Biography

Introduction

Red House Painters were an alternative rock group formed in 1989 in San Francisco, California by singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek. They, along with American Music Club, are considered 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.^{[citation needed]}

History

While in Atlanta, Georgia, Kozelek became friends with Anthony Koutsos, a drummer. He then moved to San Francisco, California, 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 were 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 prolific, releasing three LPs, one double LP, and one EP.

Their first 4AD release was an album made up of demos entitled Down Colorful Hill. It was a compilation of haunting melodies complemented by Kozelek's eerie vocals. In 1993, the group came out with two self-titled records (now commonly referred to as Rollercoaster and Bridge because of their cover artwork), solidifying Kozelek's reputation as a talented songwriter with their harrowing autobiographical tales of his troubled life and errant living.^{[citation needed]} The music, which ran the gamut from acoustic folk-rock to intense, dissonant, lengthy soundscapes conveyed the sadness of the lyrics.^{[citation needed]}

In early 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 spring 1995, which saw Kozelek's songs becoming more acoustic-based and folk influenced, and featured far less of the lengthy epics of the group's first two albums. His lyrics also showed a shift in tone, as he increasingly began to write about the power of memory and the significance of geography, subjects that would become an obsession in his subsequent recordings. Founding guitarist Gorden Mack left shortly after the album's release, and he was replaced shortly thereafter by Phil Carney.

While Kozelek was beginning work on a solo project, he parted ways with 4AD Records after a tumultuous relationship, so Songs for a Blue Guitar was eventually released on Island Records subsidiary Supreme Recordings in mid 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. By early 1998, their sixth album was completed. However, the band was beginning to dissolve, and major label mergers during the late '90s would leave the record in limbo; it wasn't until 2001 that Old Ramon was finally issued on the Sub Pop label.

Prior to the release of Old Ramon, Kozelek released a solo seven-song EP entitled Rock 'n' Roll Singer in 2000. The record consisted of three original acoustic compositions with minor full-band arrangements and four covers (three from Bon Scott-era AC/DC, and John Denver's "Around and Around") that further revealed Kozelek's fascination with 1970s classic rock. Six months later, Kozelek released his first solo album, What's Next to the Moon, which was comprised entirely of acoustic covers of even more Bon Scott-era AC/DC songs, including re-recorded versions of the tracks that had appeared on the previous EP. The record was uncharacteristic of Kozelek (though he was prone to covering songs by his favorite artists) in that it is one of the shortest full-length albums of his 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 July 1999. Kozelek subsequently contributed to the AIDS benefit album The Shanti Project Collection, and organized and appeared on Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver, a John Denver tribute album (along with like-minded artists like Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Low and The Innocence Mission). He also dabbled in 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 2005 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 positive reviews.

Miscellaneous

Drummer Anthony Koutsos is also a real estate agent in San Francisco.

Discography

Albums

Down Colorful Hill (September 14, 1992)
Red House Painters aka Rollercoaster (May 24, 1993)
Red House Painters aka Bridge (October 18, 1993)
Ocean Beach (March 27, 1995)
Songs for a Blue Guitar (July 23, 1996)
Old Ramon (originally scheduled for release in spring 1998, but delayed until April 10, 2001)