In mid-1988, the Pixies began to record demo sessions while on breaks from touring. The band headed to the Boston recording studio Eden Sound, which at the time comprised a small room in the basement of a hair salon. They recorded at the studio for a week, in circumstances similar to the previous year's the Purple Tape sessions. Francis gave the demo tape and upcoming album the provisional title of "Whore", though he later claimed his natural father had originally suggested the name. Francis has clarified that he was thinking of the word "in the more traditional sense ... the operatic, biblical sense, ... as in the great whore of Babylon". After completing the demo tape, band manager Ken Goes suggested two producers for the album; Liverpudlian Gil Norton and American Ed Stasium. The band had previously worked with Norton while recording the single version of "Gigantic" in May 1988. Francis had no preference, although Ivo Watts-Russell, head of the band's label 4AD, wanted Norton to produce the next album. Norton was hired as producer, with Stasium not even approached for the position.