The Breeders - Classic or Dud?

My favorite band. They played recently in Atlanta but it's just too far from Savannah (5 hours) and I saw the prior Last Splash reunion. I think we saw them on one of the last nights and they came back and played Pod in full as well, plus a couple of b-sides. It was terrific.

They are definitely a band that has gotten better live.

so should i see em in a week and a half?

Yes! They are much better now than they were in the 90s.

If you like the Breeders and Last Splash, do it!

Very good new piece in WaPo. Gift link, go nuts:

https://wapo.st/3PnKDA4

Thanks Ned. A couple paragraphs in, already an error:

Macpherson, who joined after 1990s “Pod,” pounded his Gretsch kit like an Ohio schoolboy raised on Rush.

Jim didn't join until 1993, he replaced Jim Mattock (of Spacemen 3 and Josephine's band Perfect Disaster) who drummed on the Safari EP.

Well, strictly speaking the sentence is accurate! He joined after it, they just didn’t say when.

TIL: "ROI" is no-wave and "No Aloha" is shoegaze... picking nits I know yayaya.

but I'm also trying to figure out what song Kim's chart is for...

xp Yeah it’s a little clunky but the writer is describing their “third lineup” and prob didn’t want to get into the weeds of mentioning an EP.

POV I'm your editor:

Macpherson, who joined for 1994's “Last Splash,” pounded his Gretsch kit like an Ohio schoolboy raised on Rush.

^Better for sure. Good article though!

Better but since it was 1993... *runs away*

If only there were some way of verifying facts.

sorry, but this really is picking nits. the error in Steve Shasta's rewrite would be worse if published than the original sentence, which is not inaccurate and just fairly common shorthand when writing for a mass audience. (i agree, however, that Steve's rewrite is better w/o the year error.)

Fwiw, I agree and didn’t realize the year was wrong in Steve’s edit (which I assume was a simple oversight!)

The thing which irks me is my favourite album Title TK (few would agree with me that it's their best) is half a footnote, as if the Lopez/Medelez incarnation of the band was somehow invalid despite putting out as many records as the Wiggs/Macpherson lineup.
(it's Jon Mattock btw)

argh I meant "Medeles"

Might not agree it's their best no but I love Title TK

I might like Mountain Battles a little more, but yeah, I think Kim gets better and better. I'm glad the classic line-up got back together because All Nerve is amazing, but Title TK and Mountain Battles turned out just fine.

If nothing else, Title TK gave us “Off You,” a top ten Breeders song

I'm excited about the Kim solo album. I hope there's a bunch of new stuff and not just rerecordings of the solo singles. Although that would be good too. I just need more Kim. Sometimes I fantasize about moving to Dayton and volunteering to be her personal assistant just so she has more time to make music. "Don't worry Kim, I'll mow the lawn!"

My Kim Deal fantasies have changed a lot since high school.

I think "London Song" is my favourite Deal song of all time. The weirdness of her structures and phrasing, particularly on that album, are absolutely unique and so overlooked - maybe my number one, definitely my top 3 songwriters of all time.
Also the rhythm section are absolutely key to TK's wonky precision, it all sounds so loose but it's actually screwed down tight and perfectly locked in.

These days I'm very favorable to loose nature of "Mountain Battles" - it comes off as the Deals having fun.

I really dig “Divine Mascis” but this is at the top of my list of why I dislike the video/visualizer school of track rollouts - for me, the images color or affect how I receive the music in ways that feel kinda gross.

Anybody: if you see the Breeders on this tour can you get me a copy of the newest issue of Breeders Digest, only sold at their shows? They’re not playing near me and I have all the other issues and it must be mine.

I will of course pay you back and I can give you extra money for your troubles or send you some cool shit in the mail.

I will try! Seeing them 10/19

Sweet! My more or less complete Breeders Collection is counting on you. I promise I will make it worth your while.

Just saw the show in DC area at Fillmore Silver Spring. They were having fun and sounded strong.

The slick feeling zine comes with a Breeders heart pin and a sticker for $15! Entertaining but the zine is a bit skimpy

Digest #2 came with a pin that I lost long ago, to my eternal regret.

I didn’t see your reference to the zine till after I got home from the show . My wife brought it back to me at the show when she went to look at the merch and I was just at our seats

No worries. The first Breeders Digest came with a live CD and the second one came with a 7" that had a couple of demos of unreleased songs. The actual content of the digest was thin but still fun.

oh right, that's where Live In Stockholm was first released. With No Aloha on it, by the way, which they dropped from CD3 of Last Splash LSXX

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_in_Stockholm_1994 <- track 8 here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Splash#LSXX_track_listing <- No "No Aloha" in Stockholm here

Pretty fun interview/in-studio performance on World Cafe (Sep 22, 2023)...lots of giggles: https://www.npr.org/sections/world-cafe/2023/09/22/1134906818/the-breeders-celebrate-30-years-of-last-splash?ft=nprml&f=613820055

i legit lol'd when Josephine Wiggs says the only place she gets identified at is at Trader Joes

“Divine Mascis” is great, J should have joined the Breeders.

His “Do You Love Me Now?” is pretty great.

It like that they get a schlubby nonsinger to replace the Deals vocals.

Cow_Art, I’m really sorry… by the time I got to the front of the merch line, they were sold out of the zine. :(

Awwwwww, man! Thanks for trying! There's always Ebay.

Once upon a time Kelley Deal may have been the weakest link at some point (30 years ago?) but holy shit she's in top form (aside from a couple flubs on "Flipside"). Absolutely killed it, she's got some big shoes to fill (her sister's, Tanya's, Joey Santiago's) and she is beyond capable. How could you not love this band!

Cow_Art, the merch line was like 60+ mins, sorry... :(

Thanks for thinking of me, I appreciate it!

None on Ebay yet. It's a little tricky because there's actually a couple of Breeders Digest publications, one about dogs and another for guinea pigs.

copy of zine obtained. can send to you after I read it lol

Some show notes

Kim mentioned they recorded Last Splash in San Francisco but neglected to mention that the studio* was a block and a half away from The Warfield on Mission & 6th.

Ironically because of the shitshow of Market St construction, my exit for the venue was exactly right in front of the building the studio formerly occupied.

*I think she called it Coast Recorders but it was actually Brilliant Studios.

Also when covering "Drivin' On 9" there was no shoutout to Dom Leone who wrote the song and lived in SF most of the 90s/00s.

I'd never seen Jim play so many Pod songs at once so it was interesting to compare his style with Britt's.

Had no idea Jo and Jim switched instruments for "Roi"... the psychedelic midsection of which was incredibly trippy.

Had no idea "I Just Wanna Get Along" was Kelley's song.

Reiterating Kelley can absolutely shred with the best of them. She was surprisingly stellar on the material when she wasn't in the band!

They replaced Carrie Bradley with someone named Sophie Galpin who had a Mancunian lilt but she could play 3rd guitar and violin very well.

Thanks, Shakey!

xp Dom Leone died in 1989.

Oof, Dan Leone I meant!

His brother, the ukelele player.