Pretty much everyone knows the most famous Breeders song, Cannonball. But their music is so much more original and eclectic sounding then that song portrays, I think. I first started to get in to the Breeders when XPN (it always goes back to XPN) woke me up like 4 random days, for 4 weeks in a row by playing Divine Hammer (the other Breeders song you know), about two years ago. Of course that didn't stop me from being late for work, but ever since then I have kind of been really into them.
The Breeders started out as a side project for Kim Deal, who was the bassist for The Pixies. The Pixies are a hugely influential band from the 80's who some critics credit for being a harbinger of alternative rock in the 90's. Kurt Cobain said multiple times, that Nirvana was just trying to rip off the Pixies when they wrote their songs. He also said the best song by the Pixies was Gigantic which Kim Deal wrote and sung. Kim Deal started writing songs with her sister in high school but nothing ever came of it. After getting married and moving to Boston, she joined the Pixies in 1986 by answering an ad in the newspaper looking for a bassist. She was the only person who responded, but she didn't know how to play the bass. They gave her $50 to fly from Boston to Ohio to get her sister's bass. After that, she learned how to play and the rest is history.
So Kim feeling creative stifled in the Pixies, and Tanya Donnelly (Throwing Muses, Belly) formed the Breeders. The Breeders is a they took from the band Kim and her sister, Kelley Deal, had together in their teens. The Breeders had success with their first album, Pod and later an EP and then Tanya left to form Belly. Later, Kelley Deal replaced Tanya and it has most consistently been the two of them since the then, with other players switching in and out through the years.
They had huge success after their album Last Splash came out. They opened for Nirvana and joined the Lollapalooza tour. After that they were pretty burnt out and Kelley was busted for drugs and then went in to rehab. Their break ended up lasting 7 years. During that time they had lots of smaller side projects, but the original group that created Last Splash never regrouped. Their next album, Title TK, didn't come out until 2002. And after another long recess their 4th album came out this year, Mountain Battles. It is great and will definitely be one of my top ten end of year albums.
Their music is alternative rock/pop. I pretty much love everything about them. I tried to see them at Coachella this year, but was a slacker and missed them. Their influence was evident though, because Glen Hansard, Mark Ronson, Rilo Kiley and My Morning Jacket had mentioned on stage how excited they were to meet, see, hear, watch Kim Deal and The Breeders.
The show the other night was great, though a little short. But still longer than my 5 song concert from the other night. I met some guy who was a crazy Breeders fan, you would have thought he was a little girl seeing the Jonas Brothers. But he was cool and I got his card and am going to go see his band play at some point. The two Deal sisters were really funny together - they fought on stage and pushed each other and laughed hysterically at each other. It was really cute. I also liked how they lined themselves up logistically. They were all in front, in a line. Even the drummer. I thought that was really cool and democratic.
Below is a video from the concert I was at. The song is Drivin on 9 from Last Splash. Kelley Deal who is on violin, actually doesn't know how to play the violin, she just learned for this song. Also, I put together a little Breeders/Pixies/Belly mix for you to indulge in. Cheers.
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