AUGUST 21, 2025 INTERVIEWS
Guided By Voices: a chat with Robert Pollard
If there's one person Tape Op readers have been dying to see interviewed in these pages it would have to be Robert Pollard, the dynamic, engaging leader and frontman of the popular combo known as Guided By Voices. I know a lot of kids out there see Bob as some sort of messiah of low-fi, the guru of 4-track or the inventor of the practice-tape-as-LP concept, and while I do find his music entertaining, I see him more as a great pop songwriter and less as a recording guru. Nevertheless, I tracked him down after soundcheck when the supercharged GBV (Cobra Verde + Bob) blew through town in June in support of their new CD, Mag Earwhig (Matador Recs). The secret origins of lo-fi appear here courtesy of John Petkovic, guitarist for GBV and Cobra Verde. And apologies are extended to Robert's wife.
