Steve Fisk

by Jason AnkenyFew figures exerted greater influence over the contemporary Pacific Northwest indie music scene than Steve Fisk -- while a veteran of bands including Pell Mell and Pigeonhed, he earned his greatest renown as a producer, helming sessions for acts including Nirvana, the Screaming Trees, Soundgarden and Beat Happening. Already a veteran of countless short-lived bands by the time he made his solo debut in 1980 with contributions to the compilations Sub Pop 5 and Life Elsewhere, in 1985 Fisk resurfaced as a member of the instrumental outfit Pell Mell, which issued a series of well-received efforts on SST. That same year he made his producing debut with the Screaming Trees' Other Worlds, followed in 1986 by the group's Clairvoyance; soon his credit appeared regularly on releases from the Sub Pop and K labels, including key early releases from the likes of Beat Happening (the brilliant Jamboree) and Soundgarden (Fopp).
In 1990 Fisk produced Nirvana's Blew EP, followed by sessions with Some Velvet Sidewalk, Treepeople, Unwound and the late Steven Jesse Bernstein; in 1993, he teamed with vocalist Shawn Smith in the electronic duo Pigeonhed, issuing a self-titled LP on Sub Pop. That same year, K also released Over and Thru the Night, a compilation of Fisk's solo studio experiments. He made the leap to the majors in 1994, helming projects for Island (the Wedding Present's Watusi) and RCA (the 360's Strawberry Stone); a year later a reunited Pell Mell issued Interstate on DGC, and for the same label Fisk produced the Geraldine Fibbers' acclaimed Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home, the Posies' Amazing Disgrace and Boss Hog's self-titled album. Subsequent projects include sessions with Low, Soul Coughing, Damien Jurado and Witchy Poo. His third solo album 999 Levels of Undo, arrived in early 2001 on Sub Pop.