photos by Bao Nguyen

"Taking the stage were Kim and her sister Kelley along with the newer faces (including the drum and bass tandem of Jose Meledes and Mando Lopez, and guitarist Cheryl "from Florida" Lyndsey). They started off with the trippy "Hoverin'", an Amps song and went newer with Title TK, and then backward with cuts off of Last Splash and Pod. I personally wanted to see them play "Hellbound" and "Fortunately Gone", which tops my favorite Breeders songs, but they did play "I Decided" which I love. All the bigger songs got their turn, "Saints", "Cannonball", their cover of "Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Divine Hammer", "Safari". The sheer thrill of songs like "New Year" with an intense, buzzing guitar section really makes for a powerful set." [Kings County Bop]

So, as I was saying, The Breeders played two shows in NYC this week. The above review snippet is from Tuesday night's show at Bowery Ballroom. The pictures are from Wednesday. More of them below...

Continue reading "The Breeders & Whispertown 2000 @ Bowery Ballroom - pics "

photos by Bryan Bruchman

"I felt like an out-of-touch old man when I overheard the bartender saying that tickets were still available and that they probably wouldn't sell out. How did it come to this? With several hit singles and a platinum-plus album under their belt, the Breeders shouldn't have difficulty selling out a venue that has a capacity of only five or six hundred. Maybe it wasn't promoted well or maybe too many have forgotten about the band (despite releasing an album last year and a fresh, spanking EP a few months back), but they deserved better. Or else I can enjoy the intimacy of the raucous show and wear the ringing in my ears (that still hasn't subsided after twenty-four hours) as a badge of honor." [a review of the Newport, Kentucky show]

The Breeders kicked off their current tour on August 5th in Newport, KY. Last night (8/17), the band played the Paradise in Boston. That's where the pictures in this post are from. Tonight (8/18), The Breeders plays the first of two NYC shows taking place at Bowery Ballroom. Whispertown 2000 opens both both shows which are sold out. More pictures from Boston below...

Continue reading "The Breeders, now in NYC, played the Paradise, Boston (pics) "

DOWNLOAD: Times New Viking - Time No Hope (MP3)

Since we last spoke, The Breeders have expanded the dates and added openers to their August tour. Joining them at first will be Times New Viking (who have an MP3 off their forthcoming record, Born Again Revisited, above), and then Whisptertown 2000, who will be opening both of the Breeders' NYC shows at the Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for those shows, happening August 18th and 19th, are still on sale.

Though the Breeders didn't play the Pitchfork Festival over the weekend, if you were there you did hear their song "Saints" coming off the stage courtesy of The Thermals, who also covered Sonic Youth's "100%," Nirvana's "Sappy" and Green Day's "Basket Case."

After the show, Harris and bassist Kathy Foster told Spinner they've been playing the Nirvana and Breeders songs fairly often, but the other two were new. "Those are all of our favorite songs," Foster said. "We were a little nervous, but it was really fun."

Harris said he wasn't sure how 'Basket Case' would pop. "Pitchfork's such a hipster thing," he teased. "You've got to play it a little cooler. And it's Chicago too, so you gotta be cool. But we're not embarrassed to love Green Day."

They also played the Breeders and Nirvana covers at their last Brooklyn show. All tour dates, and TNV album art and release info, below...

Continue reading "the Breeders (covered by Thermals) - tour dates w/ Times New Viking (new album, MP3), Whispertown 2000 (in NYC)"