December 4, 2007

The Deal On The New Breeders Album

Lady Pixie and lead Breeder Kim Deal answered some reader mail for Venus Magazine, offering advice on the songwriting process ("It's hard. Sit down and write the fucking song.") and multiple queries on being a girl in the "male-dominated" music world ("I don't talk much about the subject of male domination in the music industry because it’s not my problem ... Honestly, just pretending I'm stupid has gotten me out of a few excruciatingly painful situations."). But through the asides and awesomely dead-ending tangents, Kim gives some solid details on the Breeders follow-up to Title TK:

The new Breeders record is scheduled to be released in April 2008. There are 13 songs. Mando Lopez is still on bass, Jose Medeles on drums, Kelley Deal, my evil twin, on guitar and vocals, and I'm playing guitar and vocals.

The songs are just songs. But for instance, one song Kelley and I did live. She played stand-up bass and I played acoustic guitar while we sang. Steve Albini taped it live like that. Yet another song has Kelley playing bass and Mando playing rhythm guitar. I'm playing the lead and Kelley and I are singing throughout. On song has Mando playing a lead guitar which Albini then backward masked. One song has three, count 'em, three basses on it....

Triple bass! Well that shouldn't be that surprising, "Only In 3's" and all that. The album's entitled Mountain Battles, and it's ~~out 4/28/08~~ on 4AD (UPDATE: Nope, it's out 4/08/08, three weeks earlier. Hizzah!)

Meanwhile, the interview's worth checking for Kim's take on what supergroup she'd like to be in, declaring "she's too bossy for a supergroup," instead offering a revealing list of classic song parts she'd like to have played, a sort of super-amalgamation of instrumentation and production...

I would have liked to be onstage at the Book T and the MG's playing the keyboard or the lead guitar at 1960s London gigs. I would have liked to have played the guitar on the Johnny and Santos, “Sleepwalk”; Duane Allman's guitar part on “Layla”; done the handclaps on “Tighten Up” by Archie Bell; played the tambourine on any Stones song or the dog barks on Pink Floyd's Animal. I would like to have written “I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry” by Hank Williams. I would have liked to have played the snare on the “Fame” recording by David Bowie; the drums on Cannonball Adderley's “Stand Tall.” I would have liked to have done the recording of “Madcap Laughs” by Syd Barrett. Some of the off-the-mic singing on the Clash's London Calling. Every track on there sounds like a mic was left on and it's picking up some guy talking or shouting or singing. I would have liked to have been that guy. Of course, I’d like to have played Clyde Stubblefield's drums on pretty much any James Brown song and/or the bass and organ on the early Faces stuff. That's a start. There is an all-girl surf band from L.A. called the Neptunas. I would like to be the announcer guy who says, "Door slammer stay home!"

Anyway we're psyched about hearing the fourth LP, but from what we hear, probably not as psyched as this guy.

Posted at 1:08 PM
Tags: Kim Deal | The Breeders