The Breeders, recorded live at Reading 2002 on August 23, 2002 and broadcast by John Peel on August 28th.
For fans, you can skip the stuff below and head straight to the player and jump into the concert – for newbies, here is a brief rundown via Wikipedia which should get you up to speed:
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, fronted by Kim Deal and her twin sister Kelley Deal. The band was first formed by Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly in 1989, originally intended as a side-project for Deal and Donnelly while still in their full-time bands Pixies and Throwing Muses; however, The Breeders would quickly become Deal’s primary recording outlet. The original line-up also included bassist Josephine Wiggs of The Perfect Disaster, and drummer Britt Walford of Slint. The band has experienced a number of lineup changes over the years, with frontwoman Kim Deal being the band’s sole continuous member; Kim’s twin sister Kelley Deal would join in 1992, and has remained in the band ever since.
In 1995, Kelley was involved in a drug bust, which put The Breeders on an indefinite hiatus. Kim formed a side project, The Amps, with Macpherson, Dayton locals bassist Luis Lerma (member of The Tasties) and guitarist Nate Farley, who later joined Guided by Voices. In October 1995, The Amps released the album Pacer.
Following drug rehab, Kelley started The Kelley Deal 6000, also forming The Last Hard Men with Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and Jimmy Flemion of The Frogs.
Meanwhile, in New York, Wiggs recorded and co-produced the Kostars’ album Klassics with a K, a Luscious Jackson side-project (also touring with them playing drums), released a solo album on the Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal label, and released an album on Atlantic Records under the name Dusty Trails with Luscious Jackson keyboardist Vivian Trimble.
In 1996, Kim reclaimed The Breeders moniker, but with essentially The Amps’ lineup plus violinist Carrie Bradley, and played a few California dates. They made an unsuccessful attempt at recording a third studio album in 1997. Kelley Deal rejoined the band the following year and wrote and recorded songs with her sister, although the only material released during this period was a cover of The Three Degrees’ take on James Gang’s “Collage”, recorded for The Mod Squad soundtrack in 1999.
The Deal sisters recruited new personnel to play several live shows in 2001, and returned to the studio with guitarist Richard Presley, bass player Mando Lopez, and drummer Jose Medeles to record the third Breeders studio album, Title TK, with Steve Albini. This lineup was profiled in a short documentary film entitled The Breeders: The Real Deal (Netherlands, 2002).
The Breeders also performed in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in early 2002. They were approached by the production staff after they had been playing the show’s theme, written by Nerf Herder, as a regular part of their concert set. The episode is entitled “Him”, and aired November 5, 2002; they sang their song “Little Fury” at the Bronze. They also contributed the track “Wicked Little Town: Hedwig Version” to the 2003 Hedwig and the Angry Inch tribute album, “Wig in a Box”.
In 2012, the reunited Last Splash lineup of Kim and Kelley, Macpherson, and Wiggs announced a tour to coincide with a 20th anniversary reissue by 4AD of Last Splash, entitled LSXX. The tour began in the US, continued in Europe, Australia, and South America, and included the Deerhunter-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties festival. A teaser video was made by the band showing the reunited lineup in rehearsal.
In a June 2016 article, Stereogum reported that the band was in their Ohio studio recording a follow up to Mountain Battles, and that Courtney Barnett, who was in town for the Nelsonville Music Festival, recorded some backup vocals for one of the album’s songs.
A new single, “Wait in the Car”, was released on October 3, 2017, and is part of an upcoming seven-inch series to be issued by 4AD. The song will be available on three different seven-inch records, limited to only 1,500 copies. Rolling Stone described the song as “a classic Breeders bruiser, clocking it at two minutes, and packed with punchy drums, sugar-rush power chords, and lead riffs”. During a BBC interview with Lauren Laverne on October 13, 2017, Kim revealed that the band expected to release a new album in 2018, possibly on the 4AD label. The 4AD Label announced on January 9, 2018, that the new album, All Nerve, would be released on March 2, 2018. The title track was released as the album’s second single on the same day. All Nerve, was released as planned on March 2, 2018.
If you haven’t already, hit the play button, play loud and rock your ass off.
Works wonders.
