BRED TO BE WILD

Rip It Up, Issue 182, 1 September 1992, Page 11

BRED TO BE WILD

Sorry boy fans of the Pixies* Kim Deal. I only sot to speak to her twin sister Kelly, one fifth of Kim’s other super-group, the Breeders (along with ex-Throwing Muse Tanya Donelly and Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster).

Over the line from Dayton, Ohio, Kelly comes across as an enthusiastic beneficiary of sibling solidarity. Being a Breeder has rescued her from a life of computer programming and thrust her into the international spotlight.

Well, not quite. A recent USA Today report on the female rock explosion ommitted to mention the Breeders. So much for copping publicity from the Pixies connection. Not that Kelly wants to be associated with the girl-rock thing she characterises as "turn the gui-

tar up really loud, put some distortion on it and scream 'fuck me fuck me fuck me'. All these girl bands, a lot of what they're proving to me is that girls can play bad rock just as good as boys."

The Breeders, on the other hand, ("and I know this sounds lofty") just want to make sure the songs are good. Kim and Josephine are obsessed with the rhythm section. Kelly reports that bass player Josephine's idea of a good time is to lie on a couch, headphones on, listening to drum tracks. Record-

ing, she and Kim spend "hours" on how the drums are gonna sound, followed by the bass, with just a little bit of attention left over for guitars and vocals. Not that this is evident on the Breeders' new EP Safari which features Kim's laconic voice and attractively simple but noisy guitar on four Kim originals and one Who cover 'So Sad About Us'.

The Breeders would like to go places, like Australia, soon, but Kelly is completely broke. But cheerful. She just loves being in a band with her twin sister and she doesn't mind in the least that, out from under Black Francis' thumb, it's Kim who calls the shots.

DONNA YUZWALK