Formation performing with the band, Kim Deal, not fulfilled in her subordinate role as bassist of the Pixies, began writing new material while the Pixies were touring
Surfer Rosa in Europe with
Throwing Muses. As neither band had plans in the immediate future, Deal discussed possible side projects with Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donelly. They recruited
Carrie Bradley, violinist and vocalist in Boston band
Ed's Redeeming Qualities, and recorded a short demo tape. Tracks on the demo tape included early versions of "Lime House", "Doe", and "Only in 3's". With the help of three different drummers—
David Narcizo,
Mickey Bones, and Carl Haarer—and bassist Ray Halliday, Deal and Donelly completed their demo tape and subsequently played one show at
The Rathskeller in Boston. They were not called The Breeders at this point, but were billed as "Boston Girl Super-Group". Deal originally described the band as "
the Bangles from Hell". The name Breeders had previously been used for a band Deal led with her twin sister Kelley.
Pod (1990–1991) 4AD gave Deal and Donelly a budget of $11,000 to make an album. Deal asked
the Perfect Disaster's
Josephine Wiggs to play bass. The two had first met when Perfect Disaster supported the Pixies in London in 1988. Deal asked
Steve Albini, who had worked on the Pixies' 1988 album
Surfer Rosa, to record the album. The Breeders did not have a drummer, so Albini suggested
Britt Walford of
Slint. Walford agreed to play on the album under the pseudonym "Shannon Doughton". A week of rehearsal took place at Wiggs's house in
Bedfordshire, England, and
Pod was recorded in ten days in
Edinburgh, Scotland. Returning to London, they played two shows, the only time that this lineup ever appeared onstage together. Released on 28 May 1990,
Pod was cited by
Kurt Cobain as one of his favorite records ever: "The main reason I like [the Breeders] is for their songs, for the way they structure them, which is totally unique, very atmospheric. I wish Kim was allowed to write more songs for the Pixies, because '
Gigantic' is the best Pixies song, and Kim wrote it." He listed
Pod as one of the 50 albums he thought were most influential to
Nirvana's sound in his journal in 1993. In July 2007, Albini said he considered the album among his best works.
Safari and Last Splash (1992–1994) Following
Pod, the members of The Breeders returned to their original bands. The Pixies released
Bossanova in 1990 and
Trompe le Monde in 1991, but by the end of 1991 were becoming less active. Deal, with time off from the Pixies, visited Wiggs in Brighton, and they went into a London studio with
Spacemen 3/
Spiritualized drummer
Jon Mattock to record a new song called "Safari." The other three tracks on what became the
Safari EP were recorded in New York with Walford and Donelly, who was by then planning to form
Belly. Deal then asked her sister Kelley to take over on guitar, even though Kelley did not know how to play guitar. The Pixies became inactive in mid-1992, at which time drummer Jim Macpherson was recruited and The Breeders became a full-time band, In January 1993, The Breeders went to Coast Recorders in San Francisco to record their second album.
Last Splash was released in August 1993 to widespread acclaim and commercial success. Three singles were released from the album, including "Cannonball", which made it to no. 2 on the
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The band contributed a live recording of the song "Iris" to the 1993 AIDS-Benefit Album
No Alternative produced by the
Red Hot Organization. In 1993, they toured supporting Nirvana on their
In Utero tour, and in 1994,
Last Splash received a platinum
certification by the
Recording Industry Association of America. Also in 1994, the band secured a prime spot on the
Lollapalooza tour. The Breeders also performed in an episode of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer in early 2002. They were approached by the production staff after they had been playing the show's theme, written by
Nerf Herder, as a regular part of their concert set. The episode is entitled "
Him", and aired November 5, 2002; they sang their song "Little Fury" at the Bronze. They also contributed the track "Wicked Little Town: Hedwig Version" to the 2003
Hedwig and the Angry Inch tribute album, "
Wig in a Box".
Mountain Battles and Fate to Fatal (2008–2010) Mountain Battles was released in April 2008 on
4AD. It features Kim and Kelley, Jose Medeles, and Mando Lopez. They went to Refraze Recording Studio in
Dayton, Ohio to record and mix the majority of the tracks. The Breeders' third EP,
Fate to Fatal was released on April 21, 2009. It contains a
Bob Marley cover ("Chances Are") and a song with vocals by
Mark Lanegan ("The Last Time"). The title track was recorded at The Fortress Studios, London, by
The Go! Team producer
Gareth Parton. The music video featured the
Arch Rival Roller Girls, a
St. Louis roller derby league. They curated an edition of the
All Tomorrow's Parties festival in May 2009 in Minehead, England. They played the
ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York, in September 2010.
LSXX and All Nerve (2012–present) In 2012, the reunited
Last Splash lineup of Kim and Kelley, Macpherson, and Wiggs announced
a tour to coincide with a 20th anniversary reissue by 4AD of
Last Splash, entitled
LSXX. The tour began in the US, continued in Europe, Australia, and South America, and included the
Deerhunter-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival. A teaser video was made by the band showing the reunited lineup in rehearsal. In a June 2016 article,
Stereogum reported that the band was in their Ohio studio recording a follow-up to
Mountain Battles, and that
Courtney Barnett, who was in town for the
Nelsonville Music Festival, recorded some backup vocals for one of the album's songs. A single, "
Wait in the Car", was released on October 3, 2017: as well as the digital release, it came out as three different seven-inch records limited to only 1,500 copies.
Rolling Stone described the song as "a classic Breeders bruiser, clocking it at two minutes, and packed with punchy drums, sugar-rush power chords, and lead riffs". During a
BBC interview with
Lauren Laverne on October 13, 2017, Kim revealed that the band expected to release a new album in 2018, possibly on the 4AD label. 4AD announced on January 9, 2018, that the new album,
All Nerve, would be released on March 2, 2018. The title track was released as the album's second single on the same day.
All Nerve, was released as planned on March 2, 2018. In March 2021, the band released their first new recording in over three years: A cover of
His Name is Alive's "The Dirt Eaters." The cover is part of a forthcoming
4AD covers compilation, entitled
Bills and Aches and Blues. The band performed at the
22nd Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2023. They went on to undertake a US tour to mark the 30th anniversary of
Last Splash with Belly in support on some dates, during which Tanya Donelly joined the Breeders onstage for the encore. Early in 2024 they supported the
Foo Fighters on their
tour of New Zealand. On September 13, 2023,
Olivia Rodrigo announced her
Guts World Tour for February through August 2024. Their MSG set on April 8 was praised by
Billboards Andrew Unterberger, who wrote that seeing the band "get the chance to become
arena-rockers that should have long been theirs by right of their inspired '90s work – which has also since extended to excellent albums in the '00s and '10s – was a very powerful thing", When asked about the MSG shows in an interview, Kim Deal said it was odd at first, but after learning Rodrigo knew
St. Vincent and is a fan of
Billy Joel and
Sheryl Crow, she said "[Rodrigo]'s just really into music. Knowing that, it made more sense. She just really liked us!" == Band members ==