Heatmiser

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Heatmiser
Brandt Peterson, Elliott Smith, Neil Gust and Tony Lash
Background information
Origin	Portland, Oregon, USA
Genre(s)	Indie Rock Alternative Rock
Years active	1992–1996
Label(s)	Cavity Search Records
Website	Heatmiser's MySpace
Members
Elliott Smith Neil Gust Brandt Peterson Tony Lash Sam Coomes

Heatmiser was an alternative rock band that originated in Portland, Oregon in 1992. Consisting of Elliott Smith (guitar and vocals), Neil Gust (guitar and vocals), Brandt Peterson (bass; later to be replaced by Sam Coomes, frontman of Quasi), and Tony Lash (drums), they were known for their well-crafted lyrics and songs often featuring the juxtaposition of melancholic and cheery words and melodies. The pop-oriented songs of Elliott Smith were a contrast to the darker songs of Gust, while both Smith and Gust's songs touched on subjects such as anger, alienation, loneliness and despair.

The band is now most famous for being "the band Elliott Smith used to be in" [1]. Heatmiser was labeled as a "homocore" or "queercore" band by the mainstream press, because of the themes espoused in the songs of the openly gay Gust. [2] It was also speculated that Gust and Smith were lovers. Elliott Smith repeatedly denied in interviews that he and Gust were lovers or that he was even gay, and that Gust being gay was "not a big deal, [nor] anyone's business".

Elliott Smith later dismissed the group's music as "loud", and his own singing on their first albums as "an embarrassment". Smith also bemoaned that being in Heatmiser changed the songs he was writing at the time into "loud rock songs with no dyamic" [3]. Heatmiser also frustrated the members of the band because, according to Smith, "none of us really liked this kind of music, and we didn't have to play [that] way" [4] and "more and more people were coming to our shows that were the kind of people who would have kicked me and Neil’s ass in high school". Later in his career, Smith believed that his blatant dismissal of the band in interviews for his solo albums hurt Neil Gust and led to discontent between them. The success of Roman Candle and Elliott Smith caused tensions in the band, especially between Smith and Gust, and led to the band's break-up. [5].

Neil Gust and Elliott Smith met and formed the band while both were attending classes at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts; the pair would perform covers and original songs together in clubs in nearby Northampton [6]. Brandt Peterson's stay in the band was short-lived; he was deemed to be "too confrontational" by the other members and was asked to leave. Sam Coomes, a friend of Elliott Smith, was brought in to play bass after the departure of Brandt Peterson, and played on Heatmiser's last album Mic City Sons and on tour. Tony Lash went to high school with Elliott Smith, and played flute in the school band.

The band broke up in the fall of 1996 after Smith's solo work began gaining popularity. Gust went on to play in the band No. 2. Coomes carried on as half of Quasi, as well as playing as a guest musician for Built to Spill and Sleater-Kinney. Lash currently keeps himself busy as a producer. He helped with the production of Death Cab for Cutie's first two studio albums (Something About Airplanes and We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes). Peterson currently teaches anthropology at Michigan State University.

Contents 1 Discography 1.1 Studio albums 1.2 EPs 1.3 Singles 1.4 Miscellanea 2 Trivia

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

1. Dead Air (1993)

2. Cop and Speeder (1994)

3. Mic City Sons (1996)

[edit] EPs

1. Yellow No. 5 (1994)

[edit] Singles

• "Stray" (1993; B-sides: "Can't Be Touched", "Wake"; Cavity Search Records)
• "Sleeping Pill" (1994; B-side: "Temper"; Cavity Search Records)
• "Everybody Has It" (1996; B-side: "Dirty Dream"; Cavity Search Records)

[edit] Miscellanea

• Zero Effect Motion Picture Soundtrack (1998) (Song "Rest My Head Against the Wall")
• Puddlestomp (Song "Mightier Than You [Demo]")
• 25 Years On the Edge: A Benefit For Outside In (Song "Mightier Than You")
• Live at the X-Ray (Song "Bottle Rocket [Live]")
• Pet Sounds, Volume 1 (Song "Junior Mint")
• Kamikaze: Music to Push You Over the Edge (Song "Stray")

[edit] Trivia

The Arizona rock band Jimmy Eat World covered Heatmiser's "Half Right" (from Mic City Sons) on Stay on My Side Tonight, their 2005 EP, and make reference to the same song in "Kill" on Futures:

I pick up, put down the phone. Like your favorite Heatmiser song goes: 'It's just like being alone'

Heatmiser

Elliott Smith - Neil Gust - Brandt Peterson - Sam Coomes - Tony Lash

Discography

Studio albums: Dead Air - Cop and Speeder - Mic City Sons

EP: Yellow No. 5