
Artist information
The Breeders started life as a side project for Kim Deal of the Pixies, Tanya
Donelly of Throwing Muses, Josephine Wiggs of the British band The Perfect
Disaster, and Britt Walford of Slint. They recorded the album Pod with Steve
Albini in a mere ten days, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The album was released on 4AD
in 1990 to critical acclaim. The press dubbed the Breeders an Indie Supergroup,
but the band were able to play only two London shows before returning to their
day jobs.
During another hiatus in 1992, Josephine flew to Dayton, Ohio, where Kim had
recruited her sister Kelley to learn lead guitar, and stolen powerhouse drummer
Jim Macpherson after seeing him play in a local band. They broke an exhaustive
rehearsal schedule only to watch nightly re-runs of Star Trek The Next
Generation.
The Breeders first tour launched in June 1992 in a snooker hall behind
Warrington Rugby Club, Manchester, in the UK. Two days later, they
supported Nirvana in Dublin and Belfast, and then performed at Glastonbury.
After 27 sold-out US shows that fall, the band drove cross-country to San
Francisco to record Last Splash, (released August 1993). The video for the
single Cannonball—directed by Kim Gordon and Spike Jonze—was in heavy rotation
on MTV’s 120 minutes throughout the fall. The band provided support for
Nirvana’s In Utero tour, then in January 1994 they traveled to Australia, Japan,
and Hawaii, where they were shot for the cover of Rolling Stone—only to be
supplanted by the “Ladies of Melrose Place.” That summer they embarked upon the
epic Lollapalooza ‘94; the Melody Maker opined, "Kim's nicotine-stained vocals
[are] the very spit of wasted elegance…” the Breeders are “probably the most
casually brilliant band around” and Last Splash went platinum. Whatever that
means.
In 2013, Kim, Kelley, Josephine and Jim reunited for the 20th anniversary
of Last Splash. 4AD reissued the album as a deluxe box set, and the “classic"
lineup of the Breeders (augmented by violinist Carrie Bradley) toured the US,
Europe, Austrailia and South America, performing the album at festivals, and
playing eight months of sold-out shows. In London, they played Last
Splash and Pod back to back, a tour de force they went on to repeat several
times. The final run of shows took them across country from Dayton to L.A.—
dubbed by Kelley the “Mid West Coast Tour”—culminating in a performance
supporting Neutral Milk Hotel at the Hollywood Bowl.
As the end of the reunion tour approached—Kim, or was it Kelley?—broached the
idea of carrying on—and the Breeders started working on material for a new
album. They will play shows this fall, including a show with Arcade Fire in late
October.
Upcoming shows
No shows scheduled currently
Past shows
2024
2018
Photos

