Elliott Smith’s band Heatmiser to release Third Man rarities compilation
A forthcoming compilation album will showcase previously unreleased music from Heatmiser, the formative band of the late artist Elliott Smith.
The compilation, consisting of 29 songs, is scheduled for launch on October 6th via Third Man Records. As a teaser, the label has unveiled a previewing track titled ‘Lowlife,’ accompanied by a video of the band’s live performance of the song in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Smith co-founded Heatmiser in 1991 in Portland, Oregon, alongside guitarist/vocalist Neil Gust and drummer/producer Tony Lash. Brandt Peterson, the band’s bassist, joined several months later.
In 1992, Heatmiser introduced their inaugural cassette titled The Music of Heatmiser, which they handed out at their concerts and local record stores. The forthcoming compilation from Third Man Records includes all six tracks from the early cassette release, reproducing its original title and artwork.
“Tony found a bunch of forgotten recordings and started mixing them and sending them to me,” Gust says of the new compilation in press materials. “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.'”
Following The Music of Heatmiser, the band continued through three full-length studio albums before its dissolution in 1996. Heatmiser were inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in 2015, 12 years after Smith’s tragic death.
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