No-one quite has the back story around being in a band that Kelley Deal has when discussing the early days before and during joining The Breeders. As a kid, the guitarist wrote songs with her twin sister Kim, some of which Kim would retool for use on The Breeders’ debut album Pod. Kelley didn’t play on that record because of the un-rock’n’roll reason that she couldn’t get time off work. Before that, she’d also turned down joining her sister in the Pixies as drummer because she didn’t think her chops behind the kit were up for it and because she didn’t want to be in a band playing Black Francis’s songs, she wanted to play Kim’s songs. And besides, she had a job, a very good job, working as a Defence Contractor at a US Air Force base, top-secret clearance and all.
But the music kept on calling and she did eventually join her sister in The Breeders after the departure of original guitarist Tanya Donelly, hopping on board just in time to record their classic second record Last Splash. But then things went a little bit awry for Kelley, her heroin addiction derailing everything. Speaking to this writer a few years ago, she looked back on the tumultuous period.
