Happy Birthday to Dayton Ohio twins Kelly and Kim Deal.
Pixies were the first band I saw live. I’m biased. It was logical for me to buy the Breeders Pod when it came out. It knocks Pixies release from the same year, ‘Bossanova’ into a cocked hat. I agree with Kurt Cobain who thought the best Pixies songs were those which made use of the talents of Kim Deal.
One factor was simply the production. For their debut album Surfer Rosa, Pixies used Steve Albini. Not a producer, a recorder of sounds. Albini knows how to use mics and make a recording with integrity. Pixies follow up, ‘Doolittle’ has great songs but in my opinion suffers for lack of Albini’s input.
By the time of ‘Bossanova’, for me the rot had set in. The songs were being overdubbed with great swathes of guitar. Everything was compressed to hell. It was all too much and the songs just weren’t there.
While vocalist Frank Black was struggling for inspiration, one member of the band was sitting on some great material.
The Breeders. Alt-Rock Supergroup.
As soon as a modicum of success allowed her to form her own band Kim Deal was basically off and running. Initially the Breeders was a kind of indie supergroup. Deal took lead vocals and rhythm guitar. Tanya Donnelly of Throwing Muses played lead guitar. The rhythm section was Josephine Wiggs of the band A Perfect Disaster on Bass and Britt Walford of Slint on Drums.
They recorded their Debut album in the UK. Here’s the first track.
‘Glorious’ (Drum Break at 2:37)
That drum sound. It’s a collision between the hands of Britt Walford and the mic placement of Steve Albini. Walford most famously played drums (and composed on guitar) for Slint, progenitors of post-rock. That such a restrained feel comes from a teenager who the Jesus Lizard devoted their song ‘Mouthbreather‘ to is remarkable.
Walford wasn’t to stay in the band for long. He did play on most of the EP that was recorded once Pixies work schedule started to get lighter in 1993 though.
‘Don’t Call Home’ (Drum Break at 0:00)
Kim Deal’s side project started to turn into her main focus. It paid off.
The Breeders Cannonball Era
Vocal support from Kurt Cobain didn’t harm the Breeders at all. It wouldn’t have meant much without some tunes to back it up. ‘Last Splash’ was a big sounding record. Jim MacPherson had taken over on drums by this point. He plays bass on ‘ROI’.
‘ROI’ (Drum break at 0:41)
Pixies had lost their way trying to make their sound more commercial. What’s more they never really broke through, they were always a cult band. The Breeders broke through. Cannonball was an indie disco staple, the video got heavy rotation on MTV.
Assumedly as a satire of their new commercial phase they covered Aerosmith’s ‘Lord of the Thighs’ for the B-Side of ‘Cannonball’
Lord of the Thighs (Drum Break at 0:00)
Of course there’s one major problem with that last track. A distinct lack of Kim Deal. Her voice being the main attraction of the band. It’s a ball of subtle contradictions. Strident yet fragile. It’s a special instrument.
The Breeders Hiatus
So it was a pity that a drug bust in 1995 led to the band being put on hold. Both Kim and Kelley engaged in a patchwork of projects. Kim with the Amps and Kelley with the Kelley Deal 6000. It was a messy time for all involved, personally and related to substances.
It was only after the turn of the millennium that The Breeders would become a going concern again.
Thankfully when they did go back into the studio they took Steve Albini with them.
‘Little Fury’ (Drum Break 0:00)
Both the Deal sisters thankfully got clean and continued to record under various projects, the Breeders included.
Around this time Pixies reformed. A while later Kim left only to be replaced by another bass player called Kim. Like an indie-rock North korea.
‘Mountain Battles’ from 2008 was a more ‘produced’ record. That’s not to say polished but not simply the sound of a band in a room. In my opinion it suffers for that.
In any case ‘Bang On’ is fun and almost like The Breeders doing Outkast.
‘Bang on’ (Drum Break at 0:00)
Archangel’s Thunderbird (Drum Break at 0:04)
And so The Breeders have been semi-active ever since. They both continue with their own projects, sobriety, and knitting.
Right from the Era of Pod the Breeders have performed covers. Here’s a Krautrock classic with a B-Boy worthy drum break.
Looking at the clock it’s about time they reconvened again.
Happy birthday the Deal Twins.
