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27- Can Brian Interest You In...Guided By Voices?
36 Plays22 days ago
In our first episode of 2026, we’re joined by Brian Seemann to talk about Guided By Voices, the indie rock band he discovered as a teenager and has followed for decades.
We start the episode by catching up on how we’re *really* doing and, as it turns out, this involves sports mascots, happy worms, and the world’s little known need for more hype people. Then we talk Friendsgiving, because we recorded this back when all the holidays were still ahead of us.
At the 13:10 mark we get into all things Guided By Voices (and to answer your question, no, it’s not a Christian band). Brian tells us about Robert Pollard, who started the band when he was an elementary school teacher in the 1980s and has kept it going (minus, like, a short breakup) ever since. We also learn about the magic of their live shows, including the scissor kicks. Oh, the scissor kicks.
Brian gives us his origin story--how he discovered the band in the ‘90s, when learning about music was vastly different from how it is now (there were no algorithms in sight). He tells us about connecting with other lovers of Guided By Voices, and the devoted fandom the band has developed over the years.
We talk about music as art versus music as background sound. We talk about the process of creation and what makes a work of art resonate with an audience. Fair warning, we also rag on the band Sublime a lot. Then Brian gives us our homework. Luckily for us, it involves listening to music and no scissor kicks.
References:
https://www.gbvdb.com/home.asp
Logo design by Marielle Martin
Song: Upbeat Drums with Stomps and Claps by music_for_video
BlueSky: @canweinterestyouin.bsky.social
Instagram: @canweinterestyouin
Email us your interests! CanWeInterestYouIn@gmail.com
Website: canweinterestyouin.com
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Transcript
Introduction & Listener Engagement
00:00:00
Speaker
You know that thing you love that your friends and family don't want to hear about anymore? Tell it to us, Patty and Charlotte. We want to learn all about your weird and wild obsessions or your perfectly normal hobbies that you've taken just a little too far.
00:00:15
Speaker
We want to dabble in your curious interests. Can we interest you in today's episode?
Guest Introduction: Brian Seaman
00:00:35
Speaker
Hi, Charlotte. Hi, Patty. And hi, Brian. Patty, want to introduce you to my friend, b Brian Seaman, who's going to be talking to us about one of his many interests, another one of my friends who has a bunch of interests.
00:00:54
Speaker
How do we keep finding these people who have so many interests? Oh, no, maybe everybody has so many. And we just have to find them. right Hey, Brian. Welcome. Thanks for coming on. Hello.
00:01:08
Speaker
How are y'all doing? doing pretty good. Oh, wait. no it or so No, we have to be honest.
Bulls Game Anecdote
00:01:14
Speaker
Honestly, yes. yeah Actually, I'm doing not bad because yesterday Adam and I went to ah Bulls Nuggets game and we sat very... you wear your horns? I did. wore horns on top of a hat and and then Adam wore...
00:01:32
Speaker
like basically like a straw hat he spray painted red and then put horns on that plus a hideously ugly bulls sweatshirt that he cut the arms off of and then he was wearing like another i think like a red shirt underneath and then red pants and jordan's essentially And he was taking the arms of that sweatshirt and he was like, like using them as those rally towel type things.
00:02:02
Speaker
And apparently they showed him on the screen of the telecast for like several seconds, which we didn't get to see. but but Like, did somebody tell you that? Yeah, actually, the guy who does the interviews with the with the bulls.
00:02:19
Speaker
Adam introduced himself because we were that close. And then wow that guy, Casey, told him, he was like, you were just on the telecast for a little bit. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, he was making a spectacle of himself, but in like a great way. And then they won, which is i was ask that's so good ob' obscene. Overtime. Overtime. No, no, I don't think it even went to overtime. They had already been to a game the night before where they went to double overtime and lost against
Game Night Details & Interactions
00:02:50
Speaker
the Jazz. Whoa. And so this game, we expected them to completely lose.
00:02:56
Speaker
Exhausted. Yeah. But they played a lot of their second string players who I was saying, put them in. They're they're great. And then against all odds, they won.
00:03:08
Speaker
That's amazing. How exciting. Yeah. I thought they went to overtime. You are correct. You would think, right? You're playing against Jokic. Of course, it's going to go to overtime, but it didn't.
00:03:21
Speaker
Patty, I saw photographic evidence of this. I received a text message last night. Well, we only yeah were trying to were trying to prep for this today, and we were going to do it last night. And then she she sent me a picture of of the two of them. and Why she could not. so yeah I saw i saw the ah the whole bull get up, and I was like, who are you all rooting for?
00:03:48
Speaker
And that's like, you know, it's like a win-win situation because we love nuggets too, but we love them less. Yeah, there are a lot of Chicago fans or people from Chicago in Denver. so But Adam did get up because we were right by the aisle and turn around and rally the crowd behind him and also get into like a like a faux fight with their mascot. Not like a punching fight, but just like a you know, like a mouthing off to each other fight. Yeah.
00:04:20
Speaker
This was the Nuggets mascot? Yeah. they Okay. All right. I don't know, it's some sort of tiger, I think. Last time we were there, he like fell in my lap.
00:04:30
Speaker
m No wonder Adam wanted to get in a fight with him. I was picturing that it would be like um a... so What are those called? Speck... Oh, God. What are those called? Like the old-timey gold, looking for gold kind of people? That's what I assumed the nugget would be. Yeah. I think it should be just a big hunk of gold.
00:04:52
Speaker
i don't think it's any of the above. It's... it's Well, they do they do have It's not like their stuffed mascot or like the live mascot that is at the game, but some of their, some of their logos have like a, like a prospector looking prospector. That's what it is. Okay. That's
Introduction to Guided By Voices
00:05:14
Speaker
the word. Yeah. i For some reason I'm thinking of,
00:05:17
Speaker
Isn't there like a character on Rudolph the Red Nosed Ranger, the old timey version? Isn't there like some sort of prospector looking guy on that? It's like a narrator guy who has like spectacles, right? yeah so Well, it's not it's not the it's not the the frosty, it's not the snow guy.
00:05:38
Speaker
There's like an adventurer type or something. Oh, yeah. ah Yeah. It's been too long since I've seen it, but he's like climbing the mountain yeah there's like ah we we can go to the video later on this but in my mind the that character looks similar to a don't know what call it like second tier mascot for the for the nuggets maybe like the yeah the nuggets like
00:06:12
Speaker
G League team or whatever they call it. Yukon Cornelius. well Yukon Cornelius. There you go. um Many, many years ago, this is way before I lived out here, you know they they the Nuggets had that their mascot.
00:06:31
Speaker
They like lifted them up into the rafters to do some kind of thing like above the court. And the guy inside the the costume like blacked out oh and so like your video it just shows this this uh this stuff i think it's kind of like a lion or a wildcat it just kind of like hunched over and if not moving it looked like it was dead and uh the guy was fine but he had just blacked out and just uh you know kind of a weird moment when horribleco is your mascot is typically there to rile up the crowd not frighten children somebody killed that tiger mommy um and also like what a horrible time to like your fear of heights to to kick in well that sounds like a wonderful evening did it make for like and you're still feeling the glow of it today I'm still feeling the glow and today's my day to do a bunch of catch up stuff. So I didn't have to could just sort of experience the excitement. And I guess ah we should try to find that clip of him online somewhere at some point.
00:07:52
Speaker
Oh, I'm sure there are like plenty of YouTube videos you can pull up. oh Yeah, yeah, just of like the wildest. I mean, he had to be the wildest Bulls fan there. He got a million high fives. I got like side high fives, like because I was near him. And because I had the little like devil horns on.
00:08:13
Speaker
This might be like a new side gig for him is like becoming a character hype man at Bulls games.
00:08:24
Speaker
Yeah. Who knows? maybe that and The world definitely needs more hype hype people. we are where We're absent hype. Yeah. People just don't don't talk enough about the lack of hype people.
00:08:38
Speaker
You know, it's like problem we don't really address. and Influencer slash hype person. Yeah, yeah. um what about What about you, Patty? How have you been?
00:08:53
Speaker
um So today I'm pretty good. I took the day off because I'm just trying to kill PTO. Like our time doesn't roll over. and so it's like, if you don't use it, you lose it. And because my boss was let go this year, it was like,
00:09:07
Speaker
I wasn't able to take time at other times. So I'm just like, oh, random Tuesday where I didn't have any meetings. And it was so nice. Like, again, what I brought the dog with to drop off my niece and nephew at school this morning. And so that then we just went for a walk, even though it was kind of raining, but it was lovely. And the trees are still gorgeous here. I was just taking pictures of him in front of like different trees that were pretty, like he was so unimpressed or uninterested, but yeah. So yeah, that was really good. And it was just kind of like an easier day. Got a ton of things done.
00:09:43
Speaker
Fed the worms, which was good. yeah How are they doing? Really good. They're very happy. And so I'm like getting to a point where I'm going to have to. Yeah.
00:09:54
Speaker
So I'm going to have to get to a point where I learn about how to get the casings out because I'm like, oh, they're going to fill up their two tubs. So so that was pretty great.
00:10:06
Speaker
How about you, Brian? How are you really today? I'm um'm wonderful. i I'm a professor and we're we're at the point the semester where kind of give give all the time to my students. And so rather than meet in class, I this week and next meet them online. And so I just wait for them to to Zoom to talk to me. so I had today, I only had one student.
00:10:39
Speaker
Is it kind of like
Balancing Academia and Music Passion
00:10:40
Speaker
open office hours? i Kind of for like, I have some online students I do that for. These are like actual in-person students. And so, you know, they just kind of spread out through the week. and I only talked to one student today. So I have...
00:10:58
Speaker
That was on my calendar and this was on my calendar. So awesome yeah yeah, it's been pretty nice. And tomorrow I have a little bit more. i think I have probably about five or six, but you know, come about two three o'clock in the afternoon, I'm done.
00:11:17
Speaker
so Do you guys end your semester before the Christmas holiday or like the winter break or is it? ah Yeah, I think our, our, First week of December is the last time I go into Students are turning stuff in like the following week, so um that's too far ahead for me to even think about when grades are doing anything. Yeah, we'll just focus on tomorrow. i probably I'll probably have, know when it's all said and done, about five weeks off before...
00:11:50
Speaker
the spring semester starts.
00:11:54
Speaker
And ah yeah and then she's coming over to my house because we're having the big old Friendsgiving Saturday. Oh, fun! And somehow...
00:12:06
Speaker
All my family, but especially my parents, are friends with Brian and Jennifer. Also, my sister-in-law's dad. And Brian makes good friends with, like, the next generation. it's Or the generation that follows, you know, like the kids. Yeah, the kids or the grandparents. It's really very much his time. That's so cool.
00:12:35
Speaker
Oh, how nice. So it's like you get to do family and friends giving together, Charlotte. what are you What are you going to be making, Charlotte? what are you What's the dish you're bringing? I think we're going to make a bunch of potatoes. Different, like vegan and non-vegan.
00:12:52
Speaker
Okay. yeah I just made a big old thing of cornbread today to prepare for stuffing. so I guess that's the other thing I did today. I baked some cornbread.
00:13:04
Speaker
let it dry out a little bit before you use it for the stuffing. That's good planning. Okay. So what, what is the interest? Cause you're very, I am, we've, and we talked a little bit before we even started recording. There are a lot of interests here. So what are you officially going to interest us in today?
00:13:26
Speaker
Well, when, When Charlotte was, whenever she brought this up to me, apparently, because I did not realize this at the time, but I said this, and then like many months later, she said,
00:13:41
Speaker
you know, do you want to do this? And I said, yeah. And then she said something about what I had already said that going to talk about. So, um yeah but I, sharp as it so I said it initially whenever this was, was broached, I suppose. And then it was brought up again, but I am here today to talk about the rock and roll band guided by voices.
00:14:10
Speaker
Really? Okay, wait, that sounds familiar, but I don't know anything about them. That's good, because I don't know anything about them either, so this going to be could get This could get very educational. Watch out. Okay, tell us about them. Who who are they?
00:14:32
Speaker
why Yeah, what interests you? Guided by Voices, I suppose, would fall under nowadays what would be defined as like indie rock. okay I mean, they started, the the band is primarily the singer-songwriter Robert or Bob Pollard, and he has been the only main.
00:14:56
Speaker
and consistent member of the band since their inception, which if I'm thinking back, I'm using some memory here, uh, sometime in the mid Uh, and they,
00:15:09
Speaker
okay oh and so they He has been the primary songwriter and the singer since the beginning. There have probably been 40, 50 people who have come and gone who have been in the band no playing guitar, bass, drums, and so forth. But he has been the only consistent member from the beginning.
00:15:36
Speaker
Wow. And it so I guess that's true then. It is guided by his voice. By his voice. Yeah. he He was a elementary school teacher and he was also a pretty renowned, I suppose, high school athlete. He ended up going to college as a baseball player.
00:16:01
Speaker
One of the the many sort of interesting facts that you'll hear people talk about, it he threw a no-hitter in college. wow And he was, I believe, a fourth grade teacher for many years, even as he was getting the band started.
00:16:17
Speaker
So he was an elementary school teacher, a famed college the pitcher of some renowned and then kept going and he got to the point where he quit teaching and he devoted his entire life or a career to to the band and he's been putting out music ever since. Just a couple of weeks ago, Guided by Voices put out their 43rd, I believe I'm counting this correctly, their 43rd album of all time. It's only a little less old than I am. He's ah he's also put out, and and I can't, I'd have to do the math if I've got this website open in front of me at the same time, but he's put out a fair amount of solo albums, which are credited to Robert Pollard rather than the Kitebite Voices, but he is the
00:17:16
Speaker
A lot of those albums include members of the band for one reason or another. he just opted to release them under his own name. long time ago, I suppose, he was on like an actual record label.
00:17:30
Speaker
Record labels sometimes want you to kind of spread out your... releases so like people can catch catch up and stay sort of up to date with what you're doing. And so like 90s Guided by Voices would put out like one album a year. And once then he started, he kept writing. And so he released a Robert Pollard album.
00:17:53
Speaker
And then he did a bunch of side project stuff where he would release albums under different, different names that he came up with and some of these were again with people who were already in Guide By Voices some of these were what he called like postal collaborations which is essentially he and someone else would send music to one another primarily someone would send him music in the mail postal and then he would do the lyrics and sing over over the
00:18:30
Speaker
music and that would be the album. So at this stage, i I'm not sure right off the top of my head, but i'm I'm pretty sure there's over like a hundred albums that you know he has made and participated in.
00:18:50
Speaker
That's not even considering the singles or the seven inches, the live albums, the uh any of that other sort of ephemeral stuff but it's so you said live albums do they tour do they tour i yeah i mean i think that's kind of uh a point right now i think uh they they last played a concert so i think was about a year ago there were just some talk i think there were some stories that came out you know whether they're going to continue i mean
00:19:24
Speaker
bob just had a birthday he was born on halloween and he's somewhere in his 60s now so he's okay he's only in his 60s he's doing we's been doing this for a long time so i don't know what the uh the current what uh what what the plans are in the future but yeah no they used to tour quite a bit i I don't know how many times I've seen them, but their are live shows were phenomenal. I mean, like just the like a kick ass rock concert. And they play for couple hours. A lot of Guided by Voices songs are typically a little shorter, like two, two and a half minutes. So like a typical Guided by Voices show would be somewhere in the range of close to 50 songs, a couple hours.
00:20:12
Speaker
And they have plenty to Plenty to choose from. like ah you know, the first time I ever saw them, they came out. The first time I saw them, I think, was 1999 in austin Texas,
00:20:25
Speaker
And i I had been listening to them at that point for a couple of years. So i i knew a little bit about them. I knew, you know, their songs and everything.
00:20:36
Speaker
But that was sort of like this eye-opening moment. I probably was 18 or 19 at that time where I'm just like, this is... This is probably what it felt like for someone to see the Beatles or hear the Beatles for the first time. I mean, they came out and the thing about like them as a live act is in the heyday, and I suppose they were doing it more recently too, but I mean, they'd come out on stage with like a cooler beer, a couple of bottles of like whiskey or tequila. And, you know, Bob would,
00:21:11
Speaker
have quite a few beers during the show. And if you ever saw like some classic footage of like the who from the sixties playing concerts, like Daltrey would do these scissor kicks and like these Mike twirls and Bob's doing them kicking his leg up in the air.
00:21:30
Speaker
i mean, they weren't standing around. I mean, they were like rocking out. And i mean, I'm like 18 or 19 watching this. And again, I knew, I knew some of the songs.
00:21:43
Speaker
I knew all the songs, but it was just like, holy shit. I mean, this is the coolest thing I've have ever seen, like on a on a stage. I was in Austin, Texas at the time, and then I went out to college out in East Texas and not necessarily a hotspot for independent rock
Concert Experiences
00:22:04
Speaker
bands. So It was hard for a while to catch him. Back in 2004, I drove up to Dallas to see him.
00:22:12
Speaker
They were breaking up or they were kind of not going on anymore at that point. And so they had like this final tour called the Electrifying Conclusion. i had to make sure that I saw it.
00:22:25
Speaker
The next year he had this big solo album that sort of announced his is like solo, solo career. And then a couple years later, was like, hey, you know what? the Let's get the name back. And pretty soon they started putting out more Guide By Voices albums. and I guess I saw him last May here in Denver. And it was it was intense. I mean, there was probably in a room of about 200, 250 people.
00:22:55
Speaker
know One of the things I always do is I i buy a show poster because here in my basement, I've got on the walls, I've got all the show posters because they always get like a local artist to do it. Oh, that's cool. do Yeah. and so I had bought a poster and my partner works for the city of Denver. So she's literally parked right outside the the venue because she's not going to get towed. So i I quickly bought the poster and ran outside, put in the car.
00:23:26
Speaker
And so I'm at this stage probably, don't know, 50, 100 feet away from from the stage. I'm even outside. And, I mean, I can hear every single note. it's like It was that loud. I mean, it was just loud.
00:23:41
Speaker
And, you know, they they're a rock band. I mean, they're not like a metal band or anything. I mean, they rock. I mean, it was cool. I mean, it was like was standing outside just like, yeah, this is awesome.
00:23:53
Speaker
Were there scissor kicks or like that kind of showmanship type stuff still in his current age? he did He did a couple of them. Yeah, i mean nice he's I mean, he's got white hair now. So, I mean, he's he's he looks his age. I mean, like if you look at some of his, the earlier bands out of him, he was in his 30s, 40s. He had brown hair. and but he was probably more nimble back then. But no, I mean, he was still...
00:24:21
Speaker
He was still doing it. And everybody there knows he's going to do it at some point. So when he kind of does a kick or a twirl, he'll do it. It's like the McJaggart.
00:24:33
Speaker
Yeah, but I mean, like the thing with... I mean... he i I like the Rolling Stones, but I mean, Jagger probably should have hung it up at some point.
00:24:45
Speaker
Bob's still doing it. Of course, but you know just in that it's it's what you're waiting for when you go to see someone, not to compare them. wait I'm super curious. Go ahead, Charlotte. I just want to know if there was the cooler of beer also. i you know what? i I imagine there was. i mean, it had been a while and There's a lot of things I don't remember from that night, and that that would be one of them.
00:25:10
Speaker
Fill in the blank there if you want, but now i don't remember. the other The other thing about that, too, the reason why i don't remember is because Jennifer and I had been out to to Nashville that week to take her brother to see neil Young and Crazy Horse out somewhere just south of Nashville, and I'm getting to the point of this. But the show had to be postponed for a day for for weather.
00:25:38
Speaker
So we ended up staying the extra day. So we flew back to Denver the morning of that show. So I literally saw Neil Young and Guided by Voices within less than 24 hours of each other in different states. So that that's, I mean, Neil Young's...
00:25:59
Speaker
know, he's not as good as Guided by Voices, but he's pretty, pretty high up there. So, um, that was, that was pretty cool. Can't say that too many times. Maybe just once. how did you first, yeah, how did you first get introduced to Guided by Voices?
00:26:15
Speaker
I suppose probably back in high school, you know, I didn't really have a whole lot of, uh, career ambition, maybe if you want to put it that way. And, um, I mean, I certainly didn't expect to be where I am now, but, uh,
00:26:29
Speaker
Yeah, one thing I really liked, i i liked music. I mean, that was something I was really into. My older brother had kind of got me into listening to the radio. And one of the things he had introduced me to was the band R.E.M. And R.E.M.
00:26:46
Speaker
was, at the time, my favorite my favorite band. So I i was into music a lot and my parents were cool about it. And come weekends, we live just outside of Austin.
00:26:59
Speaker
And so we drive into Austin. One of the cool things that they always do, they they they take me to a bookstore. And a lot of times it's like, what you want to go get something. It encouraged me to read a lot. And, you know, one of the things I found myself doing was going to the music section. And they always had these big sort of encyclopedic books about albums, you know, like, and you know, there's like,
00:27:25
Speaker
All Music Guide was one of them. Trouser Press was something else. I can't remember the other one that I had, but they just were like these big encyclopedic books of the history of rock music. And they had like little write-ups about each band and they'd have little reviews about their albums. And I just...
00:27:48
Speaker
would go through those things. And I started reading. it like this was And this was pre-internet almost. So like this is not even like... I'm reading about these bands and it's like this is the only one I'm hearing about them. Right. And you couldn't just then listen to their album on YouTube. So you're like reading about it, but it's not like you can easily access the music at that same time. Yeah. no And the the in the only... yeah i mean and yeah know Austin was obviously... At the time, at least, considered the live music capital the world. But, you know, I'm like 13, 14 years old. I'm not even able to drive yet, let alone like, hey, can you take me to a concert and come pick me up later? One of the bands I kept reading about was Guide My Voices.
00:28:33
Speaker
And all these books are very complimentary of them. And they noted that, you know, there's a little Beatles to what they do. There's a little bit of the who to what they do.
00:28:44
Speaker
And it it also sort of presented them as this, you know, this just former elementary school teacher who just hanging out with his drinking buddies, making making music in their basement, which is what they were doing.
00:28:58
Speaker
And one of the things about their allowed their early work is, you know, they were recording on four track tape recorders. And so, you know, that means but pretty low fidelity stuff and lo-fi music. That was a big thing in the 90s where, you know, you didn't have any sort of proper recording equipment. but They just kept on... these These books would just make this band and this whole thing sound so fascinating to me. And it was just something like hey I was really curious to to hear it. You know, this was also...
00:29:35
Speaker
the time where after mom and dad take me to the bookstores, like we're going to do the, uh, you know, electronic store, you that's by or circuit city where they had CDs. And so, you know, I would have a part-time job by the time I was 16, 15, 16, working in at a barbecue restaurant and I had a little money and started buying CDs. And I just, I'm going to buy some guide by voice and CDs. I've,
00:30:01
Speaker
I've got to hear what this sounds like. And I remember the first time i bought one and I took it home. and i I still laugh at this because the the album that I bought is, it's like my favorite album of anybody's, let alone theirs. Really? That first one?
00:30:20
Speaker
Yeah. And i i purposely, i don't know why I did this, but I purposely decided I wasn't going to listen to it front to back. was just going to like, You know, you can do like the skip or the random setting. Yeah. And the first song I ever heard by them was actually one of the few songs on that album that wasn't written by Robert Pollard. It was by another songwriter who's in the band for a while named Tobin Sprout. And I was like, well, this is so awesome. And i was like, well, that's not even what I've been reading it. I was like, this isn't even like one of like this Bob Pollard song.
00:31:01
Speaker
So then I listened to it. And I mean, I was like, again, I was probably 15. fifteen The album I'm talking about is called B-1000, which came out in 1994. So I probably bought it like a year, year and a half after it came out. But it was just like, again, it was sort of like that moment when I saw them in concert a few years after this moment. But it sort of like,
00:31:26
Speaker
This sounds like nothing else I've ever heard of. And it also sounds very much like something I really like. And it just immediately clicked for me. It was a little, it wasn't professional.
00:31:41
Speaker
I mean, again, this was sort of like him and his buds in basement recording music on four tracks. I mean, it wasn't professional. It wasn't like the way you would hear things on the radio.
00:31:54
Speaker
And, you know, I remember telling somebody at some point, it really did at first. And this is, again, back when you you don't have the Internet. So I don't know what these people look like. I can't Google them. I can't. All I can see is, like, what I have in the CD booklet. And this is, like, peak era, 90s artwork. There's a lot of, like, collage stuff. He's also a collage artist. I'll get into that later maybe. Yeah.
00:32:19
Speaker
So it it just, it looked and it sounded like something from like deep space, like somewhere just like not of this world. And it looked, it was just, I just wondered now, like when, when kids at that age,
00:32:35
Speaker
when they try to get into something, like how much mystery is
Discovering Music Pre-Internet
00:32:39
Speaker
there? Because everything's right there for them. And at the time, it was just like, I don't know what this is.
00:32:46
Speaker
i don't know who these people are. And it's the coolest thing that I can think of right now. And it was just sort of an immediate thing. And and that's how it got started. I mean, it it really was sort of this I read something and I said, I'm going to check it out.
00:33:03
Speaker
And it could it could have gone bad. I mean, I could have bought like a Sublime CD or something. but i know i bought, I mean, I bought i bought two Guided by Voices albums that day and now it's just like, wow.
00:33:17
Speaker
And that was it. I mean, from that point forward, I had to do some work to find the the stuff that had come before because some of that was like really, really hard to find.
00:33:29
Speaker
You know, it wasn't like mass produced. At your local circuit city, right? yeah Right. I mean, it wasn't even... you know Austin still has a nice little record store downtown called Waterloo Records. I think I probably went in there a couple of times. and you know At some point, could start ordering stuff, and then I caught up. and i was thinking about this the other day because I just got the package in the mail a couple weeks ago with the the new CD. and I was like, how many... times have i ordered cds from them they they they're all like he's got his own record label now so he's doing it all himself it's total diy stuff but i mean i've probably been ordering music from him since the last century um so you always get the while the cd like the the physical cd yeah i mean they're they're
00:34:18
Speaker
Ethos is a little bit more towards the the vinyl. they they They still do a lot of vinyl records. and When I was growing up, I didn't have a record player. had a CD player. I bought a lot of CDs growing up and still kind of stick to it. I'll download stuff on my phone to play it like if I'm out in the car or going to the gym or something. I've got i mean i've got In the other room, I probably have every single Guided by Voices album on CD. Some like 40-something CDs are just Guided by Voices. And then all the the Robert Pollard albums. And then probably missing a few of the side projects. I'd have to go back and look. But it's been a been a rewarding thing to get into because it's it never stops.
00:35:12
Speaker
He's got a song... He's got a song, it's been a while ago, but I mean, this is how long ago it was. It was a while ago, but it was like in mid-career at this point. But had a song called Keep It In Motion.
00:35:25
Speaker
And I think that was sort of the idea, to keep this thing going and keep doing what he's doing. Because he's he likes doing and he's pretty damn good at it, too. Yeah.
00:35:36
Speaker
So he must like the collaborative aspect of it. And so even though he's the singer and songwriter, what level of input do the other bandmates have? Because otherwise he could just be, instead of it being guided by voices, everything could be Robert Pollard. with her a band that plays with him. So why do you think he likes the idea of the band aspect, even if it keeps changing?
00:36:03
Speaker
And I'd love to know there's any drama around why it changes so much. Well, I mean, for starters, they rock. i mean if's that they I mean, you can't rock out so hard with only one guy. No, but I mean, couldn't he be Robert Pollard and his band? Oh, yeah. you know Yeah.
00:36:23
Speaker
ah I don't know. When you got a name like Guide by Voices, it's, I mean, i don't know how many times I've probably been asked, is that a Christian band? It's like, no. I thought it was at first.
00:36:36
Speaker
yeah Well, you know, one one of the cool things is, you know, as a live performer, I've never seen him play the guitar.
00:36:47
Speaker
He does not play the guitar when he's on stage. I mean, that that frees him up to do scissor kicks and mic twirls. and i mean, he obviously plays guitar. I'm sure he's pretty pretty good at it over the number of years he's been writing songs on it. But, um you know, when he performs, it's he's got two typically two guitar players, one bass player and a drummer.
00:37:16
Speaker
And I suppose he he does it that way just because, know, again, they rock. But from what I can tell, reading interviews and and so forth, I think the the the way in which they typically record now is I think most of the band is elsewhere. he's He grew up and still lives in Dayton, Ohio.
00:37:43
Speaker
And I think he's got two or three guys who are in the New York City area. And I think another one's like in Nashville. Sounds like what they do anymore is like he he writes the songs and he kind of records them. I think what he does, he kind of calls them they're like roughs. and Sort like a kind of a demo almost where he plays the song and then he sends the tape.
00:38:04
Speaker
or and don't know if it's a music trial or what now, but then the the rest of the band records their parts and then they've got a producer who kind of splices that together and that's how a lot of their recording is done nowadays. Interesting.
00:38:23
Speaker
It is probably a pretty collaborative process from the standpoint where and he's got a kick-ass uh lead guitar player he's been with him for a long time so probably one of these where it's like i can play the rhythm guitar here to kind of give you an idea what this song's supposed sound like but i want you all to you know add some texture to it yeah so i mean he he's released a couple of um They haven't been like proper albums, but he's released stuff where it's just been him and his guitar, like the demos or the rough, so to speak, and just to him and his guitar. And and those sound obviously quite quite a bit more sparse than what you would hear on like a proper Cadet By Voices album. And frankly, it's it's all pretty cool stuff because you get the...
00:39:17
Speaker
The rough draft, so to speak, of something, and then you get like the album version. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Kind of see the early process. Yeah. yeah I think that like how you had told me at some point that there's also like a...
00:39:32
Speaker
and don't want to use the word rabid but like a very very strong fan base right like you're not the only like you're not by far like his biggest fan right i i am not the only one no now a matter of fact i was thinking probably when once this post i'll have to uh this out a little bit but um there are Quite a few like rabid fans. and I say rabid in like the most like referential way.
00:40:10
Speaker
reverend Oh, I mean. the Reverential. Let's, golly, when was this? I think this was 04. for But I had just graduated from college and i was going off to grad school in another state. And, you know, you have that moment where you're sort of like,
00:40:28
Speaker
I'm not going to know anybody. And I was sort of like, you know, sitting in my apartment one day and I, I don't know what prompted me, but looked and I found guided by voices message board and it had, think it had just kind of gotten started. And mean, I posted on there this morning about something. So I've been, it's been about 20 years since I've been on this thing, but they, There's a lot of people who found that site. And the coolest thing about that, I mean, there's a lot of cool things about it. But, I mean, I can weeks getting on there and not once talking about Guide By Voices. I mean, there's a lot. The people who, I think the kind of people who get into this band are the sort of people who would have been looking at those books that I was talking about when I was that age.
00:41:25
Speaker
I mean, they know music. I mean, they they know they know a lot of stuff about a lot of bands. And I've probably over the years learned about some stuff through those people. And I'm sure I've educated a few people on some things as well. But it's... ah It's been a really cool thing because It's probably the best place for me to find out about stuff that I'm going to like, because if you, if everybody there is kind of of the same mind with one thing, which they are, there's going to be a lot of overlaps and stuff. So, I mean, there's all sorts of music blogs and websites nowadays covering stuff. And I'll take a look at all of that because I'm interested in it, but.
00:42:13
Speaker
Probably some of the stuff that I've heard of or are kind of like gotten into over the years, some of that has just originated from conversations on there. And I've met some of them too. I mean, a lot of them come out here for shows and I've run into them elsewhere at other shows and stuff. And, you know, they're all pretty cool people.
00:42:33
Speaker
You do like meetups at shows? ah So one time, i mean, the first time I did this was 2012. I think it was 2012. And I was this when I was in grad school still and drove up to Larry, Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
00:42:52
Speaker
I was going through a divorce. So I had to two tickets to see Guided by Voices and only only one of us showed up for it And I was like, you know what? They had said something about going somewhere before the show.
00:43:07
Speaker
I'm going to check it out and I'm going to go over there and just see, see what this is all about. Cause you know, by that point I've been typing back and forth with some of these people for golly, close to 10 years or under 10 years at that point. Funny story about that.
00:43:24
Speaker
Some people still laugh about this, but they were outside of this, uh, pool hall bar or something. And, uh, I kind of thought that they all seemed like the people who I was going to meet. So I was standing out front and, you know, they all walked up and I asked him something about, you know, are y'all with the board or something? And they were all taking out their IDs cause they thought I was the bouncer at this place. So, um, you know, I'm,
00:43:57
Speaker
I suppose a little taller than than most people, a little bit bulkier, muscular than some people. So maybe I look like a a little bit like a bouncer.
00:44:08
Speaker
But yeah, that was my first introduction to any of those guys. And yeah, they were taking off their i ideas ready to show. i was like, nah. I'm wondering here to hang out with y'all. one of you But, uh, yeah, since I've been out here in Denver, I've been out here now for over 11 years.
00:44:31
Speaker
And, um, no, there's, mean, Patty, you mentioned this earlier. I mean, a lot of good reasons to come out here. There's a lot of places to go. I mean, a lot people want to come out and visit. So over the years, uh, there's been a couple of them come out and then hell one of them came from, uh,
00:44:49
Speaker
Belgium? Belgium? Yeah. So, I mean, Philadelphia, New York, Texas, Oregon.
00:45:00
Speaker
So, yeah, it's been pretty cool because like, and again, a lot of these, like they come out, like we're not going to a Guide By Voices show. You know, some of them, I think one or two we may have, but then some of them, it's like, come out to visit. We go out and meet up with them. and Yeah, interested in other things that... Right, yeah. I mean, they're telling me they're just... Just like real friends. Right.
00:45:25
Speaker
yeah Yeah. So, yeah, it has been sort of a cool thing.
Community & Music as Art
00:45:30
Speaker
You know, 20-some years ago, if you told me I was going to be on the message board, I probably would have thought I was like some kind of nerd or something, but...
00:45:39
Speaker
Well, and it's so great that like, do you ever think about that? I do this sometimes with like, because I listen to a ton podcasts, you know, like I'm like, oh my God, what if I hadn't just like started listening to that? Like, what if you hadn't gotten the Guided by Voices album and like had that reaction to it so much of this part in your life? Like you said, it could have been Sublime and you would have been like, me like well, I guess I hate music. No, actually, I don't really have an opinion about Sublime.
00:46:11
Speaker
Oh, they suck. there was monument that just That so like defines a lot of your life and not again, just as a fan of the band, but that community that it kind of has built for you. That's wider than the band. And are they not really a band that gets played on, would you say like, even, you know, your alternative music radio stations?
00:46:36
Speaker
Like serious. I have radio, but. absolutely no idea i have not listened to a radio and um well i take you know what i take that back there's a pretty cool um i guess it's a little bit like of an independent radio station out here it's called the colorado sound i forget what the call letters are the station number is but i think one time i mean they're they're they're like kind of independent and they they
00:47:09
Speaker
They're really great. They they of they have like a lot of ticket giveaways. I've gotten several free concert tickets over the years from them. But every once in a while, if I'm running an errand and I don't have time to really put something on, I'll put it on there. I think I've heard ah Guided by Voices song on their way.
00:47:28
Speaker
once or twice. But I mean, I'm not a... so you're not But it's not the kind of music that you're just going to happen on by listening to music, you know, listening to the radio. It's like, these are all people that have been introduced to it in a different way or sought it out. So it's just, it's it's very interesting in that way because so much music, not so much, but oftentimes music can come to you versus... It's fed to you by an alchemy. Well... um I'll put it this way.
00:48:00
Speaker
um And i'm I'm certainly generalizing a little bit here, but I think a lot of people just think of music as sort of something. Like, it's literally background noise for a lot of people.
00:48:16
Speaker
It's not something that... you often pay attention to it. Like it's sometimes you might pay attention to it, but then there's quite often it's just kind of something like, you you want to have the TV on while you're doing something else. You want to just have some music going. One of the reasons, well, one of many reasons why I i still buy physical music is because I want to read like who's on the album.
00:48:42
Speaker
And so like, I, I, I pay attention to like, who's the bass player or who's playing the pedal steel on something. And so when i go to shows, I'm like, Oh, that's so-and-so and that's so-and-so. And I think to a large part of people who are probably into this band or into this band, because they're not that way. You know, they're not the, it's a superficial kind of thing. Like they,
00:49:05
Speaker
they buy the shit. They, they, they pay attention to the stuff because it's like, this is not a passing thing for them. This is like, yeah, they're really into it. Like you're studying it. Right. And this is, this is a, well, I mean, not that, not to like, you know, hide in a tumor, but this is this isn't just music. This is, this is art. I mean, this is like expression. This is playing. And this is, you know, this is somebody, you know, a Probably one of the reasons why i really got into Guided by Voices. say My favorite song of all time is off that album, P-1000.
00:49:45
Speaker
And it's called i Am A Scientist. And it's probably the closest thing they ever had to a hit. And this 1994 when this came out. But I mean, it's a song about like...
00:50:00
Speaker
To me, it's a song about like creation and and making art. And he's got these lines in the song. it's He says, I'm a lost soul. I shoot myself with rock and roll. The hole I dig is bottomless and nothing else can set me free.
00:50:17
Speaker
And... I think there's a way of looking at that of like, that's how much like music means to him. It's like nothing else can set me free. And it's like, it's not just something that's sort of, I'm going to listen to something. like, no, you're going to sit down and listen to something. You're going to pay attention to it because when somebody, you know,
00:50:38
Speaker
puts the time to sit down and write something and put the lyrics into it and to actually put feeling and meaning into lyrics, just not like something you play going into a halftime show or something you play. So, you know, you're just like, oh, we got to like, know, just, you know, this is, this is something that, that that's somebody's life and somebody's, their artwork and their passion. And,
00:51:06
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, he's a musician, but I think he's also in a grander scheme. Like he's he's an artist. And yeah I think when you look at music in that light,
00:51:19
Speaker
you probably take more away from it. And there's probably a lot of musicians, Sublime, somebody else. where I mean, and I want to dog on Sublime too much here.
00:51:33
Speaker
But I mean, like, I don't know. Jump on to like Saturday Night Live some week and see who's playing. It's like, go back and look and see who played Saturday Night Live five years ago something.
00:51:43
Speaker
Like, are they even around still? Is it just sort of a passing thing? Or is this like... you know, something that has a lasting impact and it may not have a lasting impact for like millions of people, but I would say the music of guide by voices and pop pollard have had a lasting impact for a significant amount of people. And, uh, that's, that's a pretty cool thing.
00:52:07
Speaker
Yeah. I do think that the music now, um, nowadays and just generally over time that like, resonates more with people, like has some part of the the musician or the artist in it where it's feels more specific, less generic. Um, so that even if it's like kind of more poppy or like on, on a halftime show, but like, let's say it's directed at your rival, Drake, like it's going to be resonant, you know? So I like that, but
00:52:43
Speaker
Well, I'm curious. Okay, wait, hold Go ahead. Is there much of his like self in the the music? Like you, you and the song you mentioned, it was like very much so.
00:52:54
Speaker
And then I don't know about the rest. Like, deep would you say that it's like a lot of, well, probably yes. And now, mean, when you, when you have like 43 albums by just one band and like another couple of dozen by yourself. Yeah.
00:53:08
Speaker
But you know, one of the things back, back when, back, way back in the 90s, for example, i mean, another another to to bring up that album, B-1000 again, there was a song on there called Kicker of Elves. And, you know, there were there were times where, like, there were some songs that sounded very childlike. I mean, he was ah an elementary school teacher. So, like, I think he, in interviews at some point, had said, you know, like, he had gotten some of that imagery from from, you know, being around kids and teaching them.
00:53:42
Speaker
So, like, I don't know. Like, I mean, i I don't think he's a kicker of elves. I don't know what, know, what that would actually be. But, I mean, I would say he's a songwriter of of life in the sense, like, he's writing about love, about, he's writing about disappointment. He's writing about, I think there was something recently I read somewhere, maybe it was an interview, I just saw something interesting It's been said before, and I can't even remember who said it, but a lot of songs are like sad but triumphant. And so like there's this sense of like you know you know life is going to kick you down at some point. but you're gonna
00:54:22
Speaker
you know I'm even like, I'm doing this right now, like putting my fist up in there. I don't know how many songs of theirs that like you know like you just want to you know just shake your fist. You're like, yeah, this is rockin'. But yeah. Hey, talk about a hype song. Yeah. yeah You know, there you go.
Album Recommendations
00:54:41
Speaker
Brian, can you give us our homework? Yeah, I think I think what your homework should be is to take a listen to. two or three of their albums and you know these are probably in the range of like 30 to 30 40 minutes tops so one or two albums um you know some of the earlier stuff like i said was a little more of that low-fi fidelity sound and as they've progressed over the years they've kind of advanced too i wouldn't say anything that they have is is slick But there have been sort of like some advancements in their audio, their sound a little bit for the sound a little bit more maybe polished. But i yeah i would say listen B-1000, which was probably like their big breakthrough album in 94.
00:55:33
Speaker
ninety four and shoot they just released their 43rd album a few weeks ago it's called thick rich and delicious um so take a listen to b thousand 20 songs i think it's about uh 30 minutes and then uh their most recent album um called thick rich and delicious it's got a great song on there called uh you can never go uh galley i can't even think of it right now what is that title it's um
00:56:03
Speaker
Give me a second. It is. a had in my head. That's the thing about being a fan of this band. There's a lot of song titles. You can't go back to Oxford Talawanda.
00:56:15
Speaker
that was the first That was the first single, if yeah I guess, if you want to call it. from this one and I'm looking here it's exactly two minutes and 35 seconds long so it looks like the entirety of Thick Rich and Delicious is 37 minutes and 22 seconds and uh yeah B-1000 is 36 minutes and 30 seconds so roughly about an hour of your time for those two All right.
00:56:46
Speaker
I'm looking forward to this. I've heard about them for a while, but just their name and not anything else about them. So, except that they're good. So i'm looking forward to it They're awesome. yeah Finally.
00:56:59
Speaker
Well, thank you so much, Brian. Thank you. Thank For coming on and telling us all about it. And stay interesting. And stay interested. Bye.
00:57:11
Speaker
Thanks for listening to today's episode. Please subscribe, comment, and like the podcast. Follow us on Blue Sky Social at CanWeInterestYouIn. Send us an email at CanWeInterestYouIn at gmail.com. And join us next time.