile Pilot material has been recorded in earnest over the last month. Touch & Go Records, home to both Pinback and Black Heart, also confirmed plans for a 2007 release.

"We wanted to have the label situated so we could light a fire under our asses and get it done," says Jenkins, ignoring a suggestion that the reformed unit should go by the name Black Arse Procession.

"We'd talked about it for years," Smith says, "but it's a lot easier to let things slip by when you don't have a label asking you 'hey, when's that coming out?'"

Another inducement was the new studio both bands now share at Smith's home in San Diego's Little Italy district, where proximity is apparently breeding productivity. That's where Black Heart's latest album, The Spell (due out May 9) was recorded, and where Smith and Pinback co-writer Rob Crow will adjourn after their current tour to begin work on their next record.

Jenkins and Smith say they're just as curious as their fans as to what the new Three Mile Pilot will wind up sounding like.

"We keep experimenting with different things, we don't want it to be Black Heart, we don't want it to be Pinback, we want it to be Three Mile Pilot, but we want it to be a more current thing because we've all changed," Jenkins says.

"A lot of the songs from back then I hear now and go, 'why did I do that?'" Smith says. "But at the same time I love what they are and what we were doing back then, just exploring, and we don't want to lose that feeling."

Black Heart co-leader/pianist Tobias Nathaniel, who joined Three Mile Pilot mid-tenure, won't be in the band's new-but-familiar incarnation because he now lives in Portland, Oregon. That leaves Three Mile with its original lineup: Jenkins on guitar, Smith on bass and drummer Tom Zinser.

Pinback dates:

04-25 Moscow, ID - SUB Ballroom *
04-27 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot *
04-28 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre *
04-29 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre *
04-30 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
05-02 Newport, KY - Southgate House
05-03 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
05-04 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
05-05 Montreal, Quebec - Plaza St. Hubert
05-06 Boston, MA - Paradise
05-07 South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
05-08 Portland, ME - Space
05-09 Brooklyn, NY - North Six
05-10 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
05-11 Philadelphia, PA - North Star
05-12 Washington, DC - Black Cat
05-13 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
05-14 Orlando, FL - The Social #
05-16 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room #
05-17 Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbits #
05-18 Atlanta, GA - Roxy Theatre #
05-19 Birmingham, AL - High Note Lounge #
05-20 Nashville, TN - The Mercy Lounge #
05-21 Columbia, MO - Blue Note #
05-23 Fayetteville, AR - Dickson Theatre #
05-24 Memphis, TN - Hi Tone Cafe #
05-25 Baton Rouge, LA - Chelsea's Cafe #
05-26 Austin, TX - Emo's #
05-27 Denton, TX - Hailey's Club
05-29 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse *
05-30 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon *
05-31 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 Club

* with the Jade Shader
# with Mary Timony

Black Heart Procession dates:

05-09 Bologna, Italy - Estragon
05-10 Rome, Italy - TBA
05-11 Milan, Itlay - TBA
05-12 Torino, Italy - Hiroshima
05-13 Firenze, Italy - Auditorium Flog
05-14 Mestre, Italy - Rivolta
05-15 Luzern, Switzerland - BOA Bar
05-16 Zurich, Switzerland - Rote Fabrik
05-18 Frankfurt, Germany - Brotfabrik
05-19 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude
05-20 Camber Sands, England - Camber Sands Holiday Centre (All Tomorrow's Parties) *
05-22 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
05-23 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
05-24 Eindhoven, Netherlands - Effenaar
05-25 Groningen, Netherlands - Vera
05-26 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
05-27 Diksmuide, Belgium - 4AD
05-29 Paris, France - La Maroquinerie
05-31 Lyon, France - Le Epecerie Moderne
06-01 Angouleme, France - La Nef
06-02 St. Brieuc, France - Art Rock Festival #
06-03 Tourcoing, France - Le Grand Mix
06-06 London, England - Koko
06-07 London, England - Koko

* with Sleater-Kinney, David Cross, the Gossip, Spoon, Lightning Bolt, Joanna Newsom, Boredoms, Dungen, Radar Bros., 1990's, Edith Frost, Fiery Furnaces
# with Seun Kuti et Egypt 80, Fishbone, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Goran Bregovic, Cirkus (featuring Neneh Cherry), DJ Le Clown, John Lord Fonda, Why?, Sofiane Saidi, My Lullaby, DJ Koulechov

* Black Heart Procession: