Biography of The Breeders

Initially, the Breeders were conceived as a way for Pixies' bassist Kim Deal and Throwing Muses' guitarist Tanya Donelly to let out some suppressed creative energy. Deal and Donelly both played guitar, leaving bass for Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster. Taking their name from the group Deal led with her twin sister, Kelly, in their teens, the Breeders combined the spareness of Throwing Muses with the shifting dynamics and warped pop sensibilities of the Pixies. Pod, their critically acclaimed debut album, was released in 1990. Two years later, the group delivered Safari, a four-song EP that found the band getting more muscular and melodic. Soon after its recording, Donelly left the Breeders to form her own group, Belly. Kim Deal brought in her sister, Kelly, as her replacement. By this time, their permanent drummer was Jim MacPherson, who was billed as "Mike Hunt" on Safari.As the Breeders were working on their new album in the beginning of 1993, the Pixies split, leaving Kim Deal able to pursue the Breeders full-time. Released late in the summer of 1993, Last Splash was a hazier, more disjointed continuation of the hard pop of Safari. With the sonic collage of "Cannonball," the Breeders had a crossover hit that catapulted the group into stardom; within a year, the album had gone platinum and the band had a prime spot on 1994's Lollapalooza tour. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine