Steve Fisk

Steve Fisk is a Washington-based audio engineer, record producer and musician. Few figures exerted greater influence over the contemporary Pacific Northwest music scene than Steve Fisk. A veteran of bands including Pell Mell and Pigeonhed, Fisk has earned his greatest renown as a producer.

Fisk made his solo debut in 1980 with contributions to the compilations Let Them Eat Jellybeans!, Sub Pop 5 and Life Elsewhere. In 1982 Fisk joined the instrumental outfit, Portland based Pell Mell, which issued critically acclaimed records on SST. After a move to San Francisco the group disbanded in 1985 and a few odd turns landed him in Ellensburg, WA where he produced 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 and Soundgarden. In 1990 Fisk, now in Seattle, produced Nirvana's Blew sessions, followed by work with Some Velvet Sidewalk, Treepeople, The Reverend Horton Heat, Love Battery, Girl Trouble, Mary Lou Lord, The Afghan Whigs, Unwound, Seaweed, Steven "Jesse" Bernstein, Beat Happening, The Screaming Trees and remixes for Soundgarden. In 1993 he teamed with vocalist Shawn Smith in the ambient soul duo Pigeonhed, issuing a self-titled LP on Sub Pop. He made the leap to major label production in 1994, helming projects for Imij (Liberty), The Wedding Present (Island), Schtum (SonyUK) and The 360's (RCA); a year later a reunited Pell Mell issued Interstate on DGC, and for the same label Fisk produced The Posies, Three Mile Pilot and Boss Hog.