As the bass player for the Pixies, Kim Deal was lost in the shadow of leader Black Francis. In the late '80s, the Pixies were one of the most critically acclaimed alternative bands; however, Deal didn't receive much credit for helping to carve the Pixies' distinctive potpourri of punk, surf music, and hard rock. Deal joined the Pixies in 1986 after answering an ad searching for a bassist. In 1990, while the Pixies took a break from recording and performing, Deal formed the Breeders with Tanya Donelly (guitar) of Throwing Muses and Josephine Wiggs (bass) of Perfect Disaster, releasing an album called Pod. The Breeders were intended to be a side project, but it became a full-time outfit for Deal. After recording one EP and four albums, the Pixies crumbled in 1992, mainly because Deal and Francis were no longer able to get along. In 1993, the Breeders released Last Splash, and Deal was suddenly inundated with the attention she was denied while with the Pixies. In fact, Last Splash was more successful in America than any of the Pixies' LPs. The track "Cannonball" exploded on MTV and on alternative stations, and Deal paved the way for other aggressive female rockers like Shirley Manson of Garbage and Courtney Love of Hole to be played alongside angst-ridden male vocalists. Burned out from constant gigs, the Breeders went into hibernation in 1994. In 1995, Deal and a few of her friends released an album, Pacer, as the Amps. In 2000, Deal began recording material with a revised Breeders lineup. ~ Michael Sutton