Trivia / Red House Painters

---

• Creator Backlash: Sort of. During an interview in 2004 on a Swedish radio show, Kozelek himself said he was "embarrassed" by the song "Michael". Not that he thought it was terrible or such mind you, he was embarrassed by the song due to it's immense personal subject matter ^note The song itself was more of a tribute to his friend of the same name, who he lost contact with for a long while.. He did also state that he and Michael did reunite during a show (debated to be at the same year) which ironically also had him perform the song as well with Michael in front row.
  • Kozelek has mentioned that he wasn't big on the emphasis on the production style for Down Colorful Hill, which was known to be a stable for 4AD Records.
• Creator Breakdown: The majority of the lyrical content of the band's music tends to be inspired by Mark Kozelek's struggle with depression. This is especially apparent on their first 3 albums.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: For years, the vinyl copies of all of RHP's albums were extremely hard and expensive to get a hold of, aside from Songs for a Blue Guitar, which saw multiple reissues. The 4AD copies were especially sought after for their gorgeous production and sound.
  • The early RHP demos from before the well-known 1991–92 demos are considered mostly lost. What remains are 2 or 3 songs that were featured on a rare 1988 interview that didn't surface on the internet until around November 2012. While there are a few tastes given by Kozelek alone on acoustic guitar, it's likely that we'll probably never know what those songs sound like with a full band, or if there are possibly more songs missing.
  • The music video for "Summer Dress" was also seldom seen before the days of YouTube, to the point where many doubted to it even existing. The version you can now see on YouTube, however, has subpar audio quality.
  • Their early pre-4AD demos are also pretty rare now. Not only are most of the songs not present on any "official" RHP recording, but they would never be rerecorded. Some of the tapes go for pretty cheap if their sellers aren't aware of their value, while others will go for as much as 70–100 dollars a pop.
  • Mark Kozelek's book of lyrics and footnotes, Nights of Passed Over, is limited to about 2500 copies worldwide. While copies can be found on the internet, chances are that they will cost about 300–400 dollars.
• Missing Episode: Old Ramon had become one of the most famous "lost albums" of all time before it was finally released. The hype built up so much that it's said that the band's fanbase nearly doubled just because of the circulating rumors of the album.
• Screwed by the Network: Their treatment under 4AD and Island Records.
• Short-Lived, Big Impact: The band was around for only 13 years, but their impact on the slowcore genre is still evident to this day.
• Throw It In!: They were notorious for this. From the Studio Chatter and jazz-like improvisation on "Over My Head", on-the-fly droning that stretched originally 5-minute-long songs to 7+, and the borderline atonal guitar solos Kozelek added on Songs for a Blue Guitar, there's a lot that was just "thrown in" for the band.
• Troubled Production: Songs for a Blue Guitar and Old Ramon suffered this. Read their sections on the trope page for more info
  • According to Kozelek, the recording sessions for Rollercoaster fell under this trope as well:
  Mark Kozelek: I know the Rollercoaster album is many people's favorite. But for me, it is and will always be the most difficult to get through. I hadn't heard it in years, and...what I remembered most, even when I look at the album's cover, is nine months of worry.
• What Could Have Been: Rollercoaster was originally supposed to be a double album with the songs that originally appeared on Bridge mixed into the sequence of Rollercoaster. One has to wonder how the album would have sounded being twice as long and possibly twice as depressing.
  • Songs for a Blue Guitar almost ended up being changed completely into a more commercially accessible album. Kozelek fought back against 4AD's American branch's meddling and was thrown off the record label due to his insistence of not letting it be changed.
  • Kozelek had many plans for Red House Painters after Old Ramon. He was going to create a few concept albums (one of them became Ghosts Of The Great Highway, Sun Kil Moon's first album) but after Island dropped the band, they were unable to get back in contact with each other and Kozelek had to drop some of the ideas he had.
  • Old Ramon was also originally going to be a double album that included a longer version of "Michigan" and a song by the name of "The Mission" that was said to have been nearly 20 minutes long.
  • Rollercoaster was originally going to have a fish head as an album cover. Similarly, the album cover for Ocean Beach was going to be some broken church pews or abandoned hospital beds.
• Write What You Know: Kozelek based a lot of experiences of his life (his depression and his personal life) in the lyrics.
• Word of God: Nights of Passed Over gives a lot of insight and details of songs during the RHP and Sun Kil Moon period. While rare, some facts of songs have been proven, especially from those above:
  • Kozelek when discussing the track "Michael", stated he actually was expected Michael himself to appear with his son during a rehearsal but he never showed up. This was of course also "updated" (arguably) after Kozelek's interview in 2004 as stated above.

---