One of the countless musical projects to emerge from the imagination of Robert Pollard, Cub Scout Bowling Pins gives Pollard and his Guided by Voices bandmates a chance to explore other sides of their musical personality. While featuring the same lineup as GbV circa 2021, Cub Scout Bowling Pins moves their emphasis away from their vintage rock and prog rock influences in favor of lighter and more tuneful sounds that recall bubblegum and classic AM pop, but with a relatively harder attack and greater guitar punch. CSBP made their debut in January 2021 with the EP Heaven Beats Iowa, while a full-length album, Clang Clang Ho, was released that June.

Given that Robert Pollard is legendary for his epic-scale productivity, it surprised practically no one when at the dawn of 2021, his label Guided by Voices Inc. announced the upcoming debut of a new band, Cub Scout Bowling Pins, who would presumably join Boston Spaceships, Circus Devils, ESP Ohio, and the Keene Brothers in his roster of side projects. While the initial press releases on the band didn't name any of the members, when the first Cub Scout Bowling Pins EP, Heaven Beats Iowa, was issued in January 2021, the lead singer was clearly Pollard, and word soon circulated that the rest of the group featured his then-current partners in Guided by Voices -- guitarists Doug Gillard and Bobby Bare Jr., bassist Mark Shue, and drummer Kevin March. Given that GbV managed to release six full-length albums between February 2019 and December 2020, it came as no surprise that Cub Scout Bowling Pins would share a similar work ethic, and a full-length album from the group, Clang Clang Ho, was released in June 2021. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi