It was this side of Smith’s music that Slim Moon became a fan of during that van tour through California. So even after Heatmiser signed to the major label Virgin, Smith was looking for a home to release his solo work - marked by introspective lyrics, catchy acoustic guitar riffs, and a lo-fi aesthetic. Yet, while Gust’s voice seemed to find a natural place in Heatmiser’s heavy music, Smith’s singing often sounded strained in the crunch of the band’s guitars. With a mix of power chords, heavy drums, and lyrics about gay life, Heatmiser was labeled “queer-core,' and soon built up a strong LGBTQ following in Portland.

Smith had played for several years in the band Heatmiser, a band that featured Sam Coomes, Tony Lash, and Neil Gust, one of the few openly gay front men in the hardcore scene. It’s the type of experience where you get to become really good friends with someone really quickly.”Įlliott Smith was well known in the Pacific Northwest at the time as an “artist’s artist,” Moon says. “Something that people don’t know about Elliott is he was loose all the time, always just cracking jokes. But with KRS having just released a box set with a new live performance and a remastered release of Smith's Either/Or, perhaps his most beloved record, Moon took a moment to reminisce.

“It was just really super fun,” says Moon, who has since left the label - and the music scene, for the most part he rarely does interviews. Slim Moon, the founder of the seminal independent label Kill Rock Stars, was also in that van, and it was on that 1994 tour the two Northwest artists became friends.

note: The author formerly worked at the label Kill Rock Stars.īefore Elliott Smith performed before national audiences, or signed to a major label, or cracked the Billboard 200, he was just one of seven musicians in a van touring California.

Elliott smith either or rar