Doug Gillard Returns with Parallel Stride

Yes, there’s a new Guided By Voices album looming on the horizon with the upcoming release of Crawlspace of the Pantheon at the end of May.

But GBV fans have another reason to celebrate this spring with the impending issuance of multi-instrumentalist Doug Gillard’s latest solo album, Parallel Stride, which is due April 24 via Dromedary Records.

The album — Gillard’s fourth solo endeavor — was recorded in the New York City area by co-producer Tom Beaujour at Nuthouse Recording, and Travis Harrison at Serious Business Recording.

Rock & Roll Globe is proud to premiere the video for Parallel Stride’s first single, “Yes She Loves Me,” this morning on the site along with an exclusive Q&A with Gillard talking about the new album and a bunch of other cool stuff.

Pre-order Parallel Stride here.

 

How did you come up with the premise for “Yes She Loves Me”?

The music came together fairly quickly. The lyrics and melody sort of gelled all at once very shortly after that. I didn’t really think about it too much, which isn’t always the case for me, especially lyrics.

 

I really enjoyed the animation in the video and would love to hear more about how it was made and the meaning behind it?

Alex Dar lives in Russia and did the lyric video. I sort of left it to him to determine what the scenes were, but he makes really great animated lyric videos for many different artists.

Please tell me more about how you approached the creation of Parallel Stride. How does this album set itself apart from your other works?

The recording of this album was spread out over a few years, and some songs were recorded without the goal of putting them on an album, unlike the other records I’ve done. I decided I needed another album out, wrote several more songs and focused on getting it done.

 

What was it like working at Nuthouse Recording with Tom Beaujour? You and him go back a ways, right?

Yes. I’ve known Tom since 1998 or so when he was a rock writer. Shortly after that he started Revolver mag, and the relationship continued. Our paths continued to cross when I was a member of Nada Surf, as we would record at his studio. So then I got to know him in the engineering & production capacity. It’s great working there with myriad guitars, amps, pedals, other cool gear, and Tom is super knowledgeable and excels at vocal takes. He knows if you sang something you might want to redo, points it out, etc…

 

You’ve been living in NYC for almost 20 years now. How has city life inspired or informed your songwriting? What’s it like living in the city for you in 2026?

It definitely supplies some ideas for writing, such as dealing with neighbors, sidewalks, supers, the corporate building managers. Walking in the particular area I’m in, and among the stores that exist, sort of provides a familiar comfort. Music or words pop into my head sometimes so I whip out the ol’ phone to sing it into a voice memo.

 

I am a big fan of Bambi Kino and would love to know how that project came together.

Thanks for asking! We’re still together. We formed in 2010 to commemorate the then-50th anniversary of the Beatles going to Hamburg, with plans to play the Indra — the first venue they played there. So we did that, playing four nights there and recording part of our album on the Indra stage. We just played a show this January in NYC and are looking to possibly play another within the year. We live on different coasts, so it’s not always easy to convene, but we are always looking to play and record. Mark Rozzo just co-wrote Fab Five Freddy’s memoir with him, Erik Paparazzi is touring in Cat Power among other projects he’s involved with in LA, and Ira has a cool new podcast “A Hard Day’s Late Night With Ira,” still plays in Nada Surf, and lives in Sarasota. We’ve done a few standalone singles the last few years, including one where Mark Lewisohn sings the lead vocal (Lewisohn just used it in the end credits of his recent streaming film of his “Evolver ’62” presentation). Last fall, a double-CD tribute to The Raspberries was released, and we do a track on that as well. There is also a Bambi Kino Instagram page. Not very 1961 of us, I know, but…

 

 

Super excited about the next GBV LP, Crawlspace of the Pantheon. What can you tell us about the album?

Thanks — it will be released officially on May 29th, and we have a couple of bangin’ singles that are out already.

I think it’s loaded with wall-to-wall great songs and great cover art from Bob.

 

What are your plans in terms of touring behind Parallel Stride?

There are a couple of shows in the New York area planned in May, and we’re working on adding some more.

 

Dromfest is coming up. Who is your dream headliner and why?

I can’t really say who is playing Dromfest this year, as Al likes to keep it under wraps for a nice surprise element, which I totally agree with, but I think I will be on the bill somewhere! As far as a dream headliner – I have to say, I have no idea who that would be. The ’79-82 Pretenders maybe?

 

VIDEO: Doug Gillard “Yes She Loves Me”