Closer You Are
The Story of Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices
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4.9 • 8 Ratings
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
The authorized biography of Robert Pollard, indie rock icon and founder of the music group Guided By Voices
Robert Pollard has been a staple of the indie rock scene since the early '80s, along with his band Guided By Voices. Pollard was a longtime grade school teacher who toiled endlessly on his music, finding success only after adopting a do-it-yourself approach, relying on lo-fi home recordings for much of his and his band's career. A prolific artist, Pollard continues to churn out album after album, much to the acclaim of critics and his obsessive and devoted fans. But his story has never been faithfully told in its entirety. Until now.
Author Matthew Cutter is a longtime friend of Pollard and, with Pollard's blessing, he's set out to tell the whole, true story of Guided By Voices. Closer You Are is the first book to take an in-depth look at the man behind it all, with interviews conducted by the author with Pollard's friends, family, and bandmates, along with unfettered access to Pollard himself and his extensive archives.
Robert Pollard has had an amazing and seemingly endless career in rock music, but he's also established himself as a consummate artist who works on his own terms. Now fans can at long last learn the full story behind one of America's greatest living songwriters.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This authorized biography of Bob Pollard, the pugnacious singer and songwriter behind the scrappy indie band Guided by Voices, is a blast. Cutter, a musician, describes the life of Pollard, who grew up on the blue-collar side of Dayton, Ohio, in the 1960s and, due to his love of the Beatles, developed a record-buying addiction. Pollard played baseball in high school and at Wright State College before becoming a musician and a lo-fi-recording savant "marathon affairs accompanied by copious amounts of beer, pot, and coke" while working as a public school teacher. He formed Guided by Voices in 1983, and the band had its first, inauspicious show in a Dayton bar where Nick Nolte was in attendance. Despite Pollard's near-maniacal level of productivity and the band's eagerness to make it ("Lacking a scene, they made their own"), it wasn't until a 1993 show at CBGB that the band caught fire. Cranking out album after album of esoteric power pop, Guided by Voices became one of the landmark American indie bands of the 1990s. Though Cutter's attention to detail (especially with regard to gigs and recordings) drags the narrative in spots, he has captured the raucous and squalling voice of a powerful American songwriter.
