Twenty-two years ago in 1994, 38-year-old school teacher Robert Pollard and his merry band recorded Bee Thousand in a Dayton, Ohio, basement on a 4-track cassette recorder. This improbable rock classic became an enormously influential album; Spin and Pitchfork have called it one of the best records of the ’90s, and Amazon picked Bee Thousand as #1 on their list of the 100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of All Time. An amazing live band with a rabid following, the Washington Post called Guided By Voices “the Grateful Dead equivalent for people who like Miller Lite instead of acid!”
In 2018, Guided By Voices will release precisely one new album, Space Gun. Once you hear it, you will know why.
With a renowned work ethic and a daily pot of coffee, Robert Pollard continues to outclass younger generations of come-and-go rock bands. After 20+ years, 100+ albums, 2000+ songs, Pollard still can’t really explain (or doesn’t want to explain) his secret: “The songs just come to me.”
In 2017, the new GBV line-up (veterans Doug Gillard and Kevin March and newcomers Mark Shue and Bobby Bare Jr) blew away audiences at Coachella and Growlers Fest, touring behind the ambitious and sprawling multi-vocalist double album August By Cake, followed just months later by the concise punchy/catchy How Do You Spell Heaven. Pollard has acknowledged that this line-up’s adroit talents pushes him to more daring and dizzying heights.
And now, here it comes . . . Space Gun, the fullest realization yet of Pollard’s song talents, with the band firing on all cylinders. “Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes.”
Invention and imagination remain the undiminished life-forces of a Guided by Voices record and Space Gun absolutely crackles with this energy. This band is on fire.
