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Hear Kelley Deal and Mike Montgomery’s New Band R. Ring

The Breeders appear to be taking some time off, considering they last toured in 2010, their most recent release was 2009’s Fate to Fatal EP and Kim Deal has been touring with some other band she used to play in (who released a live EP this year). But Kelley Deal (who, with her sister, is one of our 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time) has been keeping busy with a new band she formed with Mike Montgomery of indie rockers Ampline called R. Ring, who made their debut in March of last year. Other than pointing out the happenstance that both members live in Daytons in different states (Kelley in Ohio, Montgomery in Kentucky), the band’s website claims the group is “at the very least, a stark departure from the music they make in their other bands.”

Judging from the two songs they recorded at the Texas State Capitol building this past April (posted as videos below), they’re mostly right. In “Hundred Dollar Heat,” Montgomery strums an acoustic while Kelley sings hushed echoey obscurities keeping her heart close; her performance does sort of sound Breedersesque though. The other tune, the slightly more upbeat “Fall Out and Fire,” they both play acoustic guitar, and Kelley sounds a little more folkish since she’s not affecting her voice so much.

The duo has been putting out limited-edition releases since it formed, the most recent of which is a cover of Devo’s “Mr. DNA.” They’ve limited that release to 100 copies, which they’ve packaged in “hand-cut, griptape-covered blocks of wood,” which they’ll be hauling to venues on their upcoming tour of Ohio (dates below).

https://player.vimeo.com/video/39307924 R.Ring – Hundred Dollar Heat from Be Lie All on Vimeo.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/41572249 R.Ring – Fall Out And Fire from Be Lie All on Vimeo.

R. Ring Tour Dates
August 29 – Dayton, OH @ South Park Tavern
August 30 – Youngstown, OH @ Cedars
August 31 – Fountain Square, Cincinnati, OH @ Midpoint Summer Series
September 1 – Athens, OH @ the Union