Description

Pixies bassist Kim Deal began the Breeders as a side project, including her sister Kelly and the Perfect Disaster's Josephine Wiggs. The band's 1990 debut album POD seemed like a one-off at the time, but after the Pixies' breakup, the Deals revived the Breeders with a vengeance. Their second album, 1993's LAST SPLASH, was one of the most popular alternative-rock records of its era. Armed with catchy songs and a Spike Jonze video, the Breeders became MTV darlings. After splintering into various other groups (the Amps, the Kelly Deal 6000, the Josephine Wiggs experience), the Breeders reunited, finally releasing their third album in 2002.

Biography

Restless with her subordinate role in Boston, USA guitar band the Pixies, bass player Kim Deal (b. 10 June 1961, Dayton, Ohio, USA; guitar, vocals, synthesizers) forged this spin-off project with Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donelly (b. 14 July 1966, Newport, Rhode Island, USA). The name Breeders, a derogatory term used by homosexuals to describe heterosexuals, had been the name of a band Deal fronted prior to the Pixies, with her twin sister Kelley. Kim and Donelly initially undertook sessions with Muses drummer David Narcizo, but these sessions were abandoned. Now joined by bass player Josephine Wiggs (b. Josephine Miranda Cordelia Susan Wiggs, 26 February 1965, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England) from British act the Perfect Disaster, the Breeders recorded Pod in Edinburgh during a Pixies tour of Britain. Britt Walford from Kentucky hardcore band Slint, drummed on the record under the pseudonym Shannon Doughton. Distinctively "engineered" by Steve Albini, the tenor of the album leant towards Deal's work with her parent band with plangent guitars, menacing melodies and uncompromized lyrics. The harrowing "Hellbound" took the view of an aborted foetus, "Iris" graphically detailed menstruation, while their reading of the Beatles' "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" expressed the tension only implicit in the original. A four-track EP, Safari, which featured a thrilling version of the Who's "So Sad About Us", followed. Here the band was augmented by Kelley Deal (guitar/vocals), but despite critical and commercial acclaim, the Breeders remained a sideline.
Following the Pixies' bitter split in the wake of Trompe Le Monde, Kim Deal rekindled the band in 1993. Tanya Donelly had already left the Muses to form Belly and was thus unavailable. However, Wiggs, who left Perfect Disaster during the Breeders' first inception, abandoned Honey Tongue, a band she formed with Jon Mattock from Spiritualized, to rejoin the Deal twins. Jim MacPherson (b. James Carl Macpherson, 23 June 1966, Dayton, Ohio, USA; drums), formerly of the Raging Mantras, completed the line-up featured on Last Splash. Less abrasive than its predecessor, this engaging set revealed Kim Deal's growing maturation as a songwriter, encompassing mock C&W ("Drivin' On 9"), grunge-styled instrumentals ("Roi") and ballads ("Do You Love Me Now?"). The future of the band was in doubt during 1996 while Kelley Deal underwent a drug rehabilitation programme. She departed and worked with the Last Hard Men in late 1996, before forming the Kelley Deal 6000. Wiggs also left to concentrate on the Josephine Wiggs Experience. Kim Deal, meanwhile, formed the Amps, who released Pacer in October 1995. A short Breeders tour in December 1996 featured the Amps line-up (Deal, Nate Farley, Luis Lerma) and Carrie Bradley. The new Breeders line-up, with Macpherson replaced by Brainiac drummer, Tyler Trent, entered the studio to work on an abortive new album.
Rumours of Kim Deal reuniting with the original band continued to circulate in the 90s, although the only material to surface was a cover version, "Collage", recorded for The Mod Squad soundtrack. The Deal sisters recruited new personnel to play several live shows in 2001, and returned to the studio with Steve Albini, guitarist Richard Presley, bass player Mando Lopez and drummer Jose Medeles to record the third Breeders studio album, Title TK.
DISCOGRAPHY: Pod (4AD 1990)***, Last Splash (4AD 1993)***, Live In Stockholm (Breeders' Digest 1995)***, Title TK (4AD 2002)***.

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