The Breeders biography
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 by Kim Deal of the Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses. The band has experienced a number of line-up changes; the current line-up consists of Kim Deal (lead vocals and guitar), her twin sister Kelley Deal (guitar and backing vocals), Jose Medeles (drums and percussion), Mando Lopez (bass guitar) Todd the Fox (guitar) and Cheryl Lyndsey (guitar); Kim Deal has been the band's sole continual member. Their first album, Pod (1990), received critical acclaim but was not commercially successful. The Breeders' most successful album, 1993's Last Splash, produced the hit single "Cannonball". The band's fourth album, Mountain Battles, was released in 2008.[
]
History
Formation
In the 1970s in Dayton, Ohio, Kim and Kelley Deal had an acoustic guitar duo which played at open mic nights, and opened for John Kay of Steppenwolf.
Despite reports to the contrary, this duo was just called Kim and Kelley, not The Breeders or The Breederz.
The Breeders' history began when Kim Deal, then bassist of the Pixies, began writing new material while the band was on a post-Surfer Rosa tour of Europe with Throwing Muses. As neither band had plans for the short term, Deal discussed possible side-projects with Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donelly. After rejecting the idea of creating a dance album together, the pair decided to form a new band. Carrie Bradley, violinist and vocalist in Ed's Redeeming Qualities, was recruited and they recorded a short demo tape. Tracks on the demo tape included early versions of "Lime House", "Doe" and "Only in 3's".
With the help of four drummers and bassist Ray Halliday The Breeders completed their demo tape and subsequently played one show at The Rathskeller in Boston, billed as a "Boston girl super-group".
Pod
The Breeders wanted to re-record the demo tape for a general release. 4AD gave the band an $11,000 budget and recruited Steve Albini, who had worked with Deal on the Pixies' 1988 album
Surfer Rosa, to record in Edinburgh, Scotland for two weeks in December 1989.
The recording of Pod took only a week, so The Breeders used the remaining time to record several B-sides, a Peel Session and a video for "Hellbound". Released on 28 May 1990, The album also was famously quoted by Kurt Cobain as one of his favorite records ever: "The main reason I like The Breeders is for their songs, for the way they structure them, which is totally unique, very atmospheric. I wish Kim was allowed to write more songs for the Pixies, because 'Gigantic' is the best Pixies song, and Kim wrote it." In July 2007, in a chat forum interview, Pod's engineer Steve Albini revealed that he considered the album to be amongst his best works.
Following Pod, The Breeders returned to their various projects. The Pixies released Bossanova in 1990 and Trompe le Monde in 1991, but by the end of 1991 were becoming less active. Deal, denied the opportunity to contribute material to a Pixies album, wrote new material for a Breeders release and recruited Kelley Deal on guitar. The band recorded the Safari EP in late 1991. After the recording of Safari, Donelly left The Breeders to form Belly. The Pixies became inactive in mid-1992, so Deal continued to write new material for The Breeders. By this time, Walford had become more reluctant to be identified as part of The Breeders, and was replaced by drummer Jim MacPherson. The band had become a full-time outfit,
Biography from 
, the free encyclopedia.
It may not have been reviewed by a professional editor, and recent changes may not show up straight away. See the latest version of this article. Used under licence. Subject to disclaimers.