Legendary singer-songwriter Elliott Smith’s pre-solo band Heatmiser recently announced the release of a rarities compilation, ‘The Music of Heatmiser’. The compilation was put together thanks to drummer Tony Lash and is set to be released on October 6th through Third Man Records.
The 29-song compilation will feature 6 songs that were originally released as a cassette to promote the band’s 1993 debut album, ‘Dead Air’, as well as 23 additional demos, rare versions, live tracks, and previously unreleased songs. As a preview, Third Man Records released a video of the band performing ‘Lowlife’ in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Co-founder Neil Gust said of the compilation: “Tony found a bunch of forgotten recordings and started mixing them and sending them to me. We were struck by the freewheeling energy of the band; you could hear how much fun we were having. In 1992, we could barely afford the studio, so it all had to be done really fast. When we put the cassette together, we wanted it to start like a punch in the face. That’s ‘Lowlife’.”
Heatmiser released three studio albums between 1993 and 1996 before disbanding. They were inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in 2015, 12 years after Smith’s death.
The release of ‘The Music of Heatmiser’ follows the surfacing of six albums that Smith recorded in high school between 1985 and 1989. Discovered and distributed by a fan of Smith’s from Texas, the albums were obtained through record stores in Smith’s hometown of Portland as well as Discogs, with some recordings being sold by Tony Lash himself.
In 2020, Smith’s second album was reissued to celebrate its 25th anniversary, backed with a live album recorded in Portland in 1994. Last year, Bright Eyes covered Smith’s ‘St. Ides Heaven’ on their 1998 album reissue, ‘Letting Off The Happiness: A Companion’.
Fans of Heatmiser and Elliott Smith will be able to pre-order ‘The Music of Heatmiser’ now, and enjoy the energy of the band as expressed on the compilation.
Leave a Reply