Kelley Deal picks her favourite The Breeders song
Alongside her twin sister, Kim, Kelley Deal propelled The Breeders to fame with the release of their album Last Splash, home to hits like ‘Cannonball’. Deal’s musical journey began with various local bands in Dayton, Ohio, before she joined The Breeders in 1992. Her distinctive guitar style, unique voice, and songwriting became a significant part of her appeal.
Although The Breeders officially formed years earlier, Deal’s addition to the band provided a significant turning point. Deal played a pivotal role as the band’s guitarist, contributing to their unique sound for their notable breakthrough in 1993 after the release of Last Splash.
Characterised by their blend of raw energy and melodic sensibilities, their songs, marked by unconventional song structures and layered instrumentals, capture the essence of 1990s alternative rock. Their experimentation with sonic textures and rhythms set them apart in an era dominated by grunge and punk influences.
For Deal, Last Splash provided an energy and enthusiasm that still holds up today. “It’s always really fun to play that record from beginning to end,” she told The Line Of Best Fit. “Songs like ‘Divine Hammer’ and ‘Cannonball’ are a blast and we play them all the time, but I’m loving the chance to play other songs that we don’t play much, like ‘Mad Lucas’, ‘Flipside’ and ‘Roi’. I actually kind of can’t believe how much people appreciate all of the songs. I mean, ‘Mad Lucas’ is a five-minute dirge, but when we play it it’s like you could hear a pin drop. It’s beautiful.”
It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Deal’s favourite song by The Breeders is one that sits on this album. It’s also the first song that Deal co-wrote for the band: “This one is a marker for me because it’s the first song that I got to co-write on officially for The Breeders,” she explained. “It’s a song that Kim and I originally wrote when we were around 17, around the time that we would be out playing as a duo at The Ground Round and this local bar in Dayton for maybe 50 bucks a night.”
She continued: “At the time, I don’t think I recognised how different we were. I mean, maybe I did but I don’t think I really gave it enough weight. The main thing being that a lot of people played those nights but almost nobody did original songs. They would mostly just do a lot of covers, but Kim and I didn’t. At least half of the songs we played would be our own, and ‘Do You Love Me Now’ is one of them. I didn’t really appreciate how unusual that was.”
Deal noted how this was the last project The Breeders worked on with singer-songwriter Tanya Donnelly, who was on the cusp of starting her own musical journey with Belly. Deal was also in the early days of her own journey when it came to playing the guitar: “Remember, I was very new on guitar at the time,” she said. “Although I had done demos and other stuff by that point, the Safari EP was going to be my first official recording in a studio.”
