The “I word” gets thrown around a lot in music journalism, but to call Kim
Deal an icon is by no means a stretch. The influential musician’s stamp
is all over the last four decades of alternative rock. And on March 7 the founding
bassist of the Pixies and front woman of the Breeders and the Amps will rock the
roof of the Bearsville Theater.
Deal arrives in support of her much-awaited solo debut album, Nobody
Loves You More, which came out last November. Born in Dayton, Ohio, Kim and
her twin sister, Kelly Deal, got interested in music while they were both very
young and formed their first band, a folk rock group, when they were teenagers.
While living in Boston in 1986, she answered an ad by a band looking for a bass
player that had been placed by singer-songwriter Black Francis aka Frank Black;
the project became the Pixies, who emerged as one of the biggest acts on alternative/college
radio and released five massively successful albums before breaking up in 1993
(the band would reunite with Deal in 2004 and has continued with other
bassists). As an outlet for her own songs, she launched the Breeders in 1989.
The Breeders, who soon included Kelly Deal, toured with Nirvana in 1993
and scored a worldwide hit with “Cannonball, from their sophomore album, Last
Splash. When that band went on hiatus, Kim next formed the short-lived
Amps but eventually reactivated the Breeders for touring and recording. Nobody
Loves You More has been well received by the music press, with AllMusic calling
it “some of her finest music yet, and while any of these songs would’ve been a
standout with one of her other projects, it’s all the sweeter that they’re hers
alone.”
Kim Deal will perform at the Bearsville Theater on March 7 at 7pm. Hello
Mary will open. Tickets are $66.50-$120.50.
This article appears in February 2025.
