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Post by ♫ ♪ on Jun 29, 2010 11:28:17 GMT -5
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Post by bibi on Jun 29, 2010 16:16:06 GMT -5
Thank you for sharing! It seems like the man has been doing quite a few interviews down under so I guess others shoud surface soon...
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Post by raeni on Jun 29, 2010 16:36:48 GMT -5
Having a thread like this, that includes the source of the interview like the first one did, is FABULOUS. The article crawlers and I will thank you so much for keeping it all in one easy to find place!
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Post by wellwater on Jun 29, 2010 22:33:50 GMT -5
From local Melbourne music paper 'Beat' some more elusive talk of a solo album... “When the lord made me, he made a ramblin’ man…” When Hank Williams wrote this line (taken from the song Ramblin’ Man) he may as well have written it for Mark Lanegan to utter. No modern day artist emulates the ramblin’ man persona more than Lanegan, and when he did cover the song on his first duet with Isobell Campbell the words rang true. From his days fronting The Screaming Trees, to his solo albums and many collaborations with artists such as Queens Of The Stone Age, the late Layne Staley – “He was good friend, a very sweet man” – and the more recent Soulsavers records, Lanegan has always kept his cards close to his chest. A lone wolf figure that has managed to hold steady a career that sees him enter and exit the stage in shadows, and sing from places just as dark. Speaking to him on the phone, his voice is exactly how it is heard on record, the dry baritone quick to give a deep chuckle, but only speaking when necessary. As fans would know, when he plays live, it is much the same. Lanegan is here to make music, and idle chat between songs, or in this case, between questions is not to be expected. A true artist in every sense, his legacy is in the songs he gives us and nothing more. On the eve of another visit to Australia, Lanegan spoke about his relationship with our fair city; one he has had the pleasure of visiting many times. “I always look forward to coming there. I was actually there only last year doing this other thing with Greg Dulli,” he says casually, referring to the intimate and amazing Gutter Twins show at the Athenaeum Theatre. Those who were there saw a truly beautiful set that connected the gutter with the stars, and would remember that a few Lanegan solo songs were stripped and given the acoustic treatment; they shone all the more for it. When asked if this time around he’ll be focusing more on his solo works, rather than the collaboration material, he muses, “I’ll basically be playing songs that I want to play. Some ‘Trees stuff, and some others.” And, for those that enjoyed the stripped back version of his songs, it’s suggested you hurry up and find some tickets to his next shows (if there are any left – The Corner show is already sold out), because although the last solo tour in 2007 saw Mark take the stage with a full band, this time around will be different. “No band this time. This time it’ll be just me and a guitarist (Dave Rosser, of the aforementioned Gutter Twins tour). “The songs are usually written on acoustic, and although some are more electric on the records, it’s good to take them back to how they were originally,” he responds when asked how this will shape choices of material to play. Obviously liking this form of playing live, Lanegan himself laughs and says of recent touring, “I’m getting older, I have more time on my hands.” And he is certainly one to use his time well. Having just finished the third in a series of albums with Isobell Campbell, Lanegan tells of how the recording relationship has changed each time they collaborate. The first album Ballad Of The Broken Seas was recorded via the internet, the second Sundays At Devil Dirt face-to-face in Glasgow, and “This time around she came to LA, which suited me,” he chuckles. “This one has more of an Americana feel.” With the two voices collaborating being so unique in themselves, the record still has the distinct sound of a Lanegan/Campbell effort. “It has a real south west America sound. It’s come across as that’s where she’s been staying,” he explains. Not one to stop his ramblin’, Lanegan will be touring with Campbell overseas. “I don’t think there’s any plans to come down your way,” he admits. “We’ll just have to wait and see.” In addition to all of this, there is a new Lanegan solo album in the works, one that’s rumoured to be coming out later this year. When asked how it was coming along, Lanegan doesn’t give too much away. His process though, rather than bunkering down, is a lot more organic. “It’s always on the go,” he explains. “When I have an idea I usually go and record it if I can. “This process takes a long time, and as I’m always writing I find the main problem is having too many songs to record, more so than issues of endlessly going over the ones already done,” he insists in response to being asked if this affects his ability to actually finish a song. With so many guests on the last album, is there anyone he’d like to collaborate with in the future? “[the list is] Too long to mention,” he laughs. “If Neil Young ever wanted to do something I wouldn’t say no,” he confesses. On the topic of his many collaborations, we speak of the one that brought the Lanegan name to a whole new world of fans, that being his work with Queens Of The Stone Age. “I’ve known Josh for a long time; we met when he came and played second guitar for the Trees back in 1996. So yeah we go way back.” His appearances on the last two QOTSA albums have been shrinking, so will he be involved in the next LP? “We’ll just have to wait and see,” he says, again keeping his cards close. In regards to his touring regime with the band and his appearances which are often kept to a handful of songs per set, he chuckles that his time is usually spent standing in the wings. “(I’m) making sure I don’t miss my cue to come on. It (has) only happened a couple of times.” For now, we have plenty to both look back on, and to look forward to. Mark Lanegan plays two Melbourne shows: the first is at The Corner Hotel on July 7 and is sold out, the second is at The Espy Gershwin Room on July 9 www.beat.com.au/content/mark-lanegan-begin-again |
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Post by wellwater on Jun 29, 2010 22:42:48 GMT -5
Another article in Melbourne's other main music paper 'Inpress'. Couldnt copy the text so you can find the interview on page 21 at the following link: streetpress.com.au/online_mags/IN/IN_1129/Happy that his liking for Melbourne means we get 2 shows  |
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Post by SheBangsTheTrums on Jun 30, 2010 5:01:44 GMT -5
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Post by analuisa on Jun 30, 2010 19:39:39 GMT -5
Mark Lanegan: Musical chameleon By Scott Kara View as one page 4:00 AM Thursday Jul 1, 2010 www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10655702&pnum=2Seattle rocker Mark Lanegan has lived a hard life - and he's got the voice to prove it, writes Scott Kara. Mark Lanegan doesn't have to worry about losing his voice. It's already wrecked and beyond repair, which is what makes it so magical. While more than 25 years of late nights, cigarettes, and in his early days at least, a good helping of liquor and drugs, has helped nurture its gravelly and sensual quality, he says it's just the way it naturally turned out. "It is what it is. I've never had problems with it. I never warm up or anything like other guys do. I think it's this way because my old man had a voice that sounded similar. He also smoked for 40 years, and I smoked for quite a few myself, so that's got something to do with it. But I haven't smoked in a couple of years." In his first band Screaming Trees, a staple on the Seattle grunge scene in the early 90s along with Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains, he started out as a drummer. "Well," he laughs down the phone from his home in Los Angeles, "that's an exaggeration. I was the guy they dragged in to play drums and I wasn't really that good at it." In fact, he was so bad they made him sing instead - and it was a good call. These days, his voice - which sounds like Tom Waits-meets-Leonard Cohen with a more rough and ready rock 'n' roll edge - is one of the most distinctive in music. And Lanegan is also one of the most diverse singers around, working with a vast range of musicians and bands from electronic-gospel act Soulsavers, to Queens of the Stone Age, through to his collaboration with best mate Greg Dulli as duo the Gutter Twins. The pair's Gutter Twins album, Saturnalia from 2008, was one of the best, although mostly unheralded, albums of the year, and Lanegan also contributed to Dulli's excellent Twilight Singers' albums throughout the 2000s. This week Lanegan is in New Zealand for two solo shows ("Basically for the fun of it"), including one on Saturday night at the Kings Arms. He's got his long-time guitarist Dave Rosser with him and they'll be playing songs from his six solo albums, as well as a few from his other projects, including - if you're lucky - QOTSA's Hangin' Tree from classic 2002 album Songs For the Deaf. "The show is really stripped back, and we'll be playing something off every one of the solo records," he says in his relaxed, almost reticent, way. Which means songs like Wildflowers off his 1990 solo debut, The Winding Sheet, which was a stark contrast to the punky psychedelic rawness of Screaming Trees, are more than 20 years old now. So how are they holding up these days? With this he lets out a husky chuckle: "The oldest ones are songs I've never played [live] before, so to me they're new in a way, which is cool after 20 years." For Lanegan, songs don't have a specific meaning - they're more about a mood. "I think they start from a real place but they're not something that has meaning, it's more like a feeling. That's for me anyway and it's probably different for people who listen to the songs. I hope it is anyway," he laughs again. He's lived a hard life, as dark, visceral and sometimes sombre songs like The River Rise (from 1994's Whiskey for the Holy Ghost) and the Gutter Twins All Misery/Flowers, are testament to. But these days he says he's happy with his lot. "I love life. I'm very happy. It's nice to wake up on a sunny day, or a rainy one, and it's nice to be able to walk my dog in the morning." And as well as making a living out of doing what he loves, he also enjoys being one of music's ultimate chameleons. "It wasn't something I planned," he says of his various projects. "I've just been blessed with the opportunity to do a lot of stuff - and smart enough to take advantage of it. When I was younger I didn't because I had a harder time seeing my place in music. When I was younger I had a lot of f***** up ideas about a lot of stuff, and music was one of them," he says. "But as I've gotten older I've been more open to stuff." His wide musical palette comes from the fact he loves gospel and soul music as much as he enjoys noisy and volatile bands like Scratch Acid and Big Black. "I like to listen to a lot of different kinds of music. For me, music I listen to generally ends up finding its way back out in what I do. But there are other types of music I listen to [like 60s and 70s reggae] that hasn't worked its way into what I do yet," he laughs. He's also hoping to get a new solo album out sometime next year .- but don't expect to hear any new songs this weekend. "New stuff from me?" he chuckles "No. I don't like to play stuff until I've recorded it." LOWDOWN Who: Mark Lanegan, former Screaming Trees' singer and musical collaborator. Where & when:Bar Bodega, Wellington, July 2; Kings Arms, Auckland, July 3. Essential Lanegan albums: The Screaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion (1992); Mark Lanegan - Whiskey For the Holy Ghost (1994), Bubblegum (2004); Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For the Deaf (2002); Twilight Singers - Blackberry Belle (2003); Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's How You Land (2007) Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell - Sunday At Devil Dirt (2008); The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia (2008) By Scott Kara |
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Post by analuisa on Jul 1, 2010 18:53:38 GMT -5
Branching out from old roots (from The Age: bit.ly/bbSHwN)Former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan is toning things down, writes Bronwyn Thompson. FOR someone who once fronted a band called Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan is a man of surprisingly few words. He doesn't enjoy doing press or talking at length about himself and he's not completely comfortable with his latest role as a solo performer. It's also something that makes his intimate live shows a real experience — for fans and artist. "Well, there's no loud band to hide behind. It's really, really basic and it makes me concentrate on singing a bit more than I normally would, because every f---up is glaring," he says measuredly. "A lot of the time the audience is fairly boisterous and I like that because it takes the focus off of what I'm doing. I try to pretend there is no audience there." An audience is something Lanegan has never struggled to find — from his time with Seattle grunge icons Screaming Trees in the late '80s and early '90s, to the many, varied collaborations that followed and darker blues-rock solo records. In the past decade alone, the 45-year-old with the distinctive gravelly baritone has been a full-time part of Queens of the Stone Age, worked with the Afghan Whigs' frontman Greg Dulli on the Gutter Twins project and on Dulli's own Twilight Singers, collaborated with former Belle & Sebastian songstress Isobel Campbell and fronted British electro group Soulsavers. It's no wonder the follow-up to his sixth solo set, 2004's Bubble-gum, is still a work in progress. "I've been blessed with a lot of collaborations that have kept me pretty busy; a lot of touring for things other than my own music," he says. "I'm working on another record but I'm taking my time." Lanegan's solo career is not short of star power, either, from Kurt Cobain on his 1990 debut, The Wind-ing Sheet, through to a big supporting cast including PJ Harvey and Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin on Bubblegum. Others, it seems, force this self-confessed creature of habit out of his comfort zone and down happy new paths. "That's the major appeal — it makes me see things from someone else's point of view and that keeps music interesting and challenging," he says. "When I'm doing my own thing under my own name I probably get a little too into it and there's a freedom from self when you're doing something with other people. So even when I'm making records under my own name, I'm working with a lot of other people." Presenting his solo work live for the first time in Australia in six years, Lanegan teams with Gutter Twins guitarist Dave Rosser for a set drawing widely from his career. He now has a notable canon of work for someone who once dismissed the idea of a solo record as "ridiculous". "It seemed a little oddball but in retrospect I'm glad I did it; it gives me something to do today," he says candidly. "I enjoy it more now, just being older. I'm more comfortable with the idea of making records. "I guess, like cheese, I've matured a bit," he chuckles dryly. Mark Lanegan plays the Corner on Wednesday (sold out) and the Esplanade on Friday. |
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Post by analuisa on Jul 1, 2010 18:54:49 GMT -5
I'm very surprised: He LIKES audiences making noise while he is singing!  |
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Post by analuisa on Jul 3, 2010 18:08:24 GMT -5
One more recent (and very cool) interview, from guestlisted.blogspot.com/2010/07/mark-lanegan-interview-2010.htmlFor Washington DC based Mark Lanegan, music has been a great addiction and one rarely satisfied by the occasional hit. He began performing in grunge nearly-rans Screaming Trees in the late '80s, but was restless with their slow progression before the band even fully broke through. To satisfy his need to write and play, Lanegan instigated a solo career just as Screaming Trees, carried along on the grunge wave, seemed poised to hit big. Yet it soon became clear the singer was intent on paving a way out of grunge for himself and continued to surface, mainly in collaboration, with artists equally transitory and also seeking a way out of their respective scenes. With that in mind, it's Mark's collaboration with the English duo Soulsavers - on two of their three albums - that begins our talk ahead of his Australian solo tour. The roof-raising soul/gospel angle of these works saw Lanegan move as far away from his grunge roots as possible. "The gospel influence on those albums was those guys' vision, but did I co-write a lot of the music on Soulsavers." Mark explains. "It was just one of those things, they asked me to sing on it and I liked the music so, that's what we did. I have simple criteria – If someone asks me to do something and I like what they do, I'll get involved." The challenge of writing and recording music he had no founding in was appealing for the restless artist that Mark is, he continues; "Any sort of music is a challenge, because you're creating something where there was previously nothing and so I find that more challenging than the type of music I'm doing." He adds, "The thing that draws me to these different projects is that it's actually a treat to do something outside my realm and that keeps it interesting for me." The Soulsavers marry down-tempo electronica with the uplifting gusto of traditional gospel, if you're among the uninitiated. Yet Lanegan found their niche appealing not from a religious perspective but because of its rarely matched power to move the listener. "I find certain gospel songs incredibly moving, and just because I don't go to church that doesn't mean that I can't be moved by the music of that environment." He states, "But you know it doesn't matter if its gospel, or rock or blues as long as the artist means it and you can feel that, then that's what's gonna draw me in every time." Mark's current tour is a look back at his solo work, but also promises to include a few tracks from his many collaborators. A third album with Isobel Campbell (ex-Belle & Sebastian) is due later this year, Lanegan has recently completed a tour with his ongoing collaborator Greg Dulli (as The Gutter Twins) plus another solo record is underway. The work keeps piling up, and as Mark puts it, it's all down to him being unable to refuse an offer. "There's time for everything I suppose, but really, I just can't say no." he laughs, "I'm never not working on something or other. One of the main reasons I guess I don't say no to working with so many different people, because each time it's a surprise." He adds, "I know what it's like to sit down and write a song by myself, and that's my comfort zone I suppose, but I might not know what it's like to write with you for instance, so that'd be the more interesting option every time." Interesting is the word, I've never written a song in my life but it seems rude to not offer Mark the opportunity to get a co-write happening anyway, "I'm very busy for the next few years but….!" Moving on, we discuss Mark's involvement with Queens Of The Stone Age. Between 2000 and 2005 he became a full-time member after a long association with the group. I ask Mark if he was perhaps missing the dynamic of a group, and the simpler pleasures of just rocking out. "I guess that was the thinking there." He laughs. "I had played with Josh already in Screaming Trees (Homme toured with the band in 1995) and I'm a big fan of what he does, so when the 'Trees split and he asked me to join, it was no question really. Anytime I can travel the world and play songs I love and hang out with friends, I'm there." Mentioning Screaming Trees has Mark sighing a little. It's well documented that the band had a rocky existence, but yet were still able to pull off seven acclaimed albums in their career. Lanegan's slow move away from his group had begun in 1990 with his first solo album, The Winding Sheet. In hindsight I wonder if Mark felt he was outgrowing his band from the start. "Not at first, it was just something that I saw as a way of playing with people other than the band. Also it wasn't only me doing that, the other guys had bands outside of Screaming Trees as well, so the group was kind of all our side project really. Now I'm out doing this solo tour, I kind of feel like everything I've done has been a side project." He smiles. As Mark's list of collaborations grows, it's hard not to wonder who's left on his dream list; "Well one of the highpoints of my recording career has been working with PJ Harvey (on Mark's album Bubblegum)." He recalls, adding "Also I really like Band Of Horses, those guys are really doing… something right." He drawls, "You know you're a big deal when you get one of those bus stop bench advertisements." Mark laughs, "I saw their new album advertised on one of those things which was pretty weird, but I love those guys." With that tantalizing thought hanging in one of the many silent moments during our chat, I ask Mark finally if creating music from such a broad palate with apparent ease has given him greater confidence. "I think I've gained more humility," He pauses, "I had confidence already but music has taught me to be humble because it's outside of my realm in that I don't really understand where it comes from when I'm writing or singing." He adds, "I hope I never learn how to grasp it fully either. It's like a goal that you never quite reach, but that's why I do what I do because if that chase ended, then I'm sure the music would stop for me." |
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Post by Mitya on Jul 5, 2010 22:48:10 GMT -5
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Post by Stephanie on Jul 7, 2010 9:01:14 GMT -5
This interview is fucking LOL gold! 1. If Mark Lanegan doesn't want to answer your fucking question, he's not going to answer it, even if you word it slightly differently: "I just don't know, if you know what I mean. [pause / dead air] I'm not trying to be a dick" ;D 2. What the fuck is that sound in the background? A parakeet? It starts to sound like Mark has a bit of a Dr. Doolittle situation going on near the end of the interview, his dog starts barking and he has to tell it "NO!" a few times, and then, "Knock it off, goddammit!" while the... parakeet... or whatever it is... continues to chirp... I think maybe the dog was trying to attack the parakeet? LOL... 3. The interviewer apologizes at the end for having "shit questions," and Mark replies by saying, "Well, I'm sure my answers were shit too..." And then Mark invites the interviewer to come up and say "Hello" at the show in New Zealand... a touching moment!  God, I'm going to have to listen to this whole thing again. Great stuff, thanks for sharing it, Mitya ;D |
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Post by raeni on Jul 7, 2010 15:40:35 GMT -5
sounds a bit like a conure to me, but I'm not as bird knowledgeable as I should be by now. Could be a Macaw that's not close to the phone - if it was closer, it would be ALL you'd hear!
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Post by toronto27 on Jul 8, 2010 10:25:44 GMT -5
Jonneine Zapata wrote in her tour blog during the Soulsavers tour that ML told her he had a parrot at home.
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Post by ♫ ♪ on Jul 8, 2010 11:07:56 GMT -5
Jonneine Zapata wrote in her tour blog during the Soulsavers tour that ML told her he had a parrot at home. hah yeah i remember that. didn't he tell her while she was warming up her voice that she sounded like his parrot or something like that? |
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Post by toronto27 on Jul 8, 2010 12:34:28 GMT -5
It was something like she was warming up her voice in the next room and asked him if she was being too loud and he said no and that he had a parrot at home.
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Post by analuisa on Jul 9, 2010 23:05:37 GMT -5
From BMA Magazine: www.bmamag.com/articles/features/20100707-mark-lanegan/He’ll Take Care of You Of all the musicians that came out of the Pacific Northwest in the decade that straddled the ‘Seattle years’ there are few that continue to push themselves creatively as much as MARK LANEGAN does. As lead singer for the volatile Screaming Trees, Lanegan made his mark remaining stoic amongst the chaos that engulfed his band and friends as drugs and major label money swept through town. But that’s ancient history, as Lanegan explains. “I’m not someone who does a lot of ruminating on the past. My mind never really drifts back to those days ever – if at all. They’re not good or bad memories. It’s just a time that I lived through.” Lanegan’s reticence to dredge the past slightly downplays one of the most critically acclaimed careers of the last quarter century. Taking time out from his main band in 1990, Lanegan started work on a series of solo albums that to this day remain largely unknown gems outside his dedicated fan base. Take 1994’s Whisky For The Holy Ghost for example; a swirling mostly acoustic album soaked in despair, alcohol and tobacco. The Lanegan cliché writ large. For the man himself it was an offer too good to refuse. “To be honest the amount of money they offered me to make it was quite a bit more than I had been paid for any other record.” Soon after Lanegan returned to his main band for one final album (1995’s Dust) and a tour that drafted a recently unemployed young guitarist from California called Josh Homme, who had just left Kyuss. Lanegan returned the favour by adding a serene menace to Queens of the Stone Age, on and off for the next decade or so. In between, Lanegan kept himself busy with collaborations with Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) in the Twilight Singers and Gutter Twins, Isobel Campbell (ex-Belle and Sebastian) and Soulsavers amongst many others. It’s a dizzying and eclectic range of co-conspirators but for Lanegan it’s a simple equation. “I do numerous one-off things for people, but the longer lasting ones like my relationship with Greg or my relationship with Queens or Isobel – they’ve lasted many years because they’re my friends.” Asking if there have been any rebuffs, Lanegan drops one of many throaty, bone-rattling and frankly surprising laughs. “I’ll let you know if I run across them but it hasn’t happened yet.” Preparing for the upcoming tour has been a re-education of sorts. “I went back to find songs that would be fun or interesting. And I surprised myself. There were a bunch of songs I thought ‘okay, that’s not bad.’ But there were plenty more where I cringed and thought ‘God, I can’t believe I did that.’ I jut pretend somebody else did it.” Here comes that laugh again. Catch Mark Lanegan live at the Metro Theatre in Sydney on Thursday July 8. Tickets through the Theatre and Ticketek. |
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Post by Stephanie on Jul 11, 2010 9:46:55 GMT -5
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Post by Lungsey on Jul 11, 2010 13:06:31 GMT -5
Hearing this was just weird... Now i keep getting mental pictures of him disciplining the dog, gathering feathers off the floor and mobbing bl00d off the walls. Hmmmmm.
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Post by c00kie on Jul 12, 2010 13:02:31 GMT -5
;D
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Post by Buttercup on Jul 21, 2010 21:46:21 GMT -5
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caroh
New Recruit
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Post by caroh on Jul 29, 2010 10:49:51 GMT -5
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Post by irishpaul on Jul 30, 2010 21:08:25 GMT -5
Great idea for a thread. Im loving it. Thanks for the brilliant posts.
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Post by rimb on Aug 11, 2010 9:23:54 GMT -5
Interview with Isobel on PitchforkSounds like Mark is quite the Clippers fan! |
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Post by ♫ ♪ on Aug 11, 2010 13:51:36 GMT -5
i like how open and honest she always is in interviews/blog ramblings.
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