“There’s been no time period that we don’t fit into,” says Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices. “A lot of people connect with the ’60s thing. I think that’s with the melodies; I don’t think melodies have ever been as good as in the ’60s. We also have the metal edge and the punk edge. […]
“There’s been no time period that we don’t fit into,” says Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices. “A lot of people connect with the ’60s thing. I think that’s with the melodies; I don’t think melodies have ever been as good as in the ’60s. We also have the metal edge and the punk edge. And sometimes we have that post-punk thing going. A little glam, power pop, everything.”
Truth be told, Pollard told us that way back in 1997. And given that GBV celebrates 35 years making records in 2021, Pollard and Co. have only continued to branch out musically since he made that statement, with the last few GBV records, for example, showing off a more-overt prog side.
But Pollard is often a soft-rock renegade and a pop Zeus with a psychedelic eye, so to exorcise these very-real demons, he temporarily reconfigured Guided By Voices into a psych pop/rock band called Cub Scout Bowling Pins. Think of Cub Scout Bowling Pins as GBV’s equivalent of XTC’s Dukes Of Stratosphear. (Kids, ask your grandparents to explain the reference.)