The Breeders Launch An Anti-Computer Revolution

It's the mythical record that no one thought would come out. But this Tuesday (May 21), at long (long, long) last, The Breeders' follow-up to their 1993 breakthrough album Last Splash, an 11 track disc called Title T.K., will be out in stores.

And it's about time.

The Breeders, fronted by ex-Pixies bassist Kim Deal and her twin sister Kelley have been through a lot since the release of their last album. Many fans and journalists have assumed Kelley's widely publicized heroin problem has been the culprit behind the band's extended hiatus, but according to Kim, who released a pseudo-Breeders album as The Amps in 1995, Title T.K.'s delay has more to do with her own, somewhat restrictive, studio requirements.

"In the late '90s people weren't really into doing bands," Kim, who is surrounded by Kelley and new Breeders drummer Jose Medeles, says. "Hip-hop music was really big and the loops and seams were in everything from PJ Harvey to U2 to Tori Amos — everything was looped and seamed. It wasn't normal for bands just to stand around and play. What was normal was the ProTools boxes that got into the studio."

For the uninitiated, ProTools is a computer program that music engineers use to digitally record bands in the studio. For technical, aesthetic and philosophical reasons, Kim wanted to avoid the digital technology — no loops, no ProTools, no computers whatsoever. She wanted a regular band (keep in mind that Kelley was still healing from her addiction at this point and the rest of The Breeders had moved onto other projects) and a regular recording studio where she could make a record the old fashioned way.

Easier said than done.

"The idea of recording in the analog — just on tape — became very difficult," Kim says. "The studio people were bummed out, they wanted to work on ProTools. Especially in New York, all the studios wanted to get the ProTools in because that's cheaper. Then the players themselves — why come out? Now it's Gorillaz, but then it was Butter 08 or whatever — all these ProTools bands. The Meat Puppets were on ProTools, everyone was on ProTools. Everybody! It was weird."

Deal managed to recruit a band of sturdy young rockers (guitarist Richard Presely and bassist Mando Lopez of L.A. rock band Fear and Medeles on drums), drew Kelley back into the fold and found a studio in New York that would meet her requirements. From there, Kim developed a philosophy that she's calling "All Wave" — sort of akin to the Dogme 95 school of film that restricts the sort of equipment and production technology that filmmakers can use (Bjork's film debut, Dancer In The Dark, for example, was a Dogme film).

She's even developed a little "All Wave" logo that's proudly displayed on Title T.K.'s sleeve. If Kim's ideas sound a little obsessive and crazy, it's because, at least to a point, they are. The seminal college-rocker has a twitch about her and a frantic tone in her voice that suggests that the new Breeders could come apart at the seams at any minute. While she and Kelley, and especially newbie Medeles, are excited and confident that Title T.K. will bring them right back to where Last Splash left them, there's an underlying nervousness at work.

Even so, ready to head out on a tour that will take them through the U.K., mainland Europe and finally North America, the battered Breeders are looking forward to proving to both their cynical critics and expectant fans that despite a few bruises, they're firmly back in the game.

"When I listen to it, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck will stand up," Kelley says. "And I think 'Oh My God.' And, of course, I take it personally. I think 'I rock!'"

Breeders Canadian dates:
July 23-24 Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace
July 26-27 Montreal, QC @ Cafe