The legendary indie rockers Guided by Voices have been curving their own style since 1983 when the band was formed in Dayton, Ohio. The band just recently released their latest album, ‘La La Land’ – a diverse collection of unforgettable hooks.

On a hot streak of critical acclaim, Pollard continues expanding his songwriting towards extremes of prettiness, heaviness and poeticism. “La La Land is somewhat of a companion piece to ‘Tremblers and Goggles By Rank’ and continues to explore a path of diversity in styles and in longer, more adventurous song structures” – Robert Pollard

In the following interview Doug Gillard talks about working with Pollard and co. Gillard is one of the busiest guitarists around being involved with Nada Surf, Bambi Kino, Death of Samantha, Cobra Verde to name a few.

Guided By Voices | Photo Credit Trevor Naud

“We’ve been playing so long together that we have an innate way of following the tempo changes”

According to Robert Pollard, ‘La La Land’ is somehow a companion piece to ‘Tremblers and Goggles By Rank’. In what way do you think that?

Doug Gillard: They are companion pieces in that they contain slightly longer, multi-part songs. The album due out later in the year departs from this format.

<a href="https://guidedbyvoices.bandcamp.com/album/la-la-land">La La Land by Guided By Voices</a>

It’s incredible how complex the songs are becoming. How do you all usually approach music making together?

Bob’s demos are actually not as complex as the finished product, once we add our touches to the recording, but I see what you mean re: the basic structures. We’ve been playing so long together that we have an innate way of following the tempo changes and different movements within the songs.

The lineup of musicians that are currently playing is also something Pollard can experiment with. All of you are very experienced and technically skillful enough to make this right. Can you share some further words about what the recording and production process was like for the band?

Thanks. The band members typically record a few or most basic tracks together, whatever time allows, and do the rest of the tracks individually/remotely. ‘La La Land’ however, was one where we sent tracks in, mostly. The period in which we made this album had on and off COVID restrictions, at the same time we had “mini tours,” then back home to day jobs, et cetera so this method was the most efficient this time. We did it this way a couple times in 2020 as well.

Bob sends us his guitar and vocal demos and some production notes. I recorded rhythm guitars at home, Kevin March recorded drums at Magic Door Studios in NJ; sometimes my rhythm guitar was on the track, some he did to the demos, whatever was laid down by that point. By the same token, I recorded to just the demos sometimes, or if a drum track was finished first, I would put that version up and play to that. Then we take care of most of our instrumental overdubs prior to Travis Harrison going to Dayton to record Bob’s vocals (Travis Harrison, our producer). I went into his studio here in NYC to add or replace guitars, did an organ and synth on a couple things, et cetera. I do the strings/piano at home – Mark Shue did the piano on the song ‘Slowly On The Wheel’. Bobby sent in a couple backup Vox and did some at the vocal session too. We recorded drums/guitars/bass together in-studio to 2” tape for most of the next album, so it’ll have more of a live feel, which we’ve done before.

“We have an album coming out later this year”

What’s next for the band?

We have an album coming out later this year, and will start work on a brand new LP we just got the demos for shortly.

It’s absolutely impossible to follow everything you do… from being a solo artist, to performing with the groups Nada Surf, Bambi Kino, and Death Of Samantha, what are some of the latest stuff you worked on?

I wrote and recorded a Christmas song in December, dedicated to the late mountain lion P-22 for Jon Solomon’s Xmas radio show, which is available for free on my Bandcamp page. There are some projects in the Total Life Society stable I’ve worked on that haven’t been released yet. Total Life Society is Matt Wascovich from Cleveland, and he assembles different lineups for recording projects, assigning different names to the combos, with Scarcity Of Tanks being the first and main one, so that’s been fun. I played a tiny bit on the newest Metrolight LP, a mostly electronic duo consisting of Dave James and John Petkovic, my bandmates from Death Of Samantha. And there is a Gramercy Arms (Dave Derby) LP coming out soon I contributed to, as well as an upcoming Sally Crewe release.

I really enjoyed your last solo album from 2014. What was it like working solo to record ‘Parade On’? Is there a chance to make another solo release?

Thank you! It’s always fun, and I did two other LPs and one EP prior to that one. It’s gratifying, but I’ve always known I need engineers to help me record.

I would love to hear about the guitar and gear you are currently using. Don’t forget the effects and pedals too.

For live, I use my ’76 Les Paul I’ve had forever, with a pedalboard that has a bunch of stuff- 2 Boss EQs, EQD Tone Job, Strymon Flint, Way Huge Green Rhino, Holy Grail reverb. I go through my Mesa Dual Rectifier with 3 channels/Solo boost, and a Marshall 4×12 cabinet.

For recording, at home I’ll use whatever’s in the vicinity, honestly. If the Strat is within arm’s length and I don’t have to get up, that’s the one I grab. I usually prefer to use my ’67 Gibson ES-330. I’ve been using my baritone on a lot of tracks the last few years, as well as some things at the studio – a Strat with hot pickups and a whammy, et cetera at home, the amp is amp modeling in my DAW, and at studio, anything from Peaveys to an Orange combo or Mesa head.

Guided By Voices at First Avenue in Minneapolis | Photo by Tony Nelson

What are some of the most important players that influenced your own style and what in particular did they employ in their playing that you liked?

Way too many to mention! Chet Atkins records played a lot in the house when I was a kid. I think his sense of playing bassline with chords and melody thrown in all at once had an impact. Lennon/Harrison/McCartney for the obvious reasons. Townshend and Chuck Berry – early records I had and played along to. Wally Bryson’s playing in Raspberries was an influence – in Ohio, they were on the radio a ton. I was 10 when Frampton’s live LP came out, and playing along to that album helped expand my “lead” abilities beyond the pentatonic type stuff.

Then, The Cars’ first few albums came out and I really loved Elliot Easton’s playing. His solos had an arc to them; usually ascending somehow or ramping up in intensity, while also getting some fast little licks in. The early Pretenders’ James Honeyman-Scott struck me with his sense of melodicism that rocked, and his playing really made an impact on my approach from then on. Same with Chris Spedding, but his warm chunky sound was what drew me in more. He’s also on some early Nillson albums. Three Micks – Ronson, Green and Taylor, for entirely different reasons. Ronson for the sound and unique style. Mick Green of The Pirates’ style is insistent and aggressive in the best ways. Mick Taylor I heard a lot as a kid and he also had melodic skills. Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory from 79-83; the things they were doing sounded so innovative to me.

Around that time too, I was into Siouxsie, then found out about Magazine, so John McGeoch was definitely a huge one. He found the coolest riffs and chording- again, chunky shapes, that really appealed to me. Billy Bremner and Dave Edmunds are in there too. It was retro-ish enough, but rocked hard and they found new ways to play within that idiom. Glenn Tilbrook and Marshall Crenshaw are incredible players, able to play solos that go with quick chord changes but not in an obvious way. There were definitely things I heard in the 70s that seeped in there too like Robertson/Gorham in Lizzy, Fisher/Leese of early Heart, Iommi, Rick Nielsen, Frehley/Stanley, Andrew Gold’s work on the Ronstadt LPs, Jeff Beck for the sheer chance taking and innovations.

I told you there were too many! I feel like I’m still leaving out a shitload of players. Oh, Geordie of Killing Joke was a big one for a while for me – dissonance that still managed to be catchy… after this is done, I’m gonna go “oh yeah, I forgot ____” about 10 times.