Surrounded - Red House Painters (Aired on WREK in 1988)
"Surrounded", one of the songs that was broadcast alongside the 1988 interview.
Red House Painters are often considered the definitive Slowcore/Sadcore band. Their lead singer, Mark Kozelek, led people to believe for many years that the band had started in 1991. For whatever reason, he kept it hidden that Red House Painters had its roots laid out way back in 1988. It was often believed that the early 1991-1992 demos were the earliest existing Red House Painters recordings.
Then in 2011, a rare interview dated 1988 from Atlanta, Georgia emerged online in torrent form. It was the very first public interview recorded of Mark Kozelek. The interview revealed that the band had started with a completely different lineup, and their early sound very closely resembled The Smiths. It contained 2 early songs in their original studio forms, as well as several acoustic versions of early songs.
The interview also referenced an early collection of songs which has never surfaced, and which, in recent times, Kozelek has never acknowledged. It is often thought that the reason for the lack of acknowledgement is the result of a possible resentment of his early vocal recordings, which were very frail and flat. Besides the acoustic versions and the 2 songs that are featured on the interview, the material has never surfaced and probably never will. The only chance the world has to hear these recordings are either Kozelek finally releasing them himself, or if someone was fortunate enough to get their hands on a copy.