GBV Tour To Include Four Shows With Cheap Trick

By archive-Brian-Hiatt

August 19, 1999 / 9:52 PM

Lo-fi pioneers Guided by Voices are taking the newly polished sound of their 12th album, Do the Collapse, on the road for one of the most extensive tours they've ever done, which will include four September shows with power-pop veterans Cheap Trick.

The North American tour is scheduled to begin Sept. 8 at the Cotton Club in Atlanta, according to an itinerary on Guided by Voices' official website (www.gbv.com). It will last at least until the end of the year, said Carleen Donovan, a spokesperson for TVT Records.

Thirteen dates have been confirmed so far in the Eastern U.S. and Canada, ending with a Sept. 25 show in Buffalo.

The Dayton, Ohio, band will play a hometown show Sept. 12.

The album, released Aug. 3, is currently #1 on CMJ's Top 200 chart of college-radio airplay.

Before the album came out, Pollard, who has led the band for more than a decade through numerous lineup changes, said he wasn't worried that some of the band's fans might reject Do the Collapse, which features the slickest production of any album in the band's catalog, courtesy of former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek (Weezer, Nada Surf). It includes the single "Teenage FBI" (RealAudio excerpt) and the ballad "Hold on Hope" (RealAudio excerpt).

"It's pop, but real powerful power-pop," Pollard said. "There may be some of our fans who like it when the songs sound different, with a different fidelity, but these are all f---ing hi-fi."

The touring lineup consists of Pollard, guitarists Doug Gillard and Nate Farley, drummer Jim MacPherson and bassist Tim Tobias. Pollard recorded the album with Cobra Verde guitarist Gillard, ex-Breeders drummer MacPherson and longtime GBV bassist Greg Demos.

Guided by Voices made their name in the mid-'90s with the scratchily recorded power-pop albums Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes, as well as a barrage of nonalbum singles and EPs. In concert, they also draw on material from Pollard's three solo albums, the most recent of which was Kid Marine (1999), as well as from his side project Lexo and the Leapers, which released the EP Ask Them in May.

The shows with Cheap Trick, whose '70s and '80s hits included "I Want You To Want Me" (RealAudio excerpt) and "The Flame," will take place in September in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Cheap Trick released a live album, Music for Hangovers, in June.

No other shows with Cheap Trick are planned; different bands will open for Guided by Voices in each city elsewhere on the tour, Donovan said.

Guided by Voices Tour Dates:

Sept. 8; Atlanta, Ga.; Cotton Club

Sept. 9; Carrboro, N.C.; Cat's Cradle

Sept. 10; Washington, D.C.; 9:30 Club (with Cheap Trick)

Sept. 12; Dayton, Ohio; TBA

Sept. 13; Morgantown, W.V.; 123 Pleasant Street

Sept. 15; New York, N.Y.; Roseland (with Cheap Trick)

Sept. 16; Boston, Mass.; Avalon Ballroom (with Cheap Trick)

Sept. 18; Philadelphia, Pa.; Electric Factory (with Cheap Trick)

Sept. 19; Providence R.I.; Met Cafe

Sept. 21; Winooski, Vt.; Higher Ground