Biography
Noise pop trio New Radiant Storm King endured repeated setbacks across the indie rock landscape, among them the exits of core personnel, relocations across regions, and the downfall of multiple record labels. Nevertheless the Amherst, MA-based three-piece deepened the emotional resonance of its sound while numerous lo-fi contemporaries from the 1990s remained trapped in detached irony.
The group came together in 1990 while its founders were enrolled at Hampshire College. Its first configuration featured singer and bassist Peyton Pinkerton, singer and guitarist Matt Hunter, second guitarist Eli Miller, and drummer Elizabeth Sharp. Sharp and Pinkerton resolved to launch the project during a tour with a different local act, naming the new band after the basement radiator where they chose to branch out independently. The quartet performed regularly in Amherst, then an active indie rock center anchored by Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, supporting visiting acts including Nirvana and supplying music for a production staged by a nearby theater company. In 1992 the four-piece tracked a complete album, One Day Rust, for Rough Trade Records, yet the label folded shortly before the planned release date. Those recordings, together with a 25-minute instrumental created for the play and assorted additional material, later appeared on The Castle, a bonus disc issued with Wormco’s 1998 reissue of the band’s eventual debut.
Disheartened by the Rough Trade collapse, Miller departed in 1992. The remaining trio of Pinkerton, Hunter, and Sharp cut My Little Bastard Soul independently and placed the finished tapes with the small indie Axis Records, which issued the album in 1993 before itself vanishing. New Radiant Storm King next aligned with Grass Records, a Homestead subsidiary that offered greater continuity, and swiftly completed Rival Time, an album that surfaced only months after My Little Bastard Soul. Highlighted by the standout track “The Opposing Engineer Sleeps Alone,” Rival Time earned widespread praise and attracted admirers such as Guided by Voices, who stated that their breakthrough single “I Am a Scientist” drew direct inspiration from that song. The two bands later swapped material on a 1996 split single.
August Revital, released in 1994, leaned toward brighter pop and expanded Sharp’s vocal contributions at a time when she was also playing bass and singing in another Amherst outfit, Skinner Pilot. Seeking greater focus on her own work, Sharp exited New Radiant Storm King in 1995 to begin the solo D.I.Y. project Ill Ease. Hunter, by then out of college and married, relocated to New York City around the same period, converting the band into an occasional endeavor. Hurricane Necklace (1996) introduced Sharp’s successor, Figgs and New Harmful drummer Jeremy Smith, who was later replaced by Garrett Fontes ahead of Singular, No Article (1999), issued on the tiny Poster Girl imprint. That lineup held steady through the three-year interval leading to the strong 2002 release Winter’s Kill. In the intervening years Pinkerton toured and recorded with the alt-country Pernice Brothers while Hunter played bass for the noise rock Wharton Tiers Ensemble. The original members reconvened in 2006 for The Steady Hand and Singular, adding Caleb Wetmore on bass and Patrick Berkery on drums. Drinking in the Moonlight appeared in 2008. All of these albums came out on the Darla label.
The group came together in 1990 while its founders were enrolled at Hampshire College. Its first configuration featured singer and bassist Peyton Pinkerton, singer and guitarist Matt Hunter, second guitarist Eli Miller, and drummer Elizabeth Sharp. Sharp and Pinkerton resolved to launch the project during a tour with a different local act, naming the new band after the basement radiator where they chose to branch out independently. The quartet performed regularly in Amherst, then an active indie rock center anchored by Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, supporting visiting acts including Nirvana and supplying music for a production staged by a nearby theater company. In 1992 the four-piece tracked a complete album, One Day Rust, for Rough Trade Records, yet the label folded shortly before the planned release date. Those recordings, together with a 25-minute instrumental created for the play and assorted additional material, later appeared on The Castle, a bonus disc issued with Wormco’s 1998 reissue of the band’s eventual debut.
Disheartened by the Rough Trade collapse, Miller departed in 1992. The remaining trio of Pinkerton, Hunter, and Sharp cut My Little Bastard Soul independently and placed the finished tapes with the small indie Axis Records, which issued the album in 1993 before itself vanishing. New Radiant Storm King next aligned with Grass Records, a Homestead subsidiary that offered greater continuity, and swiftly completed Rival Time, an album that surfaced only months after My Little Bastard Soul. Highlighted by the standout track “The Opposing Engineer Sleeps Alone,” Rival Time earned widespread praise and attracted admirers such as Guided by Voices, who stated that their breakthrough single “I Am a Scientist” drew direct inspiration from that song. The two bands later swapped material on a 1996 split single.
August Revital, released in 1994, leaned toward brighter pop and expanded Sharp’s vocal contributions at a time when she was also playing bass and singing in another Amherst outfit, Skinner Pilot. Seeking greater focus on her own work, Sharp exited New Radiant Storm King in 1995 to begin the solo D.I.Y. project Ill Ease. Hunter, by then out of college and married, relocated to New York City around the same period, converting the band into an occasional endeavor. Hurricane Necklace (1996) introduced Sharp’s successor, Figgs and New Harmful drummer Jeremy Smith, who was later replaced by Garrett Fontes ahead of Singular, No Article (1999), issued on the tiny Poster Girl imprint. That lineup held steady through the three-year interval leading to the strong 2002 release Winter’s Kill. In the intervening years Pinkerton toured and recorded with the alt-country Pernice Brothers while Hunter played bass for the noise rock Wharton Tiers Ensemble. The original members reconvened in 2006 for The Steady Hand and Singular, adding Caleb Wetmore on bass and Patrick Berkery on drums. Drinking in the Moonlight appeared in 2008. All of these albums came out on the Darla label.
Albums
