Red House Painters

Red House Painters was primarily the vehicle of singer/songwriter <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Mark Kozelek</a>, an evocative, compelling performer of rare emotional intensity. Like <a href="spotify:artist:4W1poTLCG6XjhBUVehcaMB">Mark Eitzel</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:6uHjKRsYGaElOrKWlSEji3">American Music Club</a>, to whose work the Painters were invariably compared and to whom their early success owed a tremendous debt, <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Kozelek</a> laid his soul bare on record, conjuring harrowingly acute tales of pain, despair, and loss; unlike <a href="spotify:artist:4W1poTLCG6XjhBUVehcaMB">Eitzel</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5c3GLXai8YOMid29ZEuR9y">Nick Drake</a>, and other poets of decay, <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Kozelek</a>'s autobiographical songs walked their tightrope without a net -- forsaking the safety offered by metaphor and allegory, he faced his demons in the first person, creating a singularly haunting body of work unparalleled in its vulnerability and honesty.

<a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Kozelek</a> was born and raised in the Midwest, and formed his first band, God Forbid, while in his teens. After relocating to Atlanta, GA, he struck up a friendship with drummer Anthony Koutsos, and formed the first incarnation of Red House Painters. A move to San Francisco followed, where guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:1gpbxJRxO4hNJQdlOylNRj">Gorden Mack</a> and bassist Jerry Vessel rounded out the group's roster.

While performing on the Bay Area club circuit, the quartet came to the attention of <a href="spotify:artist:6uHjKRsYGaElOrKWlSEji3">American Music Club</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:4W1poTLCG6XjhBUVehcaMB">Eitzel</a>, who often named Red House Painters his favorite band. Through <a href="spotify:artist:4W1poTLCG6XjhBUVehcaMB">Eitzel</a>, a demo tape of recordings cut in 1989 and 1990 made their way to the London offices of 4AD Records, which signed the group and in 1992 issued the unvarnished demos -- a superb collection of spartan, atmospheric melodies lurking behind <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Kozelek</a>'s ghostly vocals -- as the LP Down Colorful Hill.

In 1993, Red House Painters emerged from the studio with over two-dozen new recordings, which they issued on back-to-back eponymously titled albums. Taken in tandem, the LPs established <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Kozelek</a> as a unique songwriter capable of conveying stunning emotional depths; compositions like "Grace Cathedral Park," "Katy Song," "Strawberry Hill," "Evil," and "Uncle Joe" expanded greatly upon the emotional palette evidenced on the first record, unflinchingly detailing <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Kozelek</a>'s erratic, abusive nature and troubled background.

A two-year lay-off followed, during which time only an EP, Shock Me -- a brief set built around a dramatic reading of an old <a href="spotify:artist:07XSN3sPlIlB2L2XNcTwJw">Kiss</a> song -- appeared in 1994. Finally, the luminous Ocean Beach, a collection of pastoral, almost sunny performances, appeared in 1995, although not without controversy; initially, 4AD did not want to release the record, further straining already tenuous relations between the band and the label.

When <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Kozelek</a> began work on a long-discussed solo album, 4AD threw in the towel; the album, a more rock-oriented work dubbed Songs for a Blue Guitar, appeared in 1996 on the Island imprint Supreme. Although <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Kozelek</a> was the only bandmember to appear on the record, it was nonetheless issued under the Red House Painters name in order to give the group a push as it headed into the second phase of its career. However, the major-label mergers of the late '90s left Red House Painters without a record deal, and their album, Old Ramon, in limbo. During that time, 4AD released the simply titled Retrospective, a best-of collection, and <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Kozelek</a> kept busy, appearing in <a href="spotify:artist:4PRXUi2nNCs5ReLSVsY6BS">Cameron Crowe</a>'s critically acclaimed rock & roll love story Almost Famous, and releasing several projects on the Badman label, including a <a href="spotify:artist:7EK1bQADBoqbYXnT4Cqv9w">John Denver</a> tribute album, a benefit album for a San Francisco AIDS charity, and Rock 'n' Roll Singer, a mini-album of classic rock covers and new material. Eventually, <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Kozelek</a> bought back the rights to Old Ramon and Sub Pop released it in spring 2001, nearly four years after it was recorded. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi