Mark Lanegan & Belgium

[ellen]

Just wondering if there are any Belgian fans out here?
Mark Lanegan does have a special connection with Belgium, I think. He has been coming here for a very long time, and has always been received very well by the Belgian audience.
I recently found out that he has even lived in Antwerp for a while with dEUS' Klaas Janzoons.
If you know more stuff like this, please share :-)

[deborah77]

i am in belgium too.

someone indeed told me he has been living in flanders but i don't know more

[jujuu2]

I'm from Belgium too.

Of course it's always difficult to say if Mark "loves" Belgium. He is not the kind of artist who'll say "thank Belgium, I love you, you've always been very special to me"...

But all I know is that he comes A LOT in Belgium

In the past 5 five years he did

2 X with Twilight singers
6X with Isobel Campbell
3X with Greg dully (an evening with)
3X with the Gutter Twins
2 or 3 X with Soulsavers
1X solo (last week).

So it's 17 X in 5 years. Not bad at all!

Plus the fact that David Rosser told us at the AB last week that it was the only city on the tour where they made an extra encore.

So yes after all, I think he really likes Belgium. And for sure, Belgium likes him a lot!

[kingdomsofrain]

He comes for the beer and chocolate like the rest of us!

[puree]

I'm a Belgian too.

Did you guys know that Admiral Freebee was also listening to the concert last week ? My girlfriend bumped into him while going to the toilets

[nnf]

Also, Aldo Struyf from the Belgian bands Millionnaire and Creature with the atom brain played on a couple of tracks on Bubblegum and he was in Mark's touring band for the European leg of the Bubblegum tour.

[ellen]

-i saw Admiral Freebee at the bar before the concert, didn't know he was a fan :-)

-the Millionaire connection, of course, those guys also played with QOTSA!

-still looking for more information on Lanegan in Antwerp, being from Antwerp myself, it really makes me wonder what he did here...

-damn!, i just want to know more about Mark Lanegan, he is such a mystery!!! (but that's part of the appeal i guess...)

[655321]

Hey, I'm also from Belgium!
Yeah, Mark lived with Klaas Janszoons for a while, in a 'Focus Knack' (belgian magazine), there were a few pages about Mark Lanegan where Klaas also talks about Mark living with him for a while, and being friendly to him and his family, but that he didn't say much... And apparently always he always took Duvels from the bar on the ground level of the building. After Mark moved out, Klaas found some letter of Mark written in blood...
How was the show last saturday?

[bibi]

The show was awesome, why weren t you there?! I also remember reading an interview of Lanegan when he lived in Belgium in which he said that considering the political situation ( it was during the Bush era...) he told people there that he was from Canada, not the States!

[puree]

can you scan that article from Focus Knack ?
Or a date or a year in during which it was published. Maybe I can look it up. Thx

[655321]

I wasn't there because I'm working in Australia for the moment... Otherwise I was definitely there, i was thinking about it saturday-evening, and thought 'ooh fuck, why am i not in Belgium tonight!!!'
I think I still have that article somewhere laying around at home, next week I'm back in Belgium so then I look it up!

[ellen]

scan would be great!!!
i read it in an interview with Janszoons in Humo, but that was just a small passage...

[nr655321]

with some delay... here are the scans

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[nr655321]

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[nr655321]

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[nr655321]

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[solitude]

May 9, 2010 4:24:54 GMT -5 jujuu2 said:

But all I know is that he comes A LOT in Belgium
;D

In the past
6X with Isobel Campbell
3X with Greg dully (an evening with)
3X with the Gutter Twins
2 or 3 X with Soulsavers
1X solo (last week).

So it's 17 X in 5 years.

LUCKY!!

[comejanuary]

Jan 22, 2011 9:22:30 GMT -5 nr655321 said:

with some delay... here are the scans

Thanks! Google Translate does a surprisingly good job with Dutch. I've been typing up bits and translating them while I sit here stuck on hold with The Home Depot. If anyone else would care to pitch in with the typing and start from the beginning, I'm actually going backwards through the article.

[comejanuary]

Google Translate-ed....

In 1984 is Mark Lanegan twintig. In een vergeefse poging om in zijn levenonderhound te voorzien, klust de dan nog beloftevolle baseballspeler bij in de lokale bonenteelt. Terwijl hij nietsvermoedend de water-tank van zijn maaidorser staat bij te vullen, zet zijn baas het gevaarte in archteruit en beland Lanegan op de grond. "Die tractor kwam recht op mijn ballen af," herinnert Lanegan zich over die onfortuinlijke lentedag. Zijn cojones blijven gelukkig gespaard, maar's mans benen worden tot moes gereden. Belhave dat een baseballcarriere niet langer tot de mogelijkheden behoort, heeft het tractorongeluk tot gevolg dat hij een hele zomer lang op zijn vriend Van Conner is aangewezen, de twee jong snaken danig op elkaar gesteld raken en samen met Vans broer Gary Lee een groep oprichten. Aanvankelijk beroert Lanegan de drums bij Screaming Trees, maar de broertjes Conner oordelen algauw dat hij beter tot zijn recht komt achter de microfoonstandaard.

--
In 1984, Mark Lanegan twenty. In a vain attempt to hound his life needs, then the klust promising baseball player at the local bean cultivation. While he unsuspectingly the water tank are able to combine filling, put his boss monster in reverse and ended up Lanegan on the ground. "The tractor came right to my balls off," recalls Lanegan run on that unfortunate day in spring. His cojones remain happily spared, but man's legs are driven to a pulp. Besides being a baseball career no longer a possibility, the tractor accident resulted in his one all summer long on his friend Van Conner is designated, the two young chap severely like each other get together with Vans brother Gary Lee group establish. Initially the drums with touches Lanegan Screaming Trees, Conner, but the brothers decide that he should soon come to his right behind the microphone stand.
--

Superfan Cobain

Screaming Trees groeien in no time uit tot een begrip in Seattle en omliggende trailer parks. Ze trekken zelfs de aandacht van eeen zekere Kurt Cobain, die Lanegan onophoudelijk met fanmail bestookt. Het komt tot een ontmoeting en in 1990 zlefs tot een samenwerken. Samen met Nirvanabassist Chris Novoselic nemen ze Winding Sheet op, met o.a een cover van Leadbelly's In The Pines, dat later in de versie van Nirvana wereldberoemd zal worden als Where Did You Sleep Last Night.

--
Superfan Cobain

Screaming Trees grow in no time into a household name in Seattle and surrounding trailer parks. They even attract the attention of a certain Kurt Cobain, who Lanegan constantly bombarded to fan mail. It comes to a meeting and in 1990 even to collaborate. Along to Nirvana bassist Chris Novoselic they take on Winding Sheet, which includes a cover of Leadbelly's In The Pines, which later became the famous version of Nirvana will be Where Did You Sleep Last Night.
--

Op dat moment is Mark Lanegan nog vele malen beroemder en vooral beruchter dan Cobain. Legnedarisch zijn's mans statische podiumpresence en korrelige graftste, die een meer dan gemiddelde innate van alcohol en nicotine doet vemoeden. Maar ook zijn zwijgzaamheid en vooral zijn imago van problematische druggebruiker en frequente bajesklant schenken hem in die dagen zijn badass rock star. Lanegan heeft zijn getrobleerde jeugd en heroineverslaving nooit onder stoelen of banken gestoken. Op zijn acttiende- hij zat toen al een half leven aan de smack - werd hij veroordeeld tot eer jaar gevangenissttraf voor he bezit en het verhandelm va drugs. Uiteindelijk kwan Lanegan er af met een jaartje afkickcentrum, maar het zo belist niet zijn laatste bezoek aan een ontswenningskliniek zijn.

--
At that time, Mark Lanegan many times and especially notorious than famous Cobain. Legendary are man's static stage presence and gritty graft voice, an above-average innate presumption of alcohol and nicotine doing. But his silence and especially the image of problematic drug user and frequent jailbird give him in those days badass rock star. Lanegan has been troubled youth and heroin addiction never concealed. On his eighteenth-when he was already half life to smack - he was sentenced to prison to years before he possession and trafficking of drugs. Eventually Lanegan off rehab for a year, but so definitely not his last visit to a detoxification clinic.
--

En hij was lang niet de enige in Seattle: de grungehoofdstad van de wereld groeide stilaan uit tot het grootste heroinkerkhof van de wereld. Toen Lanegan in '96 zowat zijn halve vrindenkring had begraven, besloot hij zijn heil de zoeken LA. Nadat hij daar een jaar later al werd opgepakt met genoeg heroine in zijn zakken om de staat Californie een jaar lang high te houden, liep Lanegan recht in de armen van Josh Homme, die eerder al ad interim de snaren had beroed bij Screaming Trees. Lanegan sloot zich aan bij zijn Queens Of The Stone Age en makkte daarmee deel uit van de meest indrukwekkende line-up uit de geschiedenis van de stonergroep. Behalve zanger-gitarist Josh Homme hadden de Queens in die dagen niemand minder dan bassist Nick Oliveri en drummer Dave Grohl- of Nirvana fame- in de rangen.

---
And he is far from the only one in Seattle, the grunge capital of the world gradually grew into the largest cemetery of the world's heroin. When Lanegan in '96 nearly half his friends had buried, he decided to seek the salvation LA. After he
there one year later, was arrested to enough heroin in his pockets to to keep the state of California a year high Lanegan Lanegan went straight into the arms of Josh Homme, who already had touched the strings ad interim of Screaming Trees. Lanegan joined his Queens Of The Stone Age and was thus part of the most impressive lineup in the history of the stoner group. Besides singer-guitarist Josh Homme Queens in those days had none other than bassist Nick Oliveri and drummer Dave Grohl, of Nirvana fame-in the ranks.
---


Onderduiken in Belgie

Tijdens de tourneed die volgde op magnum opus Songs for The Deaf leerden Homme en Lanegan een Belgische groep kennen die ze algauw zouden leegplunderen. Uit Millionaire werden twee jonge broekjes gerekruteerd: Homme lijfde Tim Vanhamel in bij zijn hobby-groep Eagles Of Death Metal; Lanegan deed hetzelfde met Aldo Stuyf voor zijn toekomstige Mark Lanegan Band. Struyf herinnert zich vooral hoe slecht de treurwilg uit Seattle er aan toe was. "Hij woonde letterlijk in zijn auto. Zijn spullen stockeerde hij bij allerlei vrienden in de garage en om te overleven verkocht hij systematisch vinyls uit zijn enorme platen-collectie."

---
Hiding in Belgium

During the tour that followed magnum opus Songs for The Deaf Homme and Lanegan learned a Belgian group know that they would soon plundering. Millionaire pants were from two young recruits: Homme Tim Vanhamel conscripted in to the hobby group Eagles of Death Metal, Lanegan did the same to Aldo Stuyf for future Mark Lanegan Band. Struyf especially remembers how bad the weeping willow from Seattle was in,. "He literally lived in his car. His stuff in stock, he many friends in the garage and to survive he systematically sold out his enormous vinyl record collection."
---

Lanegans manager vond de maat meer dan vol en sleepte hem op het einde van de Queenstourneed naar een Italiaanse ontwennings-kliniek. Lanegan hield het er nog geen week uit. "Op een dag kreeg ik telefoon van Mark", aldus Aldo Struyf. "Hij was weggevlucht uit een afkickcentrum en vroeg of hij een paar dagen bij mij kon longeren. Een week heeft hij hier op de bank geslapen, maar hij wou ons met tot last zijn en zocht een kamer waar hij een tijdje kon intrekken."

---
Lanegan's manager took over full size and dragged him to the end of the Queenstourneed to rehab an Italian. Lanegan did it less than a week off. "One day I got phone from Mark, " said Aldo Struyf. "He fled from a rehab center and asked a few days if he could stay with me. One week, he slept on the couch here, but he wanted us to load and searched a room where he could withdraw for a while. "
---

"En zo is hij bij mij terecht gekomen", vertel Klass Janzoons van dEUS. "Ik had hierboven een kamer leeg staan die gerenoveerd moest worden. Er was geen warm water of elektriciteit en er ontbraken een paar vensters maar dat vormde voor Mark blijkbaar geen probleem. Een maand of drie heeft hij hier gewoond. Een stille maar vriendelijke man. Als ik thuiskwam met mijn vriendin en dochtertje, kwam hij altijd uit het raam hangen om goeiedag te zeggen. Voor de rest zagen we ham niet veel. Avods kwam hij in het cafe beneden wel eens een Duvel drinken. Dan nam hij er nog een paar mee naar boven en zagen we hem weer een paar dagen niet."

---
"And so he ended up with me ', tell Klass Janzoons of dEUS. "I had above a vacant room that had to be renovated. There was no hot water or electricity and were missing a few windows but that was to Mark
apparently no problem. One or three months he lived here. A quiet but friendly man. When I came home to my girlfriend and daughter, he always came out of the window to say hello. For the rest we did not see much. At night he came into the cafe downstairs sometimes drink a Duvel. Then he took a few more upstairs and saw him again a few days. "
---

Gedicht in bloed

Ondertussen overlegde. Aldo Stuyf telefonisch met Josh Homme over de toestand van Lanegan. "Uiteindelijk heeft Josh een vliegticket voor Mark betaald en hem weer naar de States gehaald." Toen Lanegan weg was en Klaas Janzoons aan de renovatie van Lanegan's tijdelijke onderduikadres begon, deed hij een macabre ontdekking. "Op een van de muren had hij met zijn eigen bloed een gedicht geschreven. En later heeft een van de werkmannen in een vals plafond nog allerlei spuiten en naalden aangetroffen."


---
Poem in blood

Meanwhile submitted. Aldo Stuyf phone with Josh Homme on the state of Lanegan. "Josh has finally paid a ticket for Mark and brought him back to the States." When Lanegan gone and Klaas Janzoons to renovate Lanegan's temporary hiding place began, he made a macabre discovery. "One of the walls with his own blood he had written a poem. And later, one of the workmen in a false ceiling even many found syringes and needles."
---

Afgekickt was Lanegan nog lang niet. Back in the states slaagde hij er nog net in enkele hijdragen te leveren voor de QOTSA-plaat Lullabies To Paralyze, maar daarna ging het van kwaad naar erger met zijn druggebruik. Zelf platen maken zat er niet meer in das beperkte Lanegan zich almaar vaker tot een dienende rol. Eerst alas gastvocalist bij The Twilight Soingers van Afghan Whighs-frontman Greg Dulli, daarna als sidekick van de Schotse chantreuse Isolbel Campbell en vorig jaar nog als interimzanger bij Soulsavers.

---
Kicks off Lanegan was still far. Back in the states, he did just a few contributions to the QOTSA Lullabies To Paralyze record, but then went from bad to worse to his drug use. Sat own records are no longer limited tie Lanegan are increasingly turning to a subservient role. First alas guest vocalist with The Twilight Singers of Afghan Whigs-frontman Greg Dulli, then as the Scottish sidekick chantreuse Isobel Campbell and last year as interim singer with Soulsavers.
---

Of hij in al die projecten bewust de anominiteit heeft opgezocht, vroegen we onlangs aan Lanegan. "Natuurlijk. Het was misschien geen bewuste of beredeneerde keuze om me low profile te houden, maar als je met allerlei persoonlijke problemen kampt, heb je geen zin om als de frontman van een groep in de shijnwerpers te staan. Maar nog belangrijker dan de relatieve anonimiteit die je geniet bij zulke projecten is het feit dat muzikale samenwerkingen simpelweg mijn liefde voor muziek blijven aanwakkeren. In de tijd van Screaming Trees wist ik al: jarenlang in dezelfde groep spelen en avond na avond hetzelfde repertoire afhaspelen, is dodelijk voor het speelplezier. "Ziet hij er dan niet tegenop om als een helft van The Gutter Twins toch weer een beetje voor frontman te spelen?" "Nee. Ik heb mijn buddy Greg nasst me staan, dat scheelt. En ik hab het gevoel dat ik het gevoel dat ik het weer enigszins aanken om in the spotlight te staan."

---
Of all the projects he has consciously sought anonymity, we asked recently Lanegan. "Of course. It may not have conscious or reasoned choice to me low profile, but if you all kinds of personal problems exist, you do not feel like the frontman of a group in the spotlight. But more important than the relative anonymity that you enjoy in such projects is the fact that musical collaborations simply my love for music continued fueling. At the time of Screaming Trees, I knew: for years in the same group play night after night the same repertoire reeling, is lethal for the fun. "Does he not reluctant to act as one half of The Gutter Twins yet again a little before frontman to play?"Nope. I have my buddy Greg next to me, that makes a difference. And I feel that I feel I can handle it somewhat to stand in the spotlight. "
---

De reden voor dat herwonnen zelfvertrouwen? Mark Lanegan is eindelijk gerehabiliteerd. Anderhalf jaar geleden belandde hij na een zware overdosis in een coma en werd hij heel even klinisch dood verklaard. "Yeah, I flatlined," grijnst Lanegan. "And it made me decide to clean up my act."

---
The reason for that regained self-confidence? Mark Lanegan is finally rehabilitated. One and a half years ago he ended up after a massive overdose in a coma and was declared clinically dead for a moment. "Yeah, I flatlined," grins Lanegan. "And it made me decide to clean up my act."
---

[jujuu2]

Waouw! thanks a lot for this article!!!

I didn't imagine that Mark had been so far into drugs... Kinf of creepy to read!

On a lighter note... Is someone going to his show with Isobel in Charlerois (in february)?

Julien

[bibi]

I will be there!

[nnf]

Thanks for the scans! The article is quite interesting, sometimes even moving.

I was bored, so I made an attempt at a better translation. Maybe Raeni will want to put it on the site.

=========================================

In 1984, Mark Lanegan is twenty years old. In a vain attempt at sustenance, the then promising baseball player lands a job at a local bean farm. While unsuspectingly filling up the combine's water tank, his boss backs up the machine and Lanegan ends up on the ground. "The tractor came right at my balls," Lanegan recalls of the unfortunate day in spring. His cojones were happily spared, but his legs were crushed in the incident. Besides diminishing the possibility of a career in baseball, the tractor accident resulted in Lanegan having to rely on his friend Van Conner all summer. The two young men really hit it off and decide to start a band, together with Van's brother Gary Lee. Initially, Lanegan plays the drums, but the Conner brothers soon decide that he is much better of behind the microphone stand.

In no time, the Screaming Trees become a household name in Seattle and surrounding trailer parks. They even attract the attention of a certain Kurt Cobain, who constantly bombards Lanegan with fan mail. The two eventually meet and, in 1990, even collaborate. Together with Nirvana bassist Chris Novoselic they record The Winding Sheet, which includes a cover of Leadbelly's In The Pines, which would later achieve world fame as Nirvana's Where Did You Sleep Last Night.

At that time, Mark Lanegan is still more famous and notorious than Cobain. His static stage presence and gravelly voice are legendary, and raise suspicions of an above-average alcohol and nicotine intake. But also his quietness and especially his image of problematic drug user and frequent jailbird make him a badass rock star. Lanegan has never made a secret of his troubled youth and heroin addiction. When he was eighteen - and had already spent half his life using smack - he was sentenced to prison for one year for drug possession and trade. Eventually Lanegan managed to get out of jail by taking a year-long rehab course, but this would definitely not be his last visit to a rehab clinic.

And he was far from the only one in Seattle; the grunge capital of the world gradually grew into the largest heroin cemetery of the world. When Lanegan had buried nearly half of his friends in '96, he decided to seek refuge in LA. When, after only one year, Lanegan was arrested while carrying enough heroin to get the entire state of California high for about a year, Lanegan walked straight into the arms of Josh Homme, who had previously been a guest player with the Screaming Trees. Lanegan joined Homme's Queens of the Stone Age and so became part of the most impressive lineup in the history of the stoner group. Apart from singer/guitar player Josh Homme, the Queens at that time employed none other than bass player Nick Oliveri and drummer Dave Grohl (of Nirvana fame).

During the tour that followed their magnum opus Songs for The Deaf, Homme and Lanegan met a Belgian band they would soon plunder. Two young men were recruited from Millionaire: Homme incorporated Tim Vanhamel into his hobby project Eagles of Death Metal, and Lanegan did the same with Aldo Struyf for his future Mark Lanegan Band. Struyf especially remembers the bad state the weeping willow from Seattle was in. "He was literally living out of his car. He would store his stuff in various friends' garages, and to survive he would systematically sell records from his huge vinyl collection."

Lanegan's manager had had more than enough, and dragged him to an Italian rehab clinic as soon as the Queens tour had finished. Lanegan didn't last more than a week. "One day I got a phone call from Mark," recalls Aldo Struyf. "He had run away from a rehab center and asked if he could stay with me for a few days. He slept on my couch for a week, but he didn't want to be a burden and went looking for a room where he could stay for a while."

"And that's how he ended up living with me," Klaas Janzoons of dEUS says. "I had an empty room upstairs that had to be renovated. There was no hot water or electricity and a few windows were missing but apparently that was no problem for Mark. He lived here for about three months. He was quiet but friendly. Whenever I would come home with my girlfriend and daughter, he would always hang out the window to say hello. Other than that we never saw much of him. At night he would sometimes come down to the bar to have a beer. Then he would take a few more beers with him upstairs and we wouldn't see him again for another few days."

Meanwhile, Aldo Struyf and Josh Homme deliberated on the phone on the state Lanegan was in. "Eventually, Josh paid for a ticket for Mark and brought him back to the States." When Lanegan had left and Klaas Janzoons started renovating Lanegan's temporary hiding place, he made a macabre discovery. "He had written a poem on one of the walls using his own blood. And later, one of the workmen discovered a bunch of syringes and needles hidden in the ceiling."
Lanegan was still far from clean. Back in the States, he barely managed to make a few contributions to the QOTSA record Lullabies to Paralyze, but then his drug use went through the roof. Unable to make any records of his own, Lanegan increasingly often took on a backseat role. First as a guest vocalist with Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers, then as Scottish singer Isobel Campbell's sidekick, and only last year as interim singer with Soulsavers.

We recently asked Lanegan if he was consciously seeking anonymity with those projects. "Of course. It may not have been a conscious or reasoned choice to keep myself low profile, but if you're dealing with all kinds of personal problems, you don't really feel like being in the spotlights as a group's front man. But more important than the relative anonymity that you enjoy in such projects, is the fact that musical collaborations simply continue to fuel my love for music. In the days of Screaming Trees, I realized that playing in the same band for years and playing the same songs every night, quickly kills all the fun." Is he reluctant to, as one half of The Gutter Twins, once again act as a front man? "Nope. I have my buddy Greg next to me, which makes a big difference. And I feel that I can handle being in the spotlight once again."

The reason for his regained self-confidence? Mark Lanegan is finally clean. One and a half years ago he ended up in a coma after a massive overdose, and was declared clinically dead for a moment. "Yeah, I flatlined," Lanegan grins. "And it made me decide to clean up my act."

=========================================

[Grumpella]

Thanks, Nnf, this makes a lot more sense!

[nnf]

I'm glad it does

[calm ocean]

wow.

great read. i didn't know all that.