Robert Pollard Attends Guided By Voices Appreciation Night in Ohio

The musician Billy Peake, in an article for the music blog Done Waiting, reports that he was driving with a friend to Guided By Voices Appreciation Night in Columbus, Ohio Friday when he received a text from a fellow performer in the evening's lineup who was already at the venue. "Bob F---ing Pollard is at the bar!," it read.

Seven minutes later, a text from another musician arrived: "Uncle Bob is here."

Indeed, Robert Pollard, the prolific solo artist and mastermind behind Guided By Voices, had dropped in to Columbus's Treehouse to hear "a bunch of s----y bands play his own songs," as the event's organizer and one of its performers, Kyle Sowash, put it.

Pollard, like his band, was born and raised in Dayton, and Peake has seen him out at Ohio bars before. On Friday the musician was accompanied by his brother and former bandmate Nate Farley and a friend. The trio sat in the back of the venue drinking Miller Lites, according to Peake, and Pollard, waiting for the music to start, reportedly exclaimed, "I can't wait to hear my f---ing songs, maaaan."

Following a performance by the band the Whiles, Pollard singled out its lead singer Joe Peppercorn, hugging him and saying, "You can play me in the Guided By Voices movie."

Peake, who is the lead singer of the band Bicentennial Bear, was modest about his own band's tributes, preferring to single out other bands for their "spirited, surgical focus."

Pollard didn't stay for the whole night, he reports. "Bob bumbled out of the room at around the same time that SPD GVNR was about to play. It's too bad, because he missed the best set of the night ... Everyone sang along."

Nevertheless, the appearance was fitting for Pollard, whose rapid rate of solo releases suggests he is aware of his fans' level of devotion and was just returning the favor on Friday. Speaking about his solo career to Spinner last year, Pollard said he has "some good people in my corner" and "very dependable fans." That's putting it mildly.