Kim Deal is welcome to rejoin Pixies if she wants to, drummer Dave Lovering has told NME.

The band parted ways with Deal earlier this year and then replaced her with Kim Shattuck, who has previously played with The Muffs and The Pandoras. However, in a new interview with NME Lovering extends an olive branch to the bass player.

Speaking about the split, Lovering says: “We left it open. It was sad and tough when she left, but we wish her well and she has a welcome back if she’d like to. When she said she was leaving it was distressing and there was a lot of panic and we were like, ‘What are we going to do?’ We thought the correct thing is to go forward. So we did.”

Meanwhile, the band have also hinted that there will be a follow up to the ‘EP1’ they released earlier this year. “There’s definitely ‘EP2′” says guitarist Joey Santiago, “but the rest is a secret.” Lovering elaborates further, “I know ‘EP1’ is maybe missing some of the punk, and maybe the next one will come back to that.”

Pixies played their first UK gig with Shattuck at Camden’s Roundhouse last month (September 25) as part of the iTunes Festival. The Boston band delivered a bumper 28-song set which included ‘Andro Queen’ and ‘Indie Cindy’, from their new EP, ‘EP1’, as well as classics such as ‘Wave Of Mutilation’ and an encore of ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’ and ‘Vamos’.