Indie rock heroes Guided by Voices had mostly abandoned their four-track ways by 1996, but frontman Robert Pollard still had a hankering for the lo-fi buzz that made GBV an underground sensation. Another in the growing series of Pollard's side projects, Lexo and the Leapers features Dayton, OH's the Tasties serving as the sound behind Pollard's brief, intense pop songs. The Tasties consist of Gale Bonham (guitar), Terry Lerma (bass), Luis Lerma (drums), and Nate Farley (guitar). Farley and Luis Lerma had previously played with Kim Deal in the Amps and Farley would become a full-time member of Guided by Voices in 1999. The result of the Pollard-Tasties collaboration is a more raw, straightforward rock sound than had previously appeared in Pollard's extensive catalog. The group's first EP, the six-song Ask Them, appeared on Rockathon Records in 1999 as the second part of Pollard's Fading Captain Series. "Fair Touching," a track from Ask Them, appears in a re-recorded form on the slickly produced Guided by Voices album Isolation Drills. This is evidence that Lexo and the Leapers are the lo-fi answer to the loud, crushing approach taken by Guided by Voices after their 1997 album Mag Earwhig. Whether Lexo and the Leapers were put together just for a one-off release or as a permanent collaboration remains to be seen. While a second release had not appeared by 2001, Pollard is known to abandon projects only to reinvent them years later. ~ Scott Sepich