Unless they're singing folk songs like Bob Dylan, solo artists are rarely "solo" in the most literal sense of the word, typically employing a backing band to play along with them on record and during concerts. However, just as some artists leave their bands in pursuit of a solo career, some solo artists feel more comfortable playing music within a band environment. Here are six great bands that began as solo projects for one of the members.
1. Grizzly Bear
The music of Brooklyn psych-pop quartet Grizzly Bear seems so complicated and heady that it could only be the result of four talented musicians working together. However, the band's debut album Horn of Plenty is relatively sparse, due to the fact that it's essentially a solo album for singer/guitarist Ed Droste. The Grizzly Bear project would eventually evolve into a full band, making its debut with 2006's Yellow House.
2. Cloud Nothings
Though the earliest Cloud Nothings songs sound as if a full band performed them, the recordings were actually created entirely by Dylan Baldi, who overdubbed every instrument himself (as I wrote about in this article). With 2012's Steve Albini-produced Attack On Memory, Cloud Nothings would grow into a four-piece fronted by Baldi, though it's been touring as a three-piece recently.
3. Speedy Ortiz
Massachusetts noise pop group Speedy Ortiz originated as a solo project for singer/guitarist Sadie Dupuis while she worked at a summer camp as a songwriting teacher. Much like Cloud Nothings, Speedy Ortiz's first album is simply Dupuis overdubbing every instrument on her own, though the project's full band incarnation would make its debut with 2013's stellar Major Arcana.
4. Built to Spill
Though Built to Spill wasn't exactly intended to be a solo project, frontman Doug Martsch's original intentions for the band were very similar. Martsch had intended for himself to be the band's only constant member, with each album having a completely different backing band. Though the band cycled through a few drummers at first, the core line-up remained consistent for 12 years.
5. Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is probably the most well known example of a band that morphed out of a solo project. After the death of his bandmate Kurt Cobain and the disintegration of Nirvana, Dave Grohl set about recording the first Foo Fighters album all on his own as a sort of therapeutic experience, without serious intentions of making a career out of the project. However, when the album was warmly received and sold well, Grohl recruited his former Nirvana bandmate Pat Smear, as well as Sunny Day Real Estate members Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith, to turn Foo Fighters into an actual band.
6. Neutral Milk Hotel
Neutral Milk Hotel may come across as a singer/songwriter project disguised as a band, but for much of its existence, Neutral Milk Hotel was simply the solo moniker for singer/guitarist Jeff Mangum. The project's debut album On Avery Island features Mangum playing most of the instruments, with Apples in Stereo frontman Robert Schneider and a couple of other friends helping out. It wasn't until the classic LP In the Aeroplane Over the Sea that Neutral Milk Hotel would become a concrete band, featuring Jeremy Barnes on drums, Julian Koster on singing saw, and Scott Spillane on horns.
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