The Amps released one album,
Pacer which was recorded at several different studios. The first session, at
Easley Studios in
Memphis was engineered by Davis McCain and Doug Easley. Deal recorded new songs there including what would become
Pacers single, "Tipp City". Following the Easley Studios session, recording for
Pacer continued at six other locations in total, including studios in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dublin, and Deal's hometown of
Dayton. The Amps toured throughout 1995 and 1996. Early performances, before releasing
Pacer, included June–July 1995 shows in Dayton: one with Guided by Voices at
Gilly's and another with
Poster Children. They toured with Guided by Voices and
Chavez in the United Kingdom in September, in cities such as Sheffield, Glasgow, Brighton, and London;
Chrissie Hynde of
the Pretenders attended the London concert as a birthday present to herself, and afterwards came backstage to meet Deal. The Amps played another show with Guided by Voices in Ohio in October. The Amps performed a series of US concerts in October and November with
Sonic Youth, among which were shows in Detroit and Chicago with
Helium, in Seattle and Portland with
Bikini Kill, and in Los Angeles with
Mike Watt and Sonic Youth. Following the concerts with Sonic Youth, the Amps did a tour of Europe, In January 1996, they played the
Summersault festival in Australia. That year, the Amps toured with
the Foo Fighters in the United States, in locations such as Chicago (with
That Dog), Worcester, Massachusetts, and Austin, Texas (with
Jawbreaker), as well as playing one more concert with Guided By Voices, in early March in Newport, Kentucky. At this show, Deal had a permanent falling-out with Robert Pollard when Guided By Voices unintentionally used up all the
soundcheck time. In 1995 or 1996, they also played shows with the Tasties
Greg Kot of
The Chicago Tribune described one of their Chicago performances as "off-kilter" and wrote that "Deal's pungent vocals were swallowed up by the guitars, and the foursome's slight melodies were lost amid all the bashing."
The Phoenixs Matt Ashare felt that at their December 1995 show in Boston "the Amps didn't click in a way that would suggest that this was Deal's new, full-time band"; he added that it was "an unpretentiously gritty way for Deal to let off some steam while the Breeders [took] a little break". In
Boston Rock, this concert was characterized as "sloppy" but "charm[ing] ... hanging loosely off Kim's gruff vocals and ebullient personality". == Reforming the Breeders ==