Neil Gust
Neil Jacob Gust is an American musician. He is best known for co-founding Heatmiser with Elliott Smith in the early 90's.
Music career
Gust and Smith first met in 1987 while the pair were attending Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Gust also befriended artist Marc Swanson while at Hampshire; he would appear in Heatmiser's music video for "Why Did I Decide to Stay".
After graduating, Gust and Smith moved to Portland, Oregon in 1991. They formed Heatmiser with Brandt Peterson and Tony Lash shortly after. Gust wrote songs for as well as played guitar and sang in the band. As Heatmiser was breaking up, Gust played on Smith's second solo album Elliott Smith, recording the electric guitar part for the song "Single File". Gust was also a founding member of the now-defunct band No. 2. No. 2 released two albums, No Memory and What Does Good Luck Bring?, and a seven-inch single, "Allistair Chestnut". In 2012, he posted 3 new songs on his SoundCloud account.
Design career
Gust designed the packaging for Heatmiser's albums Cop and Speeder and Mic City Sons and was art director for Yellow No. 5. Gust also created the album sleeves for the Elliott Smith albums Roman Candle and Elliott Smith as well as the layout for Either/Or. Gust worked as a lead creative at the Portland based design firm Johnson and Wolverton. Gust was credited with layout on Stephen Malkmus's debut self-titled album.
