Even though you’ve spent time all around
the world and have lived in Boston and L.A.,

That’s when it becomes awkward, because there’s

nothing really to talk about. It’s like, “Yep, I know.”

as “Cannonball,” they know it as “the one about

the bowling ball!” It’s really weird, because I’ve

you still call Dayton home. Why do you prefer

never done interviews—through the ’90s and

here to bigger cities like New York?

There’s too much for me to do in New York. I just

How did you and Kelley work together on
this record?

Title TK, even—where anybody cared that

much about the Pixies. Around here, I was the

get there and do every drug I can get my hands

It’s very collaborative. Can I finish with that? Or

person in the band that did “the song about the

on. I have no idea how to set up a life there—the

else I’ll get in trouble with her.

bowling ball.”

idea of, like, hitting a café and having brunch in

a summer dress, maybe with a hat. I just go there

Is it ever competitive between the two of you?
So people in Dayton know you more for the

and go to studios and then hook up with the drug

No. Not musically, anyway. I feel more competitive

Breeders than the Pixies?

dealers. But I don’t do drugs anymore.

toward her husband. Like, if we were playing a

I don’t think either one. Probably Kelley’s drug

It’s been six years since you released Title
TK, and you’ve toured extensively with the

game, I’d really like to beat the shit out of him at

that game. Not her; I don’t really care. It’s because

Todd is so fucking competitive, he’ll try to beat

bust. Which is fine, whatever.

You were married when you started in the
Pixies since then. Have you felt added
pressure with the new Breeders album to

me—like with pool or a computer game, anything.

I’ll just want to smash him in the face with it,

Pixies, and you were credited as Mrs. John
Murphy. Do you ever regret not having that
reestablish yourself with your fans?

because he’ll want to beat me so bad.

simple, domestic suburban life?

No. When I got into music, I never thought any-

Why do you torture me? [Pretends to weep] Yes,

thing I did would sell—ever. Maybe growing up in

Dayton had a lot to do with that, too. You know,

With the Breeders’ lineup changing so much,
plus the fact that you made an album in 1995

I’m lonely. Yes, I’m single. And yes, I’m childless.

What more do you want? Yeah, of course. But I

a big thing around here is Reba. I got hit pretty

as the Amps, why not just record under your

can’t do anything about it. I was married briefly to

hard by Whitesnake and all that stuff. That was

own name?

a nice guy, but he wouldn’t quit dating. Awkward.

before the Internet, when I got music passed to me

on cassette. My sister knew somebody who lived

You know, when the Pixies were in Japan a few

years ago, a guy asked me, “Why don’t you do

But you bounced back—you were in

on the coast, and I knew somebody who lived in

solo stuff?” He was annoyed, I think, by this whole

relationships after that.

England. That’s how I first heard James Blood

Breeders, Amps, and then back to the Breeders-but-

Not a whole lot. I was busy. I read this article on a

Ulmer and the Undertones. Since Dayton’s not a

port town or a coastal town, there’s not a lot of

with-a-different-lineup thing. Maybe not annoyed,

more just confused. You know, why don’t I just

plane, in, like, Newsweek, about women breaking

through the glass ceiling in business. It was an

different types of music, so anything I did, nobody

go solo? It makes me nauseous thinking about it.

editorial where she was saying, “I have regrets, and

had the slightest interest in, and I never expected

[Whispers] “Kim Deal.” I don’t know, I like bands.

one is that I waited so long and I’m now childless.”

“^Ic^’m _wa_or_me^jee^a _ar^l _n^od^u _me^sc_ai^ts^h _ki_io^a _nn^t _gs^g_t^u _hI_ed^ys _mid^wh^h _da^o _inv_ne^m_ec^a _r.h^d _Iil^e _nd_er^t_ee^h_dn^e_aa^sn^a _wd^m_ifea^e_.”

It reminds me of a Roy Lichtenstein shirt: “Oh my

God, I forgot to have a baby!” Well, I was in my

early 30s when I read this, and I thought, “Note to

self: Got it. Won’t let that happen.” And here I am.

Was it hard to slow down?

No, I felt like I was available. I don’t know. Maybe

it’s because I look like a guy—it’s true! You

them to. I came to understand that I simply do

And I used to have no problem going out with an

know, they like girly-girl people, for real, and I

can’t—I’m just like, whatever, friend zone is cool.

not have it in me ever to do anything that will be of

acoustic guitar and playing out three sets with my

any interest to these people. And I feel really good

sister. But I’m sick of it. I like bands.

Does that bother you? Looking back, would

about that. When me and Kelley first started play-

ing, guys here wouldn’t play with us, because it’s

you have done anything different?
Why do you prefer them?

It used to. Now it’s just too damn late. But in the

not cool to have a girl onstage in a rock situation.

I think somebody has to be really good to be solo

late ’90s, it was really bothering me. I was using a

And to tell you the truth, I actually had never seen a

girl in a rock situation who did that well. I guess the

at something. I mean really good. Remember,

lot of drugs. You know, I think I was available, but

Pretenders did well, and that was cool. Blondie—

this is Dayton—there have been a lot of fucking

singer/songwriters around for years. And they’ll

maybe I wasn’t. Obviously. But I’m really jealous

that guys making the same career decisions I

but she was a singer, she actually never played. I

play at the drop of a hat for ya, for a really long

made find themselves with children running

didn’t really care about the frontperson; I liked the

playing. Talking Heads—[Tina Weymouth] played.

time. Please, if I ever do that, shoot me in the face.

I guess I could if I did it like [’70s singer/actor] Mac

around their house and a woman making them

dinner: “Honey, no, you go work. You’re an artist,

But in Dayton, there wasn’t a lot of that.

Davis. There was a Mac Davis variety TV show, and

that’s what you do. You’re a poet.” Sometimes I

at the end, he’d sit in the middle of the crowd and

think I need a wife.

But you turned out to be a role model for
many female musicians, and at the same

yell out things like “Green!” and somebody else

would yell out “Hat!” and right there, he’d have

After the success of the Pixies reunion tour,
time, a sex symbol of sorts—the cool girl

to make a song about a green hat. He would do

did you make any extravagant purchases?
among a bunch of geeky indie-rock guys.

verses, and they would usually be amusing. So

No. I’ve got my ’ 95 Volvo out there, and I’ve had this

How did you deal with that attention?

Very well. The people who knew the music were

never creepy, because they were like, “Oh my

I would be a variety-show person. Do you think

people would enjoy watching that for an hour?

house. We were just going to do a few shows, and

we were out for fucking years. I think it’s over now.

God, I loved it when you did that la la la thing,” and

The Breeders’ “Cannonball” was a huge hit
Was it a good experience?

you know what they’re talking about because it’s

always about something. The weird ones, they’re

not actually fans, they’re just fans of celebrity—the

in 1993. Do you find people just want you to
make songs like that, over and over?

It was so cool. People were so excited we were

there they were freaking out. Young kids—for the

It’s great that somebody even likes the song, or

first time, girls actually came to the show. They

idea that I might be in a magazine: “Oh my God!”

any song I’ve ever done. They don’t even know it

knew every song.