In some ways, it’s like “The Office” – with the office being a tour bus and a stage, and the stars being indie has-beens reclaiming a stab at glory..

The road is boring. The road is long. The road is the subject of the intriguing and fascinating “loudQUIETloud”, a film about The Pixies 2004 reunion tour that makes the endless miles of touring and hotels almost interesting. Almost.

Instead, it follows the same template as it’s nearest counterpart, “Some Kind Of Monster”, which deals with the same subject matter : people who don’t necessarily like each other very much forced together by financial necessity to work together.

The four characters of the band are almost stereotypes : the struggling musician with a family to support playing shows to a handful of people, the ex-bass player sitting at home recovering from drug addiction with nothing to do but knit, the destitute, homeless drummer-turned-magician grateful for a chance at the big time again, and the band’s Mr.Big – the tunesmith with a troublesome solo career who needs to turn back the clock and do the one thing he swore he never would.

It’s like a suburban Blues Brothers – “we’re getting the band back together”. Where “loudQUIETloud” works, however, is in it’s comprehensiveness : almost every significant moment of the tour is captured in a understated honesty – Kim’s bored struggle recovering from alcoholism, the band sputtering haphazradly through their first rehearsal, drummer Dave Lovering’s visible withdrawl into alcohol dependency and his iPod following the death of his father, the on-stage spats and rows – on one occasion Frank Black yells “Are you high?”, before storming off stage – and the tedium.

This is no “Rattle And Hum”, no airbrushed portrait of the artist as a rich man. This is warts and all. Watch the band reform, fall apart, and desperately try not to. Whilst occasionally lacking in breadth (at a slender 85 minutes), and frustrating in the omissions – focusing on the band as people whilst avoiding any analysis of their musical history, ducking a clear answer as to their original split - “loudQUIETloud” is essential viewing for anyone with even a passing interest in the band.

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