Quasi and Elliott Smith - The Poisoned Well

Quasi and ES performing a Quasi's song : The Poisoned Well
Just old videos of ES that I found many years ago on youtube, and that had been erased since.
Keep Elliott Smith alive in our hearts.

[@joelglanton6531]

I love how meta this is. Elliott Smith playing a guitar line that was written to intentionally ape an Elliott Smith guitar line (the style of which is intentionally aping George Harrison), on a song that's written about Elliott Smith, for a band composed of Elliott Smith's drummer and bassist, while opening for headliner Elliott Smith.

[@anonymouse4138]

pure mastery.

[@l.r.8637]

Please explain in ape terms exactly wtf ypu are saying. I mean I think I know what you're saying n all but I wanna know wtf you're saying just so I can confirm what I think you're saying. It's about clear communication man!🙊

[@hnggghi]

@@l.r.8637 i think in this context ape means like kinda like ripping off if that makes sense?

[@mancmayhem8165]

Meta

[@geoffsebesta4787]

That would seem to be the order that the release dates put the story in, but I'm willing to bet that's actually Smith on the album too. They were recording Featuing: "Birds" and XO at about the same time, and they obviously knew each other!

[@DOOMED1993]

It's really cool to see Elliott playing a strat here

[@d-rockanomaly9243]

It looks so weird. It's like when a player gets traded to another team in sports, and you see him for the first time in his new uniform.

[@ElstonsGun]

@@d-rockanomaly9243 Patrick Ewing rocking a magic jersey

[@chadlong1109]

I think he plays a Strat on A Question Mark? I had a Strat as my only guitar for 20 years, I can usually pick ‘em out, even when they’re heavily distorted.

[@dela4153]

there are fenders all over XO, figure 8, from a basement on the hill

[@inshambles2]

@@dela4153 basement i believe was recorded entirely on a tele

[@JoeyTaylor-zh7pg]

favorite moment in music history i think

[@sade7777]

bruh i had no clue elliott and quasi were related in any way until now, awesome

[@mattmitche11]

Me too brotha

[@Anesthesia90]

@@mattmitche11 check video fottage about elliott smith live with the band, is very likely you'll see Sam Coomes playing his rickenbacker style bass as for Janet, she played with Elliott Smith here and there but there isn't much fottage showing her sadly, but you bet your ass they toured together. Amazing band honestly, featuring birds has to be one of my favorite records of all times.

[@mattmitche11]

@Green Rocky Road i never realized quasi was an Elliott smith adjacent thing and it rlly puts it more into context like it makes more sense now yk

[@chuckbabygorilla]

Sam and Elliott were in Heatmiser together.

[@mattmitche11]

@@chuckbabygorilla damn

[@johndoe9965]

that guitar-line isn't the easiest to play.. really speaks to Elliotts intuitive understanding of melody

[@catsick94]

yh, you won't live long but you may write the perfect song :/

[@DisarMn]

This is amazing

[@Jimbo1221]

This is SO fucking amazing.

[@jala1081]

I like the guitar line

[@jala1081]

Me too

[@anonymouse4138]

@@jala1081 i love how he just figured it out and knew exactly what to do in under 20 seconds. He had attempted suicide shortly before this too after jumping off of a cliff. He knew this was about him.. probably why he had such unique musicianship with this improvisational riff and chords.

[@uij8439]

@@anonymouse4138 What?? Can you cite those claims? Also, I bet Elliott rehearsed the line at least once before lol

[@strangeclimate411]

@@anonymouse4138 it wasn't an attempt. stop spreading misinformation

[@reneedeniz]

What a fucking gem😍

[@quietringaudio]

Thank you Kleason Keep wm coming PLEASE!

[@wolfeel100]

Is this at La Luna? I remember shows like this, seeing Quasi (often just Sam on piano and Janet on drums). The kids all listening intently. So many good all-ages shows there when I was young.

[@davidrossbach1578]

It looks like La Luna for sure. Sooo many good shows there.

[@summyd7351]

this song is written about elliott right?

[@zackfreitas]

Isn’t it ironic that Elliott is playing along with them for a song about himself?

[@michaelsalmon3450]

Zack Freitas is it? Never heard that

[@joelglanton6531]

@@michaelsalmon3450 Both the lyrics and the Harrisonesque lead guitar are far, far too on-the-nose for the song to be about anyone but the man himself. IMO this song is extremely clever on the part of Sam Coomes, who is criminally underrated in the world of indie music. He deserves to be at least as well-known as Janet is.

[@queenpurple8433]

@@joelglanton6531 if it is about ES then its incredibly disrespectful. I doubt it’s about him. Maybe if he had already died when it was written it MIGHT be believable. But you’re talking about a band that was Elliot smiths band of course it’s gonna be on the nose of Elliot smiths music

[@joelglanton6531]

@@queenpurple8433 I've done more research into the subject and Coomes does not deny that it's about Elliott Smith, but says that it's "not limited to Elliott" and could be about any artist. The first print reference is an article in the Guardian from 1999, which is a feature on Smith with an interview, that claims the song is about Smith but does not offer any attribution. I believe it's about him, though. I've researched the life of Smith quite a bit and not only did he frequently speak of suicide (although I'm of the opinion that his death was caused by homicide), but "Featuring 'Birds'," the album that this song is from, was recorded 5 to 6 months after Smith's fall off a small cliff that was and is largely characterized as a suicide attempt (and although firsthand accounts of the incident are directly at odds with this interpretation, when a friend who had already spoken of suicide gets drunk, has a mental breakdown, opens the door of the van and runs off into the night only to fall down a cliff and impale himself on a tree, it would surely be easy enough to look at such an incident through that particular lense). Quasi has also recorded dozens and dozens of songs and this particular guitar style that is very reminiscent of Smith's does not pop up anywhere else. They were indeed his backing band for this tour but I wouldn't characterize them as "his" band. Coomes has played bass on a lot of Smith's recordings so his bass style (and certainly tone) are a match for Smith's songs but not only is Janet's drum style totally different, I would argue that Quasi sound almost nothing like Smith- EXCEPT for this song. I also don't find it disrespectful if it is about him. I'm a songwriter and I'm willing to bet that Smith wouldn't have taken it personal- good songs should have a degree of honesty that can't otherwise be conveyed any other way and I would like to think both Smith and Coomes knew that. Sorry I wrote you a novel but I'm very interested in the life of Smith and always happy to talk about him.

[@yzeerkd]

@@joelglanton6531 clearly ES was so offended that he performed this song with them...

[@clumsiii]

looks like capital theater in olympia. shot from the balcony?

[@photent]

@toodeadfordreaming exactly what I was thinking hey

[@damianhood8459]

Is this at Liberty Lunch in Austin TX circa '98????

[@bigchickentime7391]

Is there a digital version of this? Or is it just a loose that never made it into anything?

[@SirPentinite]

There’s a demo of it you can find on here. “From a Poisoned Well” is a song by Quasi, the band he’s performing with here.

[@thelegendarye2430]

It’s from the album featuring birds by quasi

[@cam-gv2gf]

What part of the lyrics makes anyone think it's about ES? Sam says it's about songwriters in general, but I guess he wouldn't say "Yeah it's about Elliott" if that were true.

[@anonymouse4138]

you won't live long, but you may write the perfect song, please excuse, those who choose not to play along: ES had multiple suicide attempts and interventions and he wrote perfect songs.. just in this video you see how talented he was in another band... not even his own. RIP... right before Elliott died he also wrote a song called "From a poisoned well"... intertwining the two.

[@strangeclimate411]

@@anonymouse4138 and once again, you're spreading misinformation. there are NO documented stories of elliott attempting suicide. the cliff story was, in his words, a drunken accident. he started running, saw the cliff but didn't care if he fell off or not. that's distinctly different to somebody doing that with suicidal intent.

[@anonymouse4138]

@@strangeclimate411 yeah there are. during the recording of basement he was doing up to 2k of drugs a day and his producer is documented saying Elliott would freak out when he woke up, saying things like why the fuck am I still alive, etc and then proceeding to do even more.

[@strangeclimate411]

@@anonymouse4138 but this isn't a story of him attempting suicide, is it? i never denied that he was doing drugs heavily at this point in his life. but there's a difference between engaging in risky behaviours and being surprised that you survived and actively attempting suicide. i've gone through periods where i would be drunk 4x a week and do drugs (not heavily but i wasn't sure about my tolerance so anything could've happened) and wake up in the morning and ask myself why i'm still alive, then proceed to do the same thing again the following night. if anything, it was almost like passive suicide: doing things which you know will kill you one day but not caring enough to stop. but, again, they cannot be classed as attempts. it is undeniable that elliott experienced suicide ideation and expressed that to friends but thoughts and actions are distinctly different.

[@anonymouse4138]

@@strangeclimate411 so someone forged the suicide post it note and stabbed him in the chest?

[@babyphotosynthesis5889]

“what do you think about the band Modest Mouse ?”

[@oldaccount5217]

Lol “modest mouse music”

[@polo339]

Oooh. How awkward this is.

[@d-rockanomaly9243]

About zero percent awkward. That's the world's greatest songwriter with the guitar.

[@anonymouse4138]

he played this because he knew what was his plans were. So tragic.

[@MH-qm7wr]

he played this because they were his friends and he loved the music...

[@anonymouse4138]

@@MH-qm7wr he attempted suicide on this tour by jumping off of a cliff but landed in a tree.. then he moved to New York and started writing what would become Figure 8 after losing his relationship with Portland. He would then go to Abbey Road and record, eventually moving to LA where he would eventually pass away while recording From a Basement on the Hill....

[@alicedamore5675]

@@anonymouse4138 Your timeline is way skewed.

[@anonymouse4138]

​​@@alicedamore5675 explain the timeline then. This was during the XO tour. 1998ish