Re: Guided by Voices/Robert Pollard
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 11:36 pm
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Guided By Voices has come to an end. With 4 years of great shows and six killer albums, it was a hell of a comeback run. The remaining shows in the next two months are unfortunately canceled. Our sincere apologies to those that have purchased tickets and made travel plans. Thanks to everyone who has supported GBV.
And just like that, it was over again. And although GBV appeared to be finished, Pollard was certainly not ready to throw in the towel on his music career. He immediately went back to doing what he does best, writing music and cutting records. Just two months after announcing GBV was done, Bob released a Circus Devils LP, aptly-titled Escape. In 2015 he released another Circus Devils record (Stomping Grounds), a solo album (Faulty Superheroes) and formed a new band called Ricked Wicky, a name Bob came up with in his teens when he was making album sleeves for pretend bands. For this project, Pollard retained Kevin March on drums, longtime collaborator Todd Tobias would play bass and a new musician, Daytonian Nick Mitchell (no relation to Mitch Mitchell), would play guitar, write songs and also sing. March and Tobias were both part of several past GBV projects and tours. Mitchell was a young, up-and-coming musician on the Dayton music scene. He and Bob hit it off and he occupied a similar role in Ricked Wicky that Tobin Sprout had once held in GBV. In describing his new band, Pollard proclaimed that Ricked Wicky “is a sophisticated arena rock band.” Not one to hold back, Pollard and his new band released three full-length albums in 2015 alone, I Sell the Circus, King Heavy Metal and Swimmer to a Liquid Armchair. And wouldn’t you know, all three records are very strong in their own right. It appeared that Ricked Wicky was the band poised to replace Guided By Voices moving forward.“I feel we’ve done some great work with these albums,” [Pollard] wrote, “it wasn’t just a reunion to cash in. But it’s gone as far as it was going to go and to go beyond this point, to any degree or any length would be just going through the motions. It’s time to wrap it up with this particular entity.”
In Bob’s defense, Please Be Honest is not the first GBV where he plays all of the instruments himself. He did so on 1993’s Vampire on Titus, too. However, at the time VoT came out, the only moniker Pollard had ever released anything under was Guided By Voices. In 2016, he had released albums under dozens of appellations. Only Bob knows why he decided to release Please Be Honest under the GBV name. I will say the sound and feel of the LP does hold true to the unique GBV aesthetic, with its lo-fi stylistic diversity and song snippets. And although it does not include the classic lineup, or any lineup for that matter, it does transport the listener to that pre-1997 period of the band. But most importantly, it set the stage for the rebirth of another version of the band.Robert Pollard is Guided By Voices. This has never not been true, certainly, and is now more true than ever. He delights in confounding expectations, and you have to at least suspect that after over 20 years of making records under any number of pseudonyms, of which Guided By Voices is just one, and maybe not even his favorite one, he chafes at the notion that there exists some Platonic ideal of 'Guided By Voices' that isn't just Bob writing and recording the songs with whatever musicians he wants to use. Guided By Voices' new live line-up reflects not just a possibly subconscious desire to prove that unalterable fact, but fits with Pollard's unchanging changeability. He does what he wants. He is who he is. The only 'classic lineup' that has ever mattered is singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist / band leader / magician / thunderstorm Robert Pollard. Long may he rain.
The original plan for August by Cake was to cut a single album of seventeen songs. Bob and the crew assembled at Serious Business Music in Brooklyn with engineer Travis Harrison who had worked with Pollard and Gillard on the 2011 Lifeguards album Waving at the Astronauts. Harrison also engineered and played drums on another Pollard side project, 2016’s Starting Point of the Royal Cyclopean by ESP Ohio. And in case you are wondering, yes, both are very good to excellent records. After the recording session was finished, Bob headed back to the familiar confines of his new favorite Dayton studio, Cyberteknics, to record a handful of additional songs. He felt so strongly about the newly recorded stuff that he decided to add them to the record. The number of songs were too much for a single album, but not enough for a double record. Because Bob had recruited such a talented lineup this time around, he felt comfortable asking each member to contribute their own original songs to the project. So each member was tasked with writing and recording tracks on their own to submit for August by Cake. This resulted in an additional nine tracks which pushed the album comfortably into the double zone.The double album is an important format in Pollard's own musical iconography, and he doesn't take the form lightly - one reason he's planned and abandoned several would-be GBV double albums in the past is his high regard for foundational works like Quadrophenia, the White Album, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Daydream Nation, Zen Arcade, Double Nickels On the Dime - "defining records for these bands," says Pollard. It's important to him that August by Cake not just be a double album but that it be a great one.
nah, that was Bee Thousand.This [Propeller] is the one that saved the band and introduced the world to Guided By Voices.
tinnitus photography wrote:nah, that was Bee Thousand.This [Propeller] is the one that saved the band and introduced the world to Guided By Voices.
i was there, man
it was a hail mary signal into the ether that got picked up by some of the right ears, but B000 was the tipping point.
I was there, too. I just wasn't paying attention (at the time).tinnitus photography wrote:nah, that was Bee Thousand.This [Propeller] is the one that saved the band and introduced the world to Guided By Voices.
i was there, man
it was a hail mary signal into the ether that got picked up by some of the right ears, but B000 was the tipping point.
well i wasn't paying attention for Propeller either but B000 did prick up my ears and i went into back catalog searching frenzy, being rewarded with #4/500 of Propeller for about $10.cortez the killer wrote:I was there, too. I just wasn't paying attention (at the time).tinnitus photography wrote:nah, that was Bee Thousand.This [Propeller] is the one that saved the band and introduced the world to Guided By Voices.
i was there, man
it was a hail mary signal into the ether that got picked up by some of the right ears, but B000 was the tipping point.
That is not clearly written and a bit hyperbolic on my part. I was trying to convey that the band was essentially unknown outside of Dayton up through Propeller. Having that record get into the hands of the right people, opened another world outside of Dayton for the band. It led to a record deal (Scat) and some live shows in larger markets outside Dayton (NYC, Philly). To my knowledge, Pollard, coming to a realization there wasn't an audience to connect with his artistic vision, was ready to give up the expensive, time-consuming "music hobby" and Propeller was intended to be the grand finale. And then, as you state, it "got picked up by some of the right ears" and the decision was made to keep it in motion. Bee Thousand was the unquestionable breakthrough album (and I state that in the first two lines of my B1000 write-up), but without Propeller, we most likely never get to B1000.
Thanks for your contribution.
Resurrecting an old 9B/3DD acronym, WWOP.tinnitus photography wrote:well i wasn't paying attention for Propeller either but B000 did prick up my ears and i went into back catalog searching frenzy, being rewarded with #4/500 of Propeller for about $10.
i'll post a photo tmrw. i thought i had an instagram photo of it but it was just me and Bob after he signed it.cortez the killer wrote:I was fishing for a pic - Worthless without pictures. And, yes, I know it's a flawed acronym, but it ain't mine or my rules.
i have GBV box on vinyl so i have another version on vinyl, but i do play this one occasionally. the only early GBV i don't have is Same Place (i've got the german reissue of Devil Between My Toes). I got the Propeller via Forced Exposure mail order but i think i got sandbox, self inflicted and maybe forever since breakfast via Scat distribution.cortez the killer wrote:I'm in awe and envious. Do you play it anymore, or did you buy a spinning copy when the reissue came out a few years back?
Great story. Although, I'm not sure if I would've had the same level of trust as you to hand over a rare artifact like that to a total stranger (even though said stranger is in the band) hoping he'll return with it properly John Hancock'd.tinnitus photography wrote:i have GBV box on vinyl so i have another version on vinyl, but i do play this one occasionally. the only early GBV i don't have is Same Place (i've got the german reissue of Devil Between My Toes). I got the Propeller via Forced Exposure mail order but i think i got sandbox, self inflicted and maybe forever since breakfast via Scat distribution.cortez the killer wrote:I'm in awe and envious. Do you play it anymore, or did you buy a spinning copy when the reissue came out a few years back?
it was fun to have Bob sign it. i brought it to the 2018 show at the Sinclair and was waiting near the backstage to see if i saw Doug Gillard who get me back stage. i didn't see him but Kevin March was on his way in and i asked him if Bob could sign it. he said, I'll see and then took it from me, leaving me outside. sad trombone.
but a couple minutes later he popped back and said bob wanted to see me. he remembered that copy as one of his and it was cool to talk about it for a little bit.