In a new interview with music writer Joel Gausten, The Breeders guitarist Kelley Deal discusses her work with former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach in the obscure mid '90s “supergroup” The Last Hard Men.

Deal formed the band in 1996 with Bach, guitarist Jimmy Flemion of The Frogs and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The band's lone eponymous album (initially released independently in 1998 in a 1,000-copy pressing and later reissued in a drastically altered form by Spitfire Records in 2001) included bizarre covers of Alice Cooper's “School's Out,” Rodgers and Hammerstein's “I Enjoy Being A Girl” and The Scorpions' “In Search Of The Peace Of Mind” as well as unforgettable tracks like “The Most Powerful Man In The World,” “I Hate The Way You Walk” and “Spider Love” The band came to be while Kelley was spending time in Minnesota after a stint in rehab. She was flipping through a copy of Spin one day and came across a Where Are They Now? article on hair metal bands that featured an image of Bach. 

Looking for a way to go outside of her comfort zone and work with new people, she got the idea to get in touch with the singer and pitch him the idea of doing something. Before long, the two were getting music together with Flemion and Chamberlin at Minnesota's Pachyderm Studios.

“It was super fun,” says Kelley of working with Bach on the album. “He's very charming, very enthusiastic. His voice is an amazing instrument. He's got a phenomenal voice; he really does.”

One time, Bach was on the phone with a friend when he handed it to Kelley.

“He goes, 'That's Slash,'” she recalls. “I said (to Slash), 'Are you still a junkie?' He said, 'No. Are you still a lesbian?' I said, 'What?' because I'm not. Where does that come from? But he was a very nice guy. It was a very funny conversation.”

Looking back, Kelley lovingly refers to the Last Hard Men project as “some quirky fucking art with four really sad people in a room together – four odd people who should not be there together playing music.”

The complete interview is available at this location.