Kim Gordon & Kim Deal Perform “Little Trouble Girl” On Everybody’s Live w/John Mulaney

Last year, Kim Gordon continued her post-Sonic Youth musical output with The Collective, another experimental and brilliant solo effort featuring some of the strongest material of her career. Meanwhile, Kim Deal dropped the LP Nobody Loves You More, after embarking on an extensive tour supporting the 30th anniversary of the Breeders Last Splash LP the year before. Credited as the first real solo album by the former Pixie, the music places Deal front and center like never before, surrounding her with bright horn arrangements in one moment, only to shift into dark, driving electronics on the very next track. Comparisons have always been drawn between Gordon and Deal as bassists/vocalists named Kim who made their initial impact on underground culture in the 1980s and 90s. The comparisons may be lazy, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been apt. The Kims inspired young women by not only being part of such influential bands, but also being so integral to the DNA of the projects they were involved with. Young men were equally in awe of their sheer power and talent. These women are forces of nature that opened the doors for so many to follow. In more recent years, it’s been amazing to witness them continuing to explore their art as individuals rising beyond their respective groups this late into their careers. More importantly, is how successful and forward-thinking their output has proven to be.

As founding members of groundbreaking rock projects, Sonic Youth and The Pixies, you can – at least, partially – thank these women for the existence of bands like Nirvana. In fact, Kurt Cobain was not only a friend and huge fan of both, he shared stages with them. It’s like that with a lot of stuff that overlapped during the time; melding into one big incestuous soup of things we love. There was a lot of mutual respect, co-mingling, and collaboration at the time like a stirring pot of gumbo with chunks of Mike Watt, The Breeders, Spike Jonze, Bikini Kill, The Beastie Boys, X-Girl, Dinosaur Jr, Free Kitten, and more. Sometimes, it can be difficult to remember where certain things ended and others began.

As they continue to forge their own paths, a collaboration between the Kims feels like a dream come true, but a lot of people may not realize or remember that it already happened to some degree, 30 years ago. Deal offered her vocal talents on the song, “Little Trouble Girl” from the 1995 Sonic Youth album, Washing Machine. In fact, there was even a music video for the song featuring Kim and Kim wearing dresses while harmonizing on a white-leather tufted mid-century modern sofa. What we haven’t seen is the legendary Kims performing together as a live unit, until now.

Last night, Gordon and Deal both appeared as guests on John Mulaney‘s Netflix program, Everybody’s Live. Each of the women performed a song individually during the show before the episode culminated with the pair combining forces for a live rendition of “Little Trouble Girl.” It’s wonderful to see, of course… but as greedy as I am, I’d love to see this progrress into an official project. If not a full album, then an EP or even a 7-inch would be more than welcome.

You can watch the footage from last night’s TV appearance below. If that doesn’t satisfy your Gordon/Deal fix, make sure to read the Interview Magazine piece where they interviewed each other over a zoom call last year. It’s somewhat of a follow-up from when the pair initially interviewed one another for Interview‘s print magazine back in 1995. If you locate a copy of that one, please link it in the comments.