THE BREEDERS - THE WILTERN, LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 17, 2008
First things first: Kim and Kelley Deal are twins, and they're cute. Like rilly, RILLY cute. When I looked up some of the Breeders' videos on YouTube, someone left a comment saying that he never realized how incredibly attracted he was to Kim Deal, and how she kind of became a template for what he thought was hot in a girl. Not a bad template when these ladies are funny, smart and can totally rock out.
They played nearly every great song in their catalog, heavy on 1993's "Last Splash" album, including "Cannonball" right up front, the third or fourth song of the set. Kim's gained a little weight, so she looks like someone's really MILF-y lookin' Midwestern mommy rocking on her guitar while the kids are at practice. And if you wanted to remember what she looked like in the 90's, you just looked over at Kelley, who still looks pretty much the same. It was pretty funny.
What also hasn't changed is the dynamic of the band: the men and tangential woman (Jose Medeles on drums, Mando Lopez on bass, and Cheryl Lyndsey on the excellent third guitar attack) hold down the fort, while the Deal twins beguile with their lovely girly-woman voices, persistent sibling rivalry-flavored banter, and guitar (and a one-time violin) un-skills. In fact, I love that Kim is still, ostensibly, the talented one, while Kelley is kind of along for the ride and only knows how to play their songs on whatever her instrument might be, like the violin she bravely plucked on for "Driving on 9," one of my faves from Last Splash. "Divine Hammer" was sublime; it almost made me cry for my lost Nineties youth. What was really incredible was the kind of aural power that the band still holds, the loud-soft-loud-soft technique kind of proving why it was so in vogue in the 90's. It's really effective, and seeing The Breeders made me wish I had the chance to see every band I loved back then.
"Cannonball" was performed perfectly, including the "AAA-UURRGGHHH!!!" megaphone call at the beginning of the song, and the only thing left would have been to have the video cheesily playing along in the background. But this was not that kind of show. In fact, Kim Deal asked at one point if there was anyone in the hall that was NOT a personal friend of theirs, since it seems like there were an awful lot of people on the guest list...not exactly a comeback tour, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
They also played their "classy" cover of The Beatles' "Happiness is a Warm Gun," (Kim: "We know a Beatles song, so we're classy...") which mesmerized, especially with Kelley on the lead vocal intoning "happiness is a warm gun," over and over in that awesome pretty/creepy baby voice, and "Iris," off of the 1993 compilation, "No Alternative," which I was really psyched to see them play, since I nearly broke the cassette tape of that comp back in the day (a post will be forthcoming on that). Overall, a wonderfully 90's evening it was for all of us.
The Breeders - Cannonball (1993)
They performed this song too. I love this song and video. Why are music video directors (not to mention the bands) so boring these days?
The Breeders - Saints (1993)
This is like a very weird incomplete clip of "Iris," but it's kind of cool because it shows Kim talking, she's really young here...this song is originally from their 1990 record "Pod," when Tanya Donnelly (of Throwing Muses and, later on, the immensely popular 90's band Belly) was still in the band. There she is, the blonde. This is fun, I've never seen it before:
