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

Sunfish Holy Breakfast

» TROY CARPENTER | CO-DIRECTOR

Guided By Voices

Sunfish Holy Breakfast

Matador, 1996

RiYL: The Grifters, Neutral Milk Hotel

10 songs is an album for most bands -- hell, the last Weezer album only had that many, and it wasn't that long either -- but for Guided By Voices, a competent collection of 10 short songs is something they can create over the course of a few basement four-track sessions. Or over breakfast, maybe.

This EP is basically the last gasp of breath from the "classic" GBV lineup, released toward the end of 1996, as Bob Pollard was in the process of splitting his partnership with Tobin Sprout and firing the rest of his bandmates in favor of Cobra Verde. Of course, none of this is really audible on Sunfish Holy Breakfast, as the Sprout ditty "Jabberstroker" opens the record, and three of the other tracks -- including the anthemic, Kim Deal-produced "Cocksoldiers And Their Postwar Stubble" -- are credited to R. Pollard-Sprout.

Sunfish also contains the lone GBV song credited to sometime bassist and Deal paramour Jim Greer, "Trendspotter Acrobat," but its main draws are the shaky "Stabbing A Star," closing ballad "Heavy Metal Country" and the full-fledged rocker "If We Wait," which many hold as a contender for the best GBV tune. The latter rides a stellar hook from Pollard's plaintive a capella wailing to a chugging crescendo, and features some of the man's most lucid lyrics to date: "If you could be anything that you wanna be / do you think that you would be who you see in the mirror?"

There's certainly fluff to be found here, but as with most GBV releases, the discerning fan who can find it cheap will discover plenty reward within.

TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.