Red House Painters is an alternative rock group formed in 1989 in San Francisco by singer/songwriter Mark Kozelek. They are described, along with American Music Club, as one of the linchpins of the slowcore movement in alternative rock. Kozelek used this group primarily as a vehicle for his very personal and emotional songs of despair, pain and suffering.
History
While in Atlanta, Kozelek became friends with Anthony Koutsos, a drummer. He then moved to San Francisco, adding guitarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel to complete the line-up for Red House Painters.
After forming, the group played the San Francisco scene extensively, and recorded demos from 1989 to 1992, building up an impressive amount of material. The band was signed to 4AD Records in 1992, on the strength of a demo tape passed to 4AD boss Ivo Watts-Russell by American Music Club frontman Mark Eitzel. Between September 1992 and March 1995, the band was extremely prolific, releasing three LPs, one double LP, and one EP.
Their first 4AD release was an album made up of select demos entitled
Down Colorful Hill. It was a compilation of haunting melodies complemented by Kozelek's eerie yet rich and emotional vocals. In 1993, the group came out with two self-titled records (now commonly referred to as
Rollercoaster and
Bridge based on their cover artwork), solidifying Kozelek's reputation as a talented songwriter with their harrowing autobiographical tales of his troubled life and errant living with no punches being pulled. The music, which ran the gamut from beautiful acoustic folk-rock to intense, dissonant, lengthy soundscapes, effectively conveyed the sadness of the lyrics.
In 1994, they released an EP entitled
Shock Me, featuring two cover versions of an Ace Frehley-written KISS song. The introspective
Ocean Beach followed in 1995, which saw Kozelek's songs becoming more acoustic-based and folk influenced, and featured far less of the lengthy, dreamlike epics of the group's first two albums. His lyrics also showed a considerable shift in tone, as he increasingly began to write about the power of memory and the significance of geography, a subject that would become an obsession in his subsequent recordings.
While Kozelek was beginning work on a solo project, he parted ways with 4AD Records after a somewhat tumultuous relationship, so
Songs for a Blue Guitar was eventually released on Island Records subsidiary Supreme Recordings in 1996. It was a less atmospheric, more guitar-driven rock album than their previous records, but it was nonetheless issued under the Red House Painters, rather than Kozelek's, name to give the release more publicity. By early 1998, their sixth album was completed. However, major label mergers during the late 90's would leave the record in limbo, and it wasn't until 2001 that
Old Ramon, arguably their most accessible, optimistic recording to date, was finally issued on the Sub Pop label.
Prior to the release of
Old Ramon, Kozelek released a solo six-song EP entitled
Rock 'N' Roll Singer in 2000. The record was comprised of three original acoustic compositions with minor full-band arrangements and three covers (two from Bon Scott-era AC/DC, and John Denver's "Around and Around") that further revealed Kozelek's fascination with 1970's classic rock. Six months later, Kozelek released his first solo album,
What's Next to the Moon, which was comprised entirely of shimmering, melancholy acoustic covers of yet more Bon Scott-era AC/DC songs, including re-recorded versions of the tracks that had appeared on the previous EP. The record was also greatly uncharacteristic of Kozelek (though he was prone to enjoy covering songs by his favorite artists) in that it is the shortest full length to date clocking in at just over thirty minutes. Both the EP and album were released by Badman Recordings.
4AD would release the best-of package,
Retrospective, in 1999. Kozelek subsequently contributed to the AIDS benefit album
The Shanti Project Collection, and organized and appeared on
Take Me Home, a John Denver tribute album (along with like-minded artists like Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Low and Innocence Mission). He also took up acting, playing small parts in the Cameron Crowe films
Almost Famous and
Vanilla Sky, as well as appearing more prominently as a rock musician alongside Jason Schwartzman in the Steve Martin vehicle
Shopgirl.
In 2003 Kozelek and Koutsos, along with Geoff Stanfield and Tim Mooney, reformed as Sun Kil Moon, releasing the acclaimed album
Ghosts of the Great Highway on Jetset Records. In a 2005 interview with The Onion's AV Club, Kozelek confirmed that he considers Sun Kil Moon essentially the Red House Painters, but that he changed the band name to grab the interest of critics who had gotten bored with, or stopped paying attention to, the Painters. The move was successful, as
Ghosts of the Great Highway would be his best-selling album yet, while garnering extremely positive reviews.
Discography
Albums
- Down Colorful Hill (September 15, 1992)
- Red House Painters aka Rollercoaster (May 25, 1993)
- Red House Painters aka Bridge (October 19, 1993)
- Ocean Beach (March 28, 1995)
- Songs for a Blue Guitar (July 23, 1996)
- Old Ramon (originally scheduled for release in spring 1998, but delayed until April 10, 2001)
Compilations
- Retrospective (May 18, 1999)
Singles and EPs
- Shock Me EP (February 28, 1994)
Promo singles
- Mistress (May 1993)
- I Am a Rock / New Jersey (October 1993)
- Summer Dress (March 1995)
- All Mixed Up (July 1996)
- Make Like Paper (November 1996)
Soundtracks / Songs from Films
- "Have You Forgotten" (on Vanilla Sky)
- "Kentucky Woman" (on Elizabethtown)
- "Japanese To English" (on Amateur)
- "All Mixed Up" (on Excess Baggage)
- "Song for a Blue Guitar" and "The Arrival" (from The Girl Next Door)
- "Carry Me Ohio" and "Lily And Parrots" (from Shopgirl)
Miscellaneous
- Milkshake - A CD to Benefit the Harvey Milk Institute on timmi-kat ReCoRDS (1998)
- Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver on Badman Records (2000)
See also:
Mark Kozelek Solo Discography
External links
American rock music groupsCalifornia musical groups4AD artists
Red House PaintersRed House PaintersRed House PaintersRed House PaintersRed House Painters
