It's not easy being a Breeder. Being a member of the Dayton, Ohio, band that is. With sisters Kim and Kelley Deal delving off onto their own solo projects (Kim with the Amps and Kelley with the Kelley Deal 6000), not to mention Kelley's drug arrest last year, the status of the Breeders as a band has been less than stable to say the least. It's no surprise then that Breeders bassist Josephine Wiggs decided to release her own solo project this year as part of The Josephine Wiggs Experience.
The story of The Josephine Wiggs Experience started eight years ago when Wiggs, then part of the band Perfect Disaster, met up with drummer John Mattock, who was then part of the band Spaceman 3. The two then began what Wiggs called "extracurricular playing" in an interview with The Michigan Daily. The result was an album released in 1992 called "Nude Nudes" under the name Honey Tongue on a small British label.
Four years later, Wiggs and Mattock have returned "Bon Bon Lifestyle" on Grand Royal Records as The Josephine Wiggs Experience. When asked why she changed the name of the band, Wiggs replied in her British accent, "It was partly because I was just bored with that name. It's like an old sweater that you kind of get tired of and you just want something new."
With titles like "Make Me Feel Like Doris Day" and "Going Home," the songs on "Bon Bon Lifestyle" conjure up images of housewives living ordinary lives.
"Most of the songs were written over a period of about four years," Wiggs explained. "A lot of them have to do with yearning after domesticity and having a more settled life and that kind of thing. The whole Doris Day (lifestyle), you know, fantasizing about being a housewife because it's so opposite the way I've actually lived for the last 10 years of my life."
In keeping with the domestic theme, the music on "Bon Bon Lifestyle" has a very laid back groove to it - sophisticated, yet not over-produced. Wiggs' lilting voice haunts you while the unconventional instrumentation on the album, especially on the instrumentals, keeps the tracks from becoming boring.
As for the inevitable question on the status of her friends in the Breeders, Wiggs replied, "I know Kim's been in New York for awhile doing some recording. ... I don't know whether it's gonna be another Amps thing or a full fledged solo thing or whatever."
While the present state of the Breeders is still questionable, Wiggs has used her time wisely and has produced a piece of work that's definitely something to "experience."