Talking Demos With Tobin Sprout

Tobin Sprout might not have participated in this year’s 40th anniversary festivities for Guided By Voices.

But that’s alright, because the 68-year-old songsmith has a formidable legacy beyond his old band, one that is currently being honored in the form of a new two LP set of unreleased demos, live recordings and alternate versions of songs from throughout his career, from his first solo album Carnival Boy (1997) to his latest LP Empty Horses (2020).

It also contains two re-mastered songs from hard-to-find compilation albums: “Cryptic Shapes” off 1998’s I Stayed Up All Night Listening To Records (A Collection Of Field Recordings) and “Small Parade” from the 1997 What’s Up Matador collection. There’s also piano versions of GBV favorites “14 Cheerleader Coldfront” and “Atom Eyes.”

Rock & Roll Globe recently caught up with Mr. Tobin for a quick hello to ask him about this impressive anthology and what it entails.

They only pressed up 500 vinyl copies of Demos and Outtakes 2 (now sold out) and 200 CDs (still available), so act fast if you want a copy.

 

When did you first begin work on this second volume of demos and outtakes? How does it make you feel going through your vault and putting together a collection like this? Is it akin to going through an old photo album perhaps?

I have files of songs I’ve recorded over the years that for one reason or another don’t get used. They tend to show up when I’m looking for something. I think about re-recording them but find I like them as they are, or they have moments that I could never replicate. Most just seem like misfits but still have something special that I like about them. I started compiling them along with some old demos, and piano versions of songs, into what first was a triple album, that then got reduced to a double album. In the end, it became Demos and Outtakes Two. I wish I had included more information about the songs with the artwork, but at the time I just saw it as a bootleg or something. It seems a bit more than that now.

 

VIDEO: Tobin Sprout “Small Parade”

Is there a track on this new set you regret leaving off a final album? Which one and why?

I had to cut a song called “Bio Souls” from the album. I wish I had left it on, but maybe I will try playing it live sometime. Mitch (Mitchell) called and asked me for a song and I gave it to him to record. Really looking forward to hearing what he does with it. There are a few others that might end up on something.

 

The piano versions of “14 Cheerleader Coldfront” and “Atom Eyes” are fantastic. Were these songs written on piano? How often is it for a GBV song to start at the piano?

I like to play around with songs in the studio. It’s interesting to me to hear what a song would sound like with just piano and vocal, sort of live. “Atom Eyes” was one of the first ones I recorded this way. I mostly do them for myself. “14 Cheerleader Coldfront” another one. “Indian Ink,” (was left off the album because it was too long) and others. They kept coming back as something that should be included on something and Demos seemed to be a good place for them. I also did this with GBV. I worked out a version of “Wandering Boy Poet” on piano, and we recorded it during the Peel Sessions.

 

What do you have coming up in terms of new material?

My son Turner and daughter Martha are both working on albums. I’ve been helping them with producing and recording. Plan to put their albums out on Petrified Fish. I’m also working on a Bevil Web LP, and have some other children’s books in the works.

How much recording did you do before joining GBV in 1987? Is there a Tobin Sprout: The Early Years collection hiding out somewhere?

fig.4, a band I formed in 1982 with Dan Toohey and John Peterson. We released an EP (1983) and LP (1986). There was also another album of material called Milk Money, that was never released. I also did a lot of recording with my friend Tim Smith. We had a duo and also a band called Straight Up. We recorded on a reel-to-reel that Tim had and also at Mike Jones’s studio in East Dayton. No plans to release any of the material at this time.

 

As a big fan of the cover art to Demos and Outtakes 2, I’d love to know the story behind it.

My wife Laura did the cover of Demos. I love it too. It’s called Zero Zero Seven. I have used her work on other projects like the cover of The Universe And Me. She has a way of building layers of interesting images, found pieces, and words that make me see something new every time I look at one of her pieces. She works from old books, magazines, vintage science school readers. I think she is very talented.