Tobin Sprout keeps busy painting as he waits for record release
Former member of GBV has new music coming out in September.
Tobin Sprout had broken the cycle. After seven-year gaps between “Lost Planets & Phantoms” (2003), “The Bluebirds of Happiness Tried to Land on My Shoulder” (2010) and “The Universe and Me” (2017), he was determined to work faster.
The internationally beloved former member of Guided By Voices and his backing band completed the recording of his next solo album, “Empty Horses,” in 2018 but ran into several delays. It took nearly two years of searching for the right record label before Sprout finally worked out a deal with British indie Fire Records. The new album was originally slated to drop on June 5, but the release has been pushed back to September due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Nationwide shutdowns also affected Sprout’s performance schedule. He had three shows canceled at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas in March and also had spring dates postponed in Grand Rapids, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and at Yellow Cab Tavern in Dayton on June 6.
Luckily for the Centerville High School graduate, his main focus is visual arts so he has continued to work on paintings at his home in Leland, Mich. Sprout recently checked in for a quick Q&A.
How has creating art changed for you during quarantine?
I haven’t really noticed a difference during quarantine as far as the work goes. I get up and I work out of my house so the only time I notice it is when I go to the store or something. Summertime is a big time for sales up here so I’ve been doing a lot of paintings. I’ve got a gallery right here in town and I’m trying to get as many paintings in there as I can for the summer. I’m just kind of knocking those out and preparing them. Framing takes forever so that’s probably the biggest thing.
What have the shutdowns meant for you musically?
Everything has been pushed back to September. That’s when my album is supposed to come out now. I imagine we’ll do Yellow Cab and Grand Rapids then and kind of reset the schedule again. We probably won’t do anything until the album comes out. I haven’t seen any definite stuff yet but I know they’re setting shows up for the fall. If we can, we’ll start playing again in September. I’m not sure how far we’re going to go or if we’re going to go to Europe. We’ll just have to wait and see.
You’ve had this album done for a while. What’s been the delay?
I’ve been sitting on this for almost two years. A lot of it had to do with finding a label. Fire Records was really interested in it so we waited for a while. I can’t remember exactly but a bunch of stuff happened where it kept putting things off. We finally got it moving and then everything shut down.
Since “Empty Horses” has been completed for a while, have you done more recording recently?
Yeah, we have two singles coming out that (music manager) David Newgarden is doing through his little label. It’s stuff that was left off the album. There’s a single that’s got a booklet with the small paintings I do. It’s not everything, but kind of a cross section of stuff I’ve done. The next single will just be a 45. Those will both come out after the album and we’ll be selling most of these on tour. It’s nice to have some new material, T-shirts and stuff because that’s how we make most of our money anyway.
You stay busy with your paintings so what keeps you making music?
I enjoy it and I’ve got a really good band. I sometimes wonder if I’m getting too old for this but what difference does it make? Tom Waits is still out there. Elton John is still kicking around. Jerry Lee Lewis was still playing last time I heard. I can see playing and recording forever.
Artist info: www.tobinsprout.net.