* En anglais uniquement
Red House Painters was primarily the vehicle of singer/songwriter
Mark Kozelek, an evocative, compelling performer of rare emotional intensity. Like
Mark Eitzel of
American Music Club, to whose work
the Painters were invariably compared and to whom their early success owed a tremendous debt,
Kozelek laid his soul bare on record, conjuring harrowingly acute tales of pain, despair, and loss; unlike
Eitzel,
Nick Drake, and other poets of decay,
Kozelek'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.
Kozelek 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
Gorden Mack 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
American Music Club's
Eitzel, who often named
Red House Painters his favorite band. Through
Eitzel, 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
Kozelek'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
Kozelek 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
Kozelek'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
Kiss 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
Kozelek 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
Kozelek 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
Kozelek kept busy, appearing in
Cameron Crowe's critically acclaimed rock & roll love story Almost Famous, and releasing several projects on the Badman label, including a
John Denver 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,
Kozelek bought back the rights to
Old Ramon and Sub Pop released it in spring 2001, nearly four years after it was recorded. ~ Jason Ankeny