Artist bio

Guided By Voices is the primary vehicle for Dayton, Ohio-based rocksmith Robert Pollard, and has proved one of the most tireless, exciting rock bands of its time.

Pollard, a former elementary school teacher, formed the group in 1985 around a group of Dayton musicians and friends, including frequent collaborator Tobin Sprout. Their first four albums didn't cross many radar screens, but 1992's excellent Propeller earned the group a modicum of national recognition, with such musical notaries as Kim Deal and Thurston Moore naming themselves fans.

Two years later, the group's second breakthrough came with Bee Thousand, a home-crafted epic, classic rock and roll album that exploded the group's popularity and almost overnight, instituting GBV as "the" quintessential indie rock band. The group signed a big record deal with Matador, and then proceeded to make their next album at home and keep the money. Smart guys, these Ohians.

But rock aspirations got the better of them. The group began experimenting with "real studios" and fleshing out their songs into full-on rockers and such in the late '90s. Pollard solidified his role as the band's driver in 1997, after Sprout left and Pollard kicked out the rest of the members, hiring indie rockers Cobra Verde as their replacements. CV guitarist Doug Gillard stayed on as Pollard's favorite post-Sprout sideman thereafter, while other members came and went and stayed and left, the most volatile seat being on the drum riser.

And last we heard, Pollard and his merry band of mischief-makers were still swilling Bud Light and rocking long into the night at a club near you. Get up slowly, and tear yourself away from your computer. You might be able to get there in time to catch set closer "My Valuable Hunting Knife>Baba O'Riley".

Albums by this artist

Half-Smiles Of The Decomposed (2004)

Human Amusements At Hourly Rates (2003)

Universal Truths And Cycles (2002)

Isolation Drills (2001)

Suitcase (2000)

Do The Collapse (1999)

Mag Earwhig! (1997)

Bulldog Skin 7" (1997)

Tonics and Twisted Chasters (1997)

Sunfish Holy Breakfast (1996)

Under The Bushes, Under The Stars (Recommended) (1996)

Alien Lanes (Recommended) (1996)

Bee Thousand (Recommended) (1994)

Crying Your Knife Away (1994)

The Grand Hour (1993)

Propeller (Recommended) (1992)

Concerts

March 18, 2002
The Dublin Pub, Dayton, Ohio

December 30, 2001
Apollo Theatre, New York

Features

Guided By Voices History: Part II: 1994-1999
Published October 31, 2005

Guided by Voices History: Part III: 1999-2004
Published October 31, 2005

Guided By Voices History: Part I: 1983-1994
Published October 30, 2005

GBV: A Eulogy: Or, Pollards We Have Known
Published December 30, 2004

NATN's Wholly Subjective Top 100 GBV Songs Of All Time:
Published December 30, 2004

The Top 100 Songs Thingy: Um, The Second Half.
Published December 30, 2004

Interviews

Doug Gillard
October 23, 2003

Rock Of Ages
March 27, 2001

Guided By Voices

Suitcase

» JOHN WENZEL | STAFF WRITER

Guided By Voices

Suitcase

Fading Captain Series #6, 2000

RiYL:

I don’t blame you for cringing when you saw Suitcase at the record store for the first time. “Jesus, another fucking Guided by Voices album? And a box set!?” GBV leader Robert Pollard sometimes has this way of putting out more chaffe than wheat, and since it seems like the Fading Captain Series releases an album every other month, that’s a decidedly negative thing.

Well, you naysayers can hang it up because Suitcase is a surprisingly respectable slab of music. Containing 100 songs over four CDs, this box set covers the entire range of Bob Pollard’s musical career in Dayton, Ohio from age 16 to the present. With that in mind, it’s definitely not for those just getting into the band. However, (and probably unlike most people) I would recommend it to even casual GBV fans, as it provides vivid insights into Bob’s enigmatic creative process. My advice: Listen to each disc once or twice, then make a mix of whatever strikes you as good. You'll find yourself skipping around a lot, partially because there are some real clunkers hidden among the half-finished basement gems and grainy live songs.

Ninety percent of these songs are previously unreleased and original. You’ve heard a few of them on bootleg fan tapes before ("The Terrible Two," "The Flying Party," "Shit Midas"), and some are alternate versions or demos. The official story is that Pollard’s fabled suitcase of cassettes sustained water damage, so he wanted to release what he could before the angry gods punished him again. Obsessive GBV completists will be simultaneously thrilled and overwhelmed to dive into this mother. Drunken seven-minute jams and 30-second acoustic numbers stand side-by-side with polished studio songs like “Bunco Men” and “Where I Come From” -- an intimidating combination. And seemingly, a randomly organized one: The songs skip around both chronologically and stylistically.

Once your mind begins to process the songs individually, winners jump out. “Sing it Out” is one of Pollard’s tossed-off acoustic tunes, and it's as good as anything on Under the Bushes, Under the Stars or Vampire on Titus. Pollard’s vocals are absolutely amazing. “Unshaven Bird” and “A Good Circuitry Soldier” are suitably bittersweet and melodic. The uncharacteristically melancholy “I’m Cold” displays Pollard’s seldom-heard straightforward lyrical style. “Our Value of Luxury” defines the White Rock Anthem while implying Marxist subversion. “Shifting Swift is a Lift” is so hilariously nonsensical you can’t listen to it without laughing out loud. I could go on, but you get the picture -- this friggin' release has everything. It's heavy on the lo-fi side, but that's never bothered most GBV fans before.

Bonus points to Recordhead for the packaging and colorful booklet. Past releases in the Fading Captain Series have had inconsistent (and often shitty and thrown-together) cover art, but this one is well thought out, sleek and wholly appropriate.

JOHN WENZEL | John is a Denver-based writer and former editor of Sponic magazine. John currently works for The Denver Post and Rockpile and has contributed to such noble but non-paying enterprises as Shredding Paper, Aversion.com, and Erasing Clouds. He's obsessed with the Dayton, Ohio '90s music scene but likes to think he's keen on some of the new bands the kids are listening to these days. John also helps run the Friendly Psychics Music recording collective. Email.