The first full-length produced by Bob Weston, Vee Vee was a slight departure from the previous bombastic noisepop that characterized Archers of Loaf’s previous work, and it proved that the band wasn’t just a flash in the pan. The album became their best-selling album to date and landed them on the covers of most fanzines and at the top of college radio charts across the country. “Harnessed in Slums” and “Greatest of All Time” became anthems of the underground and led to successful tours with the Flaming Lips and Weezer. Singer/guitarist Eric Bachmann, guitarist Eric Johnson, bassist Matt Gentling, and drummer Mark Price formed Archers of Loaf in Chapel Hill, NC in 1991. Icky Mettle was the first of four studio albums for the band that seemed to personify what SPIN Magazine deemed “a tremendously optimistic time in underground music, that 15-minute period in the early 1990s when it looked like indie rock really might take over the world.” The band never officially “broke up.” Eric Bachmann had another project he was working on (Crooked Fingers) and the grind of the traditional album cycle and touring started to weigh on their desire to continue making music together..