Bob Pollard Retires From Touring... Kinda

After a week of speculation following the cancellation of several live dates, Robert Pollard has announced that he is officially retiring from touring. Apparently Bob is disappointed in declining crowds on the road, especially at a time when he feels that he's been putting on even better shows than he did with Guided By Voices:

"With Guided By Voices, it didn't matter what day it was. What I'm doing now, in my opinion, is not only the same thing, I think it's a step up, even," he says. "But you get tired of beating your head against the wall."

Personally, I can't say I'm particularly surprised . Whereas I thought Bob put on an excellent show at Irving Plaza earlier in the year, I was pretty underwhelmed by the recent Bowery Ballroom show. It lacked the energy of a typical Pollard show , and it seemed that everyone in the band (aside from drummer Jon Wurster) were kind of phoning it in.

The good news in all of this? Bob will continue putting out new music, as always, and has both completed his next album, entitled Silverfish Trivia, as well as demos for his next album after that. And, even better, Bob hints that he still may have some more live shows in him at some point in his future. Maybe now we can finally have that Bob / Tobin Sprout tour we've been wanting for 10 years...

(Thanks to Matt for the head's up!)