Heatmiser biography

Elliott Smith set out to be a powerhouse singer-songwriter; with five solo studio records released and one of his songs, "Miss Misery," running for the Oscars. As his success rocketed, he embarked on a genre-defining career that mastered lyrical and melodic brilliance, weaving between pop, rock, and classical music, alongside confessed pain and minimalist prose.

I could spend a year touring for it or something. I said I would love to do that; I think everyone else would do it too — Sam would, Tony would too — but not really until you're ready. That was the last time I saw him. It's about him and his friends, and a period of time in the Pacific Northwest when this music was exploding, young people were going to shows and it was so much fun.

There was a speed and energy to it that was really special. But I do know that people connect with the beauty of it, and I think that his rock music also has a lot of beauty to it. The Line of Best Fit. Share article. Facebook Twitter Email. Get the Best Fit take on the week in music direct to your inbox every Friday. Read next. Continuing with Frontier Records, Cop, and Speeder brought more complex arrangements and precise vocals.

This album significantly departed from their earlier punk influences, featuring more melodic and subdued tracks. The production, handled by the band and Tony Lash, highlighted a refined approach to songwriting and performance, with tracks like "Rest My Head Against the Wall" demonstrating a matured, introspective version of Heatmiser. Heatmiser received mixed reviews during their active years.

While some early critiques focused on their rough production and perceived lack of direction, later reviews for albums like Mic City Sons praised the band for its evocative lyrics and compelling melodies. Despite not achieving mainstream success, their work was highly regarded in indie and alternative rock circles. Though Heatmiser disbanded in , their influence lingered, mainly through Elliott Smith's successful solo career.

Bands such as Death Cab for Cutie and Bright Eyes have cited Heatmiser as a significant influence, drawn to their blend of sharp lyrics and compelling melodies. The legacy of Heatmiser is also seen in how they navigated the transition from punk's rawness to more melodious, introspective music, which would become a hallmark of late 90s indie music.

Heatmiser's journey through the 90s was a microcosm of the decade's musical evolution. From the gritty, unrefined edges of Dead Air to the polished introspection of Mic City Sons , they encapsulated the growth of alternative rock. Peterson had played in a few punk bands, but "was feeling ambivalent about another. Over the next few years, Heatmiser was a regular act at local Portland venues like the X-Ray Cafe, screenprinting shop Hand Prints, and La Luna, whose cheap, packed Monday night concerts were a hub for the city's twenty-something underground social scene.

He wrote at least two songs for Heatmiser: "Just a Little Prick", released on The Music of Heatmiser , and "Glamourine", a "bass-line with lyrics" that remains unreleased. Peterson left the band in August and was replaced by Sam Coomes, a friend of Smith's. Coomes played on Heatmiser's last album, Mic City Sons , and on tour. They played wherever they could, even a laundromat.

Sam [Coomes] came in sort of towards the end, initially out of the kindness of his heart, because Heatmiser had a different bass player who was so confrontational that we eventually kicked him out. Boy, that was an unpleasant thing to do. I mean, kicking someone out of a band is like breaking up with somebody. At least in the band it was, because everybody except for me was really into it.

I, to a certain degree, was pretty invested in the band emotionally or whatever. It actually came down to me kicking [Peterson] out, even though everybody agreed to it. We met up to do it, but then [he] started asking everyone personally if they wanted him out. Then it came to me and I said I wanted him out. That guy was just such an asshole.

His sense of humour was such that he always had to be making fun of somebody. He was just not a good time. Not as his boyfriend, but as his roommate. Not that it matters. It never really occurred to me whether or not Neil was gay until he told me one day. I had just never thought about it. By that point, just about all my friends that were men were gay.

You know, just like very high-school. You know, like not being able to relate to jocks in high school. Sort of like that. Tony [Lash] was a guy that I met in high school. He played flute in the high-school band, which is where I learned how to play the drums. Every individual in the band had identities that were bound up with some sense of injuries, of not fitting in or whatever.

I didn't really understand myself really well, I drank pretty heavily. And Elliott was increasingly unhappy with the rock thing, and I think that I became emblematic of everything that was bad about that for him. Lash also recalled his memories of the band's tense relationship while recording Mic City Sons , and their eventual breakup:. At the time, it was hard to sort through it all.

It's the kind of things [that], maybe if these issues came up when people are in their 30s or 40s and have some better communication skills, wouldn't be so hard to process. Lash left Heatmiser in late , prior to what would be their final tour. There's a song called "See You Later" on [the album] I remember hearing that song for the first time and telling Elliott, 'This song's going to buy you a house.

Neil's stuff on that last record was really strong. I hope that it doesn't sound dated. We loved it when it was done. We worked on it until we could say that we loved it. The band broke up in the fall of , prior to the release of their third and last album, Mic City Sons. The breakup happened almost immediately after the contract was signed. I watched myself put my paw in the bear trap on that one because there was this clause about leaving members.

In the event of the band dissolving, any members could be kept to that contract with or without their consent under the same terms. They didn't pick up Neil's option, only mine. It turned out to be a fucked-up situation because they said the reason they had signed Heatmiser was that they'd been hoping this [the breakup] would happen-or something to that effect.

They said that right in front of Neil and I couldn't believe it. The recording sessions for Mic City Sons also "found the band dissolving. Smith had his solo career to tend. Gust spent time in the house [the band had rented for recording] alone, learning to work the studio; as engineer, Lash felt he'd become an 'obstacle' to Smith, who wanted to bring in Beck producers Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock to shepherd the sessions.

The buffer of the new producers helped bring the album together, but at some point in , the band fell apart. Mic City Sons was released on a smaller Virgin sister label, Caroline, and slipped into the world quietly. Going on unemployment after losing a bakery side-job had given Smith more time to devote to recording, which also shifted his focus away from Heatmiser and toward his own solo music endeavors.

Gust recalled: "That was like the state giving [him] a grant because for a year, he didn't work. All he did was record at his girlfriend's house. His process just went 'boom! It was also intimidating because I was working, we had the band and there [were] things to deal with the band, but he just drifted into his own thing.

Heatmiser biography

Despite Smith's burgeoning solo career, there wasn't tension between him and Gust. He had to give up on doing some things on his own to do it with the band and became less and less willing to do that. After Heatmiser's breakup, Smith and Lash "didn't talk for a couple years," Lash said, but they reconnected in London in , as Smith toured for XO at the height of his post-Oscars fame, with Coomes in [his] backing band.

And Gust had a new project, No.