Mark Kozelek

Mark Edward Kozelek (born January 24, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer and occasional actor.

[3] Reconvening with Koutsos and Vessel, the trio continued performing under the new name of Sun Kil Moon, releasing their debut album, Ghosts of the Great Highway, in 2003.

[5] In 2014, Sun Kil Moon's sixth studio album, Benji, was released to widespread critical acclaim,[6] and increased exposure with its follow-up, 2015's Universal Themes,[7] featuring lengthy compositions and stream-of-consciousness lyrics.

Across his work in Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters, and his own solo material, Kozelek has released 31 studio albums, with his most recent being All the Best, Isaac Hayes (2020).

After the pair moved once again to San Francisco, California, Red House Painters formed with the addition of guitarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel.

[14] Sun Kil Moon debuted with Ghosts of the Great Highway in 2003, and also features former RHP members Jerry Vessel and Anthony Koutsos as well as new collaborators Geoff Stanfield (formerly of Black Lab) and Tim Mooney of American Music Club.

The updated edition spans to his current Sun Kil Moon days, and the book also includes a 12-track bonus CD titled Nights LP, featuring live and rare versions of songs dated 1996 to 2007.

Kozelek also contributed as a vocalist and bass player to Desertshore, a group featuring Red House Painters guitarist Phil Carney, classically trained pianist Chris Connolly, and more recently Sun Kil Moon drummer Mike Stevens.

He played a more major role in the third studio album titled Mark Kozelek & Desertshore (released August 20, 2013, Caldo Verde Records), where he is featured as vocalist and bassist on all 10 tracks.

[21] In 2014, Sun Kil Moon released Benji to wide acclaim, garnering a score of 85 from the critical rating aggregate website, Metacritic.

[27] On September 9, 2014, Kozelek's label Caldo Verde began selling t-shirts with "All You Fuckin' Hillbillies Shut The Fuck Up" printed on the front.

Kozelek complained of noise from The War on Drugs' set bleeding over to his stage and told the audience, "I hate that beer commercial lead-guitar shit".

Friend and director Cameron Crowe cast him in his film Almost Famous (2000) as Larry Fellows (the bass player in Stillwater) and in Vanilla Sky (2001) as a clubgoer who mocks Tom Cruise's character.

[40] In August 2020, in an article published by Pitchfork, Kozelek was alleged to have engaged in sexual misconduct with a woman named Sarah Golden, as well as two other unidentified women.

Several of these women alleged that, in separate incidents, Kozelek brought them back to a hotel room, promising them that the encounter would not be sexual, before later emerging from the bathroom unclothed or in underwear and then masturbating.

Kozelek (left) with Sun Kil Moon in Paris, 2014