The Breeders
‘The Breeders’, originally, was the performing-name of sisters Kim and Kelley Deal in Dayton, Ohio, during the early-1980s. Fast-forward to ’89, however, and this is where the band as they’re now known today formed within such an incarnation... While a member of the legendary Pixies, Kim Deal brought back the band-name for a musical-project she intended to create with Tanya Donelly – of that time, a part of The Throwing Muses and then later of Belly – violinist Carrie Bradley, and Josephine Wiggs, bassist for British act, The Perfect Disaster; all that was missing at this point was a drummer. Rather conveniently, then, whilst recording with her main act in Chicago, Kim met drummer Britt Walford of cult-heroes Slint, who agreed to drum for the group – though under an assumed, secret name, so as to not upset the members of his own day-job band, with whom he’d played since childhood. As a result, he became known as Shannon Doughton.
The five-piece disappeared to Edinburgh, Scotland with revered producer Steve Albini and recorded debut-LP, ‘Pod’, released in May 1990 to universal acclaim. Following this, the Pixies disbanded due to unknown reasons, leaving Kim more time to focus on her new enterprise.
April 1992 saw the group’s next release, the ‘Safari EP’, and the last recording to feature Donelly and Walford, the latter choosing to play under the pseudonym ‘Mike Hunt’ (read it aloud in order to fully enjoy its expletive-enriched quality). The addition of Jim MacPherson on drums ensured the group to be even more solid, this time more permanent than before.
All this was certainly a helpful pre-cursor to the madness that ensued following the release of their second LP, 93’s ‘Last Splash’, recorded in San Francisco while the band lived on houseboats. It prompted the huge single, and candidate for best track of the 90s, ‘Cannonball’ – with a video directed by Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth, plus Spike Jonze – as well as a couple of million LPs sold worldwide, not to mention a high-profile tour with Nirvana. More recently, the fruits of their efforts around the time can be heard on The Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter’ – who sampled their track ‘S.O.S.’. The line-up also released a vinyl-only EP, ‘Head To Toe’, in July of 1994 – but things soon went downhill following this...
In a worrying rock ‘n’ roll cliché, drug-problems became an issue for member Kelley Deal, whilst Wiggs became weary of the touring lifestyle, choosing to settle down for some time in New York, MacPherson opting too for the home-life, bringing up his children instead. Kim, meanwhile, was as anxious as ever to play, forming another group, The Amps, with whom she recorded an album, 95’s ‘Pacer’, and played shows with all over the world.
But it was never the same as her previous act. So, with efforts made by herself to learn drums, she began work on The Breeders’ third LP in 1999, ‘Title TK’, recording a couple of tracks during the period, and completing it towards the end of 2001 following a break in the middle. Live-dates followed to ecstatic reports, and the album finally surfaced in May 2002 – to unanimous praise.
With a resurrected line-up, Kelley even rejoining the band after battling her prior concerns, The Breeders are with the music-world again. Sounding as fresh and strong as ever, Deal and her associates are thus as legendary and relevant as before; may they continue in such an upward curve for the future.
OFFICIAL UK SITE: Small, but updated regularly, with links to additional sites, audio/video and more besides...
OFFICIAL US SITE: Based around the website of their US label Electra, this has a helpful discography, tour info, downloads, etc.
KELLEY DEAL SITE: Revolving around one of the Deal sisters, this explains all her associated projects and turns out to be an engaging visit.