Mark Kozelek
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Mark Kozelek (born January 29, 1967 in Massillon, Ohio) is an American singer/songwriter and frontman of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters.
Mark Kozelek's harrowing autobiographical lyrics gives unflinchingly detailed accounts of pain, despair and loss while the lengthy accompanying music is slow, intense, dissonant and bleak. As time has passed, his music has become more acoustic and folk-inflected, while his lyrics now seem obsessed with memory, geography and those who died before their natural time, arguably best demonstrated on Sun Kil Moon's Ghosts of the Great Highway.
It was upon relocating to Atlanta that he met drummer Anthony Koutsos, and after the pair moved once again to San Francisco, Red House Painters formed with the addition of guitarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel. From 1992 to 1996, Red House Painters released a series of acclaimed albums, showcasing Kozelek's intense, highly autobiographical songs.
However, Kozelek's tempestuous relationship with his label 4AD Records, followed by a series of major label mergers which left Red House Painters' 1998 album Old Ramon on the shelf proved highly frustrating and stifled the group's momentum. Kozelek opted to occupy himself with a series of idiosyncratic solo recordings.
In 2000, he released the solo EP Rock 'N' Roll Singer, which featured three original songs as well as covers of John Denver's "Around and Around" and three AC/DC songs ("Rock 'N' Roll Singer", "Bad Boy Boogie" and "You Ain't Got A Hold on Me"). Two of the AC/DC cover versions on Rock 'N' Roll Singer were radical re-arrangements of the originals which removed the Bon Scott-penned lyrics from their hard rock context and placed them into gentle, acoustic "folk ballad" settings.
Kozelek expanded on this idea in 2001, releasing a full-length album comprised solely of AC/DC covers titled What's Next to the Moon. These new arrangements sounded so unlike the originals that a KCRW radio executive insisted that the title track was a Leonard Cohen song.
This was not the first time Kozelek had drastically re-arranged others' material to his own ends. With Red House Painters he had previously done similar reconstructions with Simon & Garfunkel's "I Am a Rock", The Cars' "All Mixed Up", Yes' "Long Distance Runaround", Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs" and even Francis Scott Key's "The Star Spangled Banner."
A limited edition live recording, White Christmas Live, was released by the Sub Pop label in 2002. In addition to his solo material, it featured several Red House Painters songs done in a stripped-down, acoustic guitar/vocals style and one a capella rendition. An early version of his current project Sun Kil Moon's "Lily And Parrots" is tacked on to the end as an uncredited bonus track. It also features one previously unreleased song, "Admiral Fell Promises."
Kozelek was later asked to contribute a song to a Will Oldham (a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy) tribute album. Kozelek provided a rendition of Oldham's song "New Partner."
In 2005, Sun Kil Moon released their second record. Titled Tiny Cities, the album is entirely comprised of covers of songs by Modest Mouse. Once again, Kozelek's cover versions varied greatly from the originals.
In 2006 Kozelek was invited by Toronto indie rock label Paper Bag Records to exclusively contribute to their See You on the Moon! Songs for Kids of All Ages compilation with his song "Leo and Luna".
In November 2006, Kozelek released a live album titled Little Drummer Boy Live under his own name. On the album's two discs, he plays songs from his solo career, covers, and material from the catalogs of both Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon.
Kozelek has also dabbled in acting; friend Cameron Crowe cast him in Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky. In 2005 he appeared in Steve Martin's film Shopgirl.
