Release of Alien Lanes

Their true Matador debut came in 1995 with Alien Lanes , which, despite a five-figure recording allowance, was constructed out of home-recorded snippets on the cheap. Much of this era was recorded on Tobin Sprout’s Tascam Porta One Ministudio 4-track. The band’s underground following continued to grow, with notices coming from mainstream sources such as MTV and Rolling Stone . After sessions for a concept album entitled The Power of Suck were aborted, the band assembled Under the Bushes Under the Stars out of their first 24-track studio sessions, recorded with Kim Deal and Steve Albini among others, in 1996. However, the strain of heavy touring would ultimately lead to the demise of the “classic lineup”, with Sprout deciding to retire from the road in order to focus on raising his first child, his painting, and his solo musical career. Sprout and Pollard marked the occasion by releasing simultaneous solo albums on the same day in 1996: Sprout’s Carnival Boy and Pollard’s Not in My Airforce , with each making a guest appearance on the other’s album. Pollard maintained an active, parallel solo and side project career alongside GBV releases for the remainder of that band’s existence.