PLEASE NOTE: This page was created by a fan.
Discography is a work in progress and currently does not include singles, box sets, or compilations.
"Extraordinarily influential, Pollard is not just a founding father of indie rock, but in the long run will prove to be an important part of rock history."
- robertpollard.net
Robert Pollard, born October 31, 1957, is a Dayton, Ohio, USA singer-songwriter, who until 2004 was the leader and creative force behind indie rock group Guided by Voices.
With over 1000 songs registered to his name, Pollard is among the most prolific songwriters of his time. In 2006 Paste Magazine listed him as the 78th greatest living songwriter. In 2007 he was nominated for the Shortlist Music Prize
Pollard began releasing solo records in 1996, alongside regular releases from Guided by Voices. These albums were typically recorded with a small group consisting of current or former Guided by Voices members, and they were generally considered to informally be part of the Guided by Voices canon, as that band would regularly perform selections from the solo releases in concert.
After the dissolution of Guided by Voices in 2004, Robert Pollard launched his official solo career with the release of From a Compound Eye in February 2006. Pollard's recent studio work has eschewed the live-band format, instead relying on the multi-instrumental talents of Todd Tobias, who produced several Guided By Voices albums.
In 2006, he resumed touring with a new band informally dubbed "The Ascended Masters", which featured Tommy Keene on lead guitar and keyboards, Dave Phillips on guitar, Jon Wurster on drums, and Jason Narducy on bass, but subsequent to the cancellation of some 2006 dates due to a leg injury, Pollard announced his retirement from touring. Despite this, Pollard has recently performed two shows in support of his new albums. The first show was on November 31, 2007 in Chicago, IL at The Metro. The second was on December 1st, 2007 in Newport, KY (across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, OH) at the Southgate House. After releasing Superman Was a Rocker in January he announced that he would be leaving Merge Records to form Guided By Voices, Inc., his own record label that will produce his entire musical library.
FADING CAPTAIN SERIES
During the mid-90's, in addition to GbV albums appearing annually, Pollard's prolificacy typically was vented onto innumerable singles, EPs, compilations and other side releases. However, once signed to a major label and constrained to the expectation of producing only a single album per 18 months, Pollard began the self-financed and released Fading Captain Series, a series of releases both under his own name, and a wide variety of pseudonyms. In addition to solo and archival releases, Pollard began collaborating with fellow musicians and friends by mail via a process dubbed "postal rock" - Pollard would receive completed musical backing tracks, and add his own lyrics and vocals. Albums under the Airport 5, Circus Devils, and Go Back Snowball monikers, among others were produced in this fashion.
In December 2006 Pollard announced that the Fading Captain Series was being concluded with the release of Crickets: Best of the Fading Captain Series 1999-2007, a 50-song "best of" collection spanning from 1999 through 2007.
The bands that used to release works in the Fading Captain Series now release records on other labels, such as The Takeovers' Bad Football coming out on Off Records and the Circus Devils Sgt. Disco coming out on Ipecac Records. In addition the Pollard albums Kid Marine, Motel of Fools and Fiction Man were all released in the Fading Captain Series although Pollard's other solo albums were not.
(read less)PLEASE NOTE: This page was created by a fan.
Discography is a work in progress and currently does not include singles, box sets, or compilations.
"Extraordinarily influential, Pollard is not just a founding father of indie rock, but in the long run will prove to be an important part of rock history."
- robertpollard.net
Robert Pollard, born October 31, 1957, is a Dayton, Ohio, USA singer-songwriter, who until 2004 was the leader and creative force behind indie rock group Guided by...
(read more)
