Tobin Sprout
- Indie rock
- indie pop
- Musician
- songwriter
- visual artist
- children's author
- Guitar
- vocals
- Matador
- Merge
- Fire
- Moonflower Records
- Fading Captain Series/Luna
- Guided by Voices
- fig.4
- Eyesinweasel
- Airport 5
Tobin Sprout (born April 28, 1955) is an American visual artist, musician, songwriter, and children's author. He is best known as a former member of the indie rock band Guided by Voices. He served as a secondary major songwriter and guitarist of the group from 1987 to 1997 and again from 2010 to 2014.
He was also a founding member of the band fig.4, who participated in the Dayton new wave scene in the mid 80s.[1]
Life and career
Early life
Sprout was born in Dayton, Ohio and graduated from Centerville High School in 1974.[2] After graduating from high school, Sprout studied graphic design and illustration at Ohio University.[3]
Guided by Voices: 1987–1997
A self-taught musician, Sprout played with and was a major collaborator of the Dayton band Guided By Voices. Employing a four-track recorder and a home studio he contributed to the lo-fi sound of Guided by Voices, and he was a member of the band from 1987 through 1997, and again from 2010 to 2014. The band frequently recorded in Sprout's home studio,[4] and as a member of the band he contributed as a co-writer, multi-instrumentalist and studio engineer.[5] Guided by Voices songs written by Sprout include "It's Like Soul Man," "Awful Bliss," and "Atom Eyes". Between the 1997 split and the 2010 reunion, he appeared on three more Guided by Voices recordings, contributing piano to the Isolation Drills song "How's My Drinking?"[6] and guitar to the Half Smiles of the Decomposed tracks "Girls of Wild Strawberries"[7] and "Huffman Prairie Flying Field".[8]
Solo projects
Although a visual artist[9] by trade, he has continued to write his own music, releasing Carnival Boy in 1996, Moonflower Plastic in 1997 and Let's Welcome the Circus People in 1999. He wrote songs for a project called Eyesinweasel which were collected on 2000s Wrinkled Thoughts. His Demos and Outtakes collection was released in the following year. In 2001, Sprout rejoined with Robert Pollard (of Guided by Voices) to form Airport 5, independently releasing numerous singles and 2 full-length albums, Tower in the Fountain of Sparks and in 2002, Life Starts Here. He has continued writing and composing independently, from his home in Leland, Michigan, recording and releasing his fourth solo effort Lost Planets & Phantom Voices.
In 2009, Sprout released his first children's book, Elliott, published by Mackinac Island Press.[10]
In 2010, Sprout released his fifth solo effort, The Bluebirds Of Happiness Tried To Land on My Shoulder, on his personal record label Moonflower Records.
In July 2010, Robert Pollard announced that the "Classic Lineup" of Guided By Voices would reunite for a U.S. tour, with a lineup featuring Pollard, Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Kevin Fennell, and Greg Demos. The tour culminated with a performance in at Irving Plaza in New York City on New Year's Eve, 2010.[11] They went on to release six new studio albums before splitting up again in 2014.
In 2017, Sprout released his sixth solo effort, The Universe & Me, changing from his personal label to the independent label Burger Records.[12]
In 2020, Sprout announced the release of his seventh solo release titled Empty Horses, which was released in June with Fire Records.[13][14]
Personal life
American actor Tim Allen has stated he is a collector and admirer of Sprout's artwork and illustrations.[15][16]
Partial discography
Solo albums
- Carnival Boy (1996)
- Moonflower Plastic (1997)
- Let's Welcome the Circus People – (2000)
- Lost Planets & Phantom Voices – (2003)
- Live At The Horseshoe Tavern (2004)
- The Bluebirds of Happiness Tried to Land on My Shoulder – (2010)
- The Universe & Me – (2017)
- Empty Horses – (2020)
Singles
- Popstram (1 Toaster, 2 Sadder Than You, 3 Bottle of the Ghost Of Time – 7") – Recordhead (1995)
- "Let Go Of My Beautiful Balloon" (A Let Go of My Beautiful Balloon, B Shirley The Rainbow – 7", Single) – Wigwam Records (2001)
EPs
- Wax Nails (1 Get Your Calcium, 2 Cereal Killer, 3 Seed, 4 The Crawling Backward Man, 5 In Good Hands, 6 How's Your House? (Demo) – CD, EP) – Recordhead (1998)
- Untitled – Split with The Minders (1 Can I Have This?, 2 Lust – 7") – Sprite Recordings (2002)
- Sentimental Stations (1 Secret Service, 2 Branding Dennis, 3 I Think You Would, 4 Inside The Blockhouse, 5 Are You Happening?, 6 Doctor No. 8 [Piano Version], 7 Sentimental Stations – CD, EP) – Recordhead (2002)
With Eyesinweasel
- Demos & Outtakes – (1999)
- Wrinkled Thoughts – (2000)
- Live In The Middle East – (2001)
With Airport 5
- Tower in the Fountain of Sparks – (2001)
- Life Starts Here[17] – (2002)
Publications
- Elliott (2009)
- Tinky Puts His Little Moon To Bed (2013)
References
- ^ Apicella-Hitchcock, Stephan (May 1, 2020). "A Salty Salute: The Oral History Of Guided By Voices' '90s Indie Classic 'Alien Lanes'". GoneTreanding.com. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
- ^ Dempsey, Laura (August 31, 1997). "Nicely Done – Dayton Musician And Painter Tobin Sprout Is A Kind Soul With A Mean Amount Of Talent". Dayton Daily News. p. 1C.
- ^ "bio". tobinsprout.net. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
- ^ Bush, Nathan. "allmusic ((( Tobin Sprout > Biography )))". Retrieved January 24, 2009.
- ^ "Guided By Voices Database". GBVDB. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ "Guided By Voices Database". GBVDB. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ "Guided By Voices Database". GBVDB. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ "Guided By Voices Database". GBVDB. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ "artist". Tobinsprout.net. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ "Archived copy". mackinacislandpress.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2004. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Grow, Kory (December 22, 2010). "Guided By Voices". Village Voice. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
- ^ "Tobin Sprout – The Universe And Me". Discogs. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
- ^ "Song You Need to Know: Tobin Sprout, 'The Man I Used to Know'". Rolling Stone.
- ^ "Tobin Sprout". Fire Records. July 2, 2020.
- ^ "Tim Allen Discusses His Collection of Paintings by Guided By Voices' Tobin Sprout in Lengthy Interview". Pitchfork. July 11, 2018.
- ^ Allen, Tim (June 20, 2018). "I love art and Tobin's work is some of my favorite. @realTobinSprout #TobinSprout #photorealism #expressionism #art". Twitter.
- ^ Tobin Sprout at Discogs
External links
- Official website
- v
- t
- e
- Robert Pollard
- Doug Gillard
- Mark Shue
- Bobby Bare Jr.
- Kevin March
- Tobin Sprout
- Mitch Mitchell
- Greg Demos
- Kevin Fennell
- Jim Macpherson
- James Greer
- Devil Between My Toes (1987)
- Sandbox (1987)
- Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (1989)
- Same Place the Fly Got Smashed (1990)
- Propeller (1992)
- Vampire on Titus (1993)
- Bee Thousand (1994)
- Alien Lanes (1995)
- Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996)
- Tonics & Twisted Chasers (1996)
- Mag Earwhig! (1997)
- Do the Collapse (1999)
- Isolation Drills (2001)
- Universal Truths and Cycles (2002)
- Earthquake Glue (2003)
- Half Smiles of the Decomposed (2004)
- Let's Go Eat the Factory (2012)
- Class Clown Spots a UFO (2012)
- The Bears for Lunch (2012)
- English Little League (2013)
- Motivational Jumpsuit (2014)
- Cool Planet (2014)
- Please Be Honest (2016)
- August by Cake (2017)
- How Do You Spell Heaven (2017)
- Space Gun (2018)
- Zeppelin Over China (2019)
- Warp and Woof (2019)
- Sweating the Plague (2019)
- Surrender Your Poppy Field (2020)
- Mirrored Aztec (2020)
- Styles We Paid For (2020)
- Earth Man Blues (2021)
- It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them! (2021)
- Crystal Nuns Cathedral (2022)
- Tremblers and Goggles by Rank (2022)
- La La Land (2023)
- Welshpool Frillies (2023)
- Nowhere to Go but Up (2023)
- Strut of Kings (2024)
- Forever Since Breakfast (1986)
- The Grand Hour (1993)
- Static Airplane Jive (1993)
- Get Out of My Stations (1994)
- Fast Japanese Spin Cycle (1994)
- Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer (1994)
- I Am a Scientist (1994)
- Tigerbomb (1995)
- Sunfish Holy Breakfast (1996)
- Plantations of Pale Pink (1996)
- Wish in One Hand… (1997)
- Plugs for the Program (1999)
- Hold on Hope (2000)
- Dayton, Ohio–19 Something and 5 (2000)
- Daredevil Stamp Collector (2001)
- The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet (2002)
- Down by the Racetrack (2013)
- Wine Cork Stonehenge (2018)
- 100 Dougs (2018)
- 1901 Acid Rock (2019)
- Umlaut Over the Ozone (2019)
- Live from Austin, TX (2007)
- The Best of Guided by Voices: Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (2003)
- Crickets: Best of the Fading Captain Series 1999–2007 (2007)
- Scalping the Guru (2022)
- Box (1995)
- Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft (2000)
- Hardcore UFOs: Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere (2003)
- Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow (2005)
- Suitcase 3: Up We Go Now (2009)
- Suitcase 4: Captain Kangaroo Won the War (2015)
solo albums
- Not in My Airforce (1996)
- Waved Out (1998)
- Kid Marine (1999)
- Motel of Fools (2003)
- Fiction Man (2004)
- Relaxation of the Asshole (2005)
- From a Compound Eye (2006)
- Normal Happiness (2006)
- Silverfish Trivia (2007)
- Standard Gargoyle Decisions (2007)
- Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (2007)
- Superman Was a Rocker (2008)
- Weatherman and Skin Goddess (2008)
- Robert Pollard Is Off to Business (2008)
- The Crawling Distance (2009)
- Elephant Jokes (2009)
- We All Got Out of the Army (2010)
- Moses on a Snail (2010)
- Space City Kicks (2011)
- Lord of the Birdcage (2011)
- Mouseman Cloud (2012)
- Jack Sells the Cow (2012)
- Honey Locust Honky Tonk (2013)
- Blazing Gentlemen (2013)
- Faulty Superheroes (2015)
- Of Course You Are (2016)
- Carnival Boy (1996)
- Moonflower Plastic (1997)
- Let's Welcome the Circus People (1999)
- Lost Planets & Phantom Voices (2003)
- The Bluebirds of Happiness Tried to Land on My Shoulder (2010)
- The Universe & Me (2017)
- Tower in the Fountain of Sparks (2001)
- Life Starts Here (2002)
- Brown Submarine (2008)
- The Planets are Blasted (2009)
- Zero to 99 (2009)
- Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (2010)
- Let It Beard (2011)
Doug Gillard albums
- Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department (1999)
- Mist King Urth (2003)
- Waving at the Astronauts (2011)
- In Shop We Build Electric Chairs: Professional Music by Nightwalker 1984–1993 (1999)
- Big Trouble (2000)
- Choreographed Man of War (2001)
- Calling Zero (2002)
- Blues and Boogie Shoes (2006)
- Ringworm Interiors (2001)
- The Harold Pig Memorial (2002)
- Pinball Mars (2004)
- Five (2005)
- Sgt. Disco (2007)
- Ataxia (2008)
- Gringo (2009)
- Mother Skinny (2010)
- Capsized! (2011)
- When Machines Attack (2013)
- My Mind Has Seen the White Trick (2013)
- Escape (2014)
- Stomping Grounds (2015)
- Laughs Last (2017)