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The Breeders was the name of the occasional duo act Kim and Kelley Deal performed in Dayton, Ohio in the early 1980's. In 1989, while a member of the Pixies, Kim resurrected the name for a project she intended to record with her friends Tanya Donelly (then of Throwing Muses, later of Belly), Josephine Wiggs, bassist for the British band the Perfect Disaster, and violinist Carrie Bradley.
While recording a song with the Pixies in Chicago, Kim met drummer Britt Walford of the later-legendary Slint, and he agreed to play drums for the project, provided he could use an assumed name. Britt was concerned about his involvement overshadowing or interfering with Slint, a band of close friends who had been playing together literally since childhood. Slint broke up a long time ago, so now it's probably okay to let the cat out of the bag.
The band retreated to Edinburgh, Scotland, and recorded the album "Pod" (released in May 1990, with Britt Walford credited as "Shannon Doughton") with Steve Albini, with whom Kim had previously worked on the Pixies album "Surfer Rosa." "Pod" was completed well ahead of schedule, and with studio time already booked, the Breeders recorded a Peel session in the spare time.
At some point in here, after Pod was released, the Pixies broke up. Nobody seems to know for sure how or when that happened, but everybody agrees that it did. Kelley Deal joined the Breeders for the recording of the Safari EP (released in April, 1992), which was also the last release to include Tanya Donnelly and Britt Walford (credited on that record as "Mike Hunt"). Britt, who had become even more reluctant to be identified with the band, was replaced by Jim MacPherson, who Kim had seen in the Dayton band Raging Mantras. The Breeders were now a full-time band for real, and began touring more extensively.
The Breeders (now comprising Kim and Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs and Jim MacPherson) recorded Last Splash in San Francisco while living on houseboats. As one does. After its release in August of 1993, the band toured with Nirvana, sold a couple million records and scored a big hit with the song "Cannonball." If you've never heard any of the Breeders other songs, you've certainly heard that one. It's the one that goes "A-woooo-ah" in the beginning and has the bass part that goes "Ree-di-di-di da-dum dum dum, Ree-di-di-di da-dum dum dum." The video for that song was directed by Kim Gordon (of Sonic Youth) and later-famous skateboard jackass filmmaker Spike Jonze. The Prodigy sampled part of S.O.S. for their big hit "Firestarter”. Christ, they're everywhere.
This lineup also released "Head to Toe," a vinyl-only EP in July of 1994.
The strain and raucous lifestyle of touring took its toll in several ways. Kelley developed a drug problem, which caused much-documented disruption, including a run in with the law, about which the less said, the better. Clearly she needed some time to recover. Josephine wanted time to live a more stationary life in her adopted home base, New York. Josephine did many things, including recording with the Kostars and her own solo projects, and generally developed a full itinerary that precluded playing with the Breeders, for the time being. Kim was still anxious to make more records and play more shows, so she formed a new interim band with Jim MacPherson, the Amps, who released the album "Pacer" in 1995 and toured the world.
Somehow during all this activity, Jim managed to father a couple of children, and began to feel the pull of a normal family life. Kim would have to start again, which brings us to the beginning of the current episode, the next band, the initial attempts to record "Title TK," learning to play the drums, Austin, Chicago, New York, meeting her new band in a bar, moving to East Los Angeles and finally satisfaction.
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