lanegan articles and interviews

[carlito]

put 'em here motherfuckers!!

from a belgian rag (humo)? (thanks to number 9 at ts board)

Part 1

The Escape-plan From Mark Lanegan
'Rule Number One: You should never want to have more stuff than you can load in one car'

On april 4 1994 the phone rang at Mark Lanegan's.
An sich absolutely nothing special, was it not that it was a phonecall from Kurt Cobain, and Lanegan wasn't home. One day later Cobain - a good friend of Lanegan - would shoot himself in the head. 'I know it wouldn't have happened if I would've been there' Lanegan would say about it later. 'But I'm not going to feel guilty about it for the rest of my life because I didn't happen to be there that day. Shit, y'know, happens'.
After that he responded in the only right way: by not looking back and to stubbernly continue making beautiful music that made his, our and hopefully allso your existence worth while. He did that with the Screaming Trees (listen to mighty rockalbums like 'Dust' or 'Sweet Oblivion'), with Queens Of The Stone Age (Lanegan was that guy that walked on stage halfway the QOTSA-concert at Werchter, looked into the meadow for a couple of songs with the look of a serial killer, and disappeared backstage again) and with his solowork: walk into the recordstore and buy his 'Scraps At Midnight' and 'Field Songs' without questioning - two modest masterpieces - and add an example from 'Bubblegum' to it while you're at it, Lanegan's newest and at times impressive cd. And now that you're there anyway: allso buy a ticket for his concert on Pukkelpop.
By the way, we're not the only Lanegan-fans, because the guestlist of 'Bubblegum' proves just how much the man is respected by his collegue-musicians: PJ Harvey, Greg Dulli (Twilight Singers), Chris Goss (Masters Of Reality), Nick Oliveiri and Josh Homme (QOTSA), Guns N' Roses, to name but a few.
And we'ld almost forget Aldo Struyf (Millionaire and lots of other bands), who plays a very prominent part on the album. It won't suprise you that Lanegan met Struyf via die hard-Millionaire-fan Josh Homme. The question only remains:
HUMO: There are thousands of keyboard-players walking on this planet: Why did you wanted to work with Aldo, Mark?
MARK LANEGAN "Because he's móre than just a keyboard-player. Because he knows what I'm doing and where I want to go, and that he can even get those sounds out of his instrument afterwards. Because he's a friend. And because it's fun to play with him: we both want to experiment, and neither of us gives a shit about what the rest of the world thinks of our music. It's very rare to have a relationship like that in the musicworld. Hopefully we can make a lot more records, with a lot of different music - whatever the fuck we want to make."
HUMO Do you still remember when you discovered Mark Lanegan's music for the first time, Aldo?
ALDO STRUYF " Me and Tom Deweerdt - who is now running the recordlabel Lowlands - used to be real' musicfreaks: we'ld often phone the Antwerpian recordstore Brabo to ask them when the box with new Homestead- and SST-records (two legendary underground labels from the 80s. SST used to be the label from bands like Sonic Youth, Husker Du, Black Flag, Soundgarden and The Screaming Trees) would arrive, and than we would go standing at the door before opening time. One day there was an album from Screaming Trees in the box: 'You know these?' Neither of us had ever heared about them, but after we'd listened to it we've been fighting over it: 'It's mine!' 'No, mine!' (laughs)".

[carlito]

Part 2

SCARRED OF THE BEATLES

HUMO Lets talk about the music on 'Bubblegum': in 'Methamphetamine Blues' I heared echo's from old chaingang-songs, but allso from 'Helter Skelter' from The Beatles. Could that be correct?
LANEGAN "That's cool. Somebody else allready told me that he heard something from 'Sexie Sadie' in it. Those are those kind of things you don't see in it yourself at all, untill someone else points it out afterwards. And 'Helter Skelter'... Yeah, I like that: It's got the same kind of madness in it. 'Helter Skelter' is a nutty song wich I really like."
HUMO Are you a big Beatles-fan?
LANEGAN "Not exactly. My neighbour once let me hear The Double White One: first he turned of all the lights and than he started playing 'Revolution 9' backwards, so that you could hear that 'Turn me on, dead man!'-piece. Scared the shit out of me, man! I found it so frightening I never had the guts to listen to that record again (laughs)."
HUMO What did you have the guts for to listen to as a kid?
LANEGAN "I didn't listen to music at all: I collected comicbooks.Through a longcut I discovered punk when I was thirteen: the man from the comicstore where I always went to, allso sold records and musicmagazines. One day I took a copy of Creem with me, a punkmagazine that had photo's of Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and The New York Dolls in it. When I asked the man - an old hippie - who those guys were, he told me they were punkrockers and he let me hear a single: 'New Rose' from The Damned. I thought: 'Shit, they invented this for me.' A week later I had turned my entire comic-collection in for punksingles.And after that punkperiod I started to get interested in classic rock."
STRUYF "It all started for me with Freddie Mercury and Queen - I still like that by the way - and after that I was completely blown away by bands like Status Quo and AC/DC."
LANEGAN (laughs)
HUMO Wasn't everyone a metalhead at fourteen?
LANEGAN "Yeah that's for sure. My very first concert was from Queen actually. My mom took me."
STRUYF "My first concert was Doe Maar! My parents weren't interested in music at all, unless it was James Last or Neil Diamond, ann sich ok."
HUMO Mark, the last few years you've been on tour for a very long time. How does it feel to come home after all that time?
LANEGAN "I don't have a house at all, no appartment, nothing. The world is my home. I never stick around very long anyway, so I just live in hotels."
HUMO But where do you keep your record-ollection than, for example?
LANEGAN "I put them on my computer and than I throw them away: It's all in here (points at his iPod). I've got a couple of these machines."
HUMO And how do you do it with your other belongings? You can't drag them with you all the time?
LANEGAN "Very simple: since 1996 I follow the rule that I never want more stuff than I can load in one car. Just a personal thing."
STRUYF "I do have a house, and I like it too: I'ld even like to have a bigger one, so that I could stock all of my records (laughs). I'm different than Mark, and besides, we aren't on tour that much with Millionaire. I think it would be almost stupid to have a house: why pay so much rent when you're never there."
LANEGAN "I used to have a house, wife and shit... But halfway the 90s I decided to do things differently, because I was unhappy, and it wasn't the right way of living for me. I don't own things, they own me - If you know what I mean. But carefull: that ain't no spiritual mumbojumbo, ok. I just want to be able to pack up my stuff and leave at any time. The only thing I miss are the animals.
But don't worry: I'm sure that one day, even I will have a home again. Probably a retirement home, but still (laughs)."

[carlito]

Part 3

ALDO'S BRILLE

HUMO On the 'Methamphetamine Blues'-ep you covered Captain Beefheart's 'Clear Spot': why specificly thát song?
LANEGAN "I've always liked that song a lot. A while ago I was listening to it in the car with my ex-wife, and she said: 'You should cover that some time, it would sound really good.' Coincidentially she was taking me to the studio. I asked Alain Johannes from Eleven - a great musician by the way, who's allso part of the Queens Of The Stone Age-gang - right away if he could play that song, and if he wanted to play it. It's as simple as that."
HUMO Aldo, you're not just a musician, you're working in the Antwerpian recordstore Brabo yourself now: so you should know how you can recognise a real' musicfreak.
STRUYF "Real fans go to a recordstore at least twice a week: hang around a little, looking and listening - because in my opinion a good recordstore should play good music. Look: when someone comes into the store and I think he might like Four Tet, I put that on, or something related to it. That way people might discover something. It's almost education."
LANEGAN I totally agree with that: that old hippie that played that punk-single for me, tottaly raised me. There are always less and less of those kind of stores, but when you look a little, you can still find such a bastion of good taste, such a mom and pops-recordstore. In Saint Louis, for instance, there's this great recordstore: the boss takes his job so seriously that he let's everyone who wants to work in his store take a musicexam in advance. That's the way it should be actually.
Anyway: when the original drummer from the Trees quit music, he got a job in a recordstore too: in the store of that old hippie that got me on the track of punk."
HUMO Do you know any of the bands Aldo is more or less involved in or was?
LANEGAN "At least some of them: He's educating me step by step. He gave me records from dEUS? from the Evil Superstars..."
STRUYF "...I allso helped him to get some of that old SST-stuff, because they're almost impossible to find these days: Angst for instance, an almost forgotten band that should urgently get mentioned more in interviews. Therefore I would say: Angst! (laughs)".
LANEGAN "Indeed: Angst! I used to like them a lot, but unfortunatly I lost all of their albums. Now I'm going to file them in my computer. All that old SST-stuff was great."
HUMO Aldo, under the pseudonym Aldolino you're allso known as a dj: Would you be able to play one of Mark's songs in your set? And if so: what would happen?
LANEGAN (laughs) "Could you?"
STRUYF "I could, yes. I'm one of the few dj's that dare to play more than just techno - I play rocksongs just as good, or The Notwist, anything I like. But I don't dj for the Carré or anything, right: I play for people who like dEUS or the Queens. Sometimes someone comes complaining,yes, but I don't care.
No matter to wich club you go, you hear the same thing everywhere: electro, UNKLE, The Chemical Brothers... But at six o'clock in the morning - when everybody's drunk - play rock, and the place goes wild. I remember my first job as a dj, together with Tom Barman from dEUS: we always played 'Regular John' from the Queens Of The Stone Age, and one time one of the Dewaele-brothers comes to ask us what the fuck that was - funny: they didn't even know that song yet, and in the mean time they're close friends with Chris Goss and co. themselves."
HUMO You go to clubs sometimes, Mark?
LANEGAN "It happens, yes. I know it sounds a bit strange coming from me, but I find what's happening in hiphop and electro these days a lot more interesting than what's happening in rock. Except for the Queens Of The Stone Age, there wasn't a single rockband the last few years where I wanted to be part of. Unless Millionaire would ask me, of course (laughs)."
STRUYF "The good news is the new generation of rockbands is making music where you can dance on: The Kills, The Rapture,..."
LANEGAN "Or Hot Hot Heat and Radio Four..."

MUSIC FROM GOD

HUMO When I hear you like that, I ask myself if you guys actually have a life outside of music?
LANEGAN Oh yeah, like any normal boy I like movies, books, art, girls, sports..."
HUMO Sports? You don't really look like the most sporting man on earth.
LANEGAN (deadserious) "I haven't told it very often yet, but I got pretty close to being a professional baseballplayer."
HUMO Ehm... You're you're trying to trick me,right?
LANEGAN "No man, true fact! I still love baseball. And in school I was a quarterback. My father was an athletics-coach by the way.
HUMO What kind of a childhood did you have?
LANEGAN "A regular childhood: my father was a teacher-sportscoach, my mother thaught at university, and I was the black sheep in the family. The kid in trouble. But: I loved sports, and I still do."
HUMO I read you came from a very religious family.
LANEGAN "Yeah, my grandmother and aunt were in this weird christian cult, and a big part of my family was a member of the Witnesses of Jehovah. But my parents were professors: they were too smart for religion (laughs) - because of the experiences with my grandmother they were completely against it. I have been interested in religion for a while though: I've been a member of the Southern Baptist Church for a while, I even got married for the church and shit. Religion still apeals to me, even though I see that there's a big difference between being religious or spiritual though.
But that's all very personal: everyone should make those things out by themselves."
HUMO On your new album is a song called 'Strange Religion', a gospel-style kind of song. May I conclude out of this that that interest in religion blends into your music?
LANEGAN " Absolutely. All music comes from God - At least that's how I feel about it."
HUMO Are you interested in churchmusic?
LANEGAN Well... Churchmusic is the thing that drove me away from the Southern Baptists! When I was little my mom used to take me to the services of the black baptists once in a while: I thought that was beautiful, because they played soul wich they had given a chrisian twist. But you really can't believe how bad the music was at the Southern Baptists. The entire parich that started mumbling... It just drove me out of my mind: it sounded just as melodic like someone beating a dead cat against a trashcan Goddamned! After one of those services I thought to myself one day: Jesus Christ I can't fucking take this! I'm out of here!"
HUMO I actually started about that churchmusic because Chris Goss sings a piece from 'He's Got The Whole World In His Hands' on the 'Methamphetamine Blues'-ep, a church-hymn: out of this world, but very beautiful.
LANEGAN "Chris has been brought up by the Anglican church, and he was a fan of all those psalms. We just loosely started singing, and there where those two worlds came together, is where that somewhat strange sounding result came from."

[mongo]

hey cool thanks I did not see these before, I wonder if he is a mariner fan ??

[carlito]

i know for a fact that he is a clipper fan, cause that's what he told me.

not sure of his baseball preference though.

[mongo]

karlito said:

i know for a fact that he is a clipper fan, cause that's what he told me.

not sure of his baseball preference though.

clipper fan ?? egads well the mariners suck as much as the clipper always do so maybe he does hehehe

[RominiBikini]

I'll read that later, I promise. I promise.......

[Strange Feelin']

liar
you don't know how to read.

[RominiBikini]

[Daisy]

m0ng0 said:

hey cool thanks I did not see these before, I wonder if he is a mariner fan ??

Not if he has seen any games from this year.

I'm so mean to the Mariners, aren't I?

BTW: That was an amazing interview. Probably the best I've seen - ever.

[carlito]

Daisy said:

Carlito is so hot and hung like a damn horse. . Probably the best I've seen - ever.

thanks a lot daisy. i really appreciate it and i thought you were really hot too. see you next time. carl

[Daisy]

karlito said:

thanks for everything daisy. you really know how to show a guy a good time. next time I'll try to be more gentle so you don't have to go through an entire bottle of Aspirin, tube of KY and do stretching exercises for two hours beforehand. really appreciated your flexibility though. carl

You are so sweet!

Come back soon big fella!

[raeni]

Holy crap. I thought I was the only one who didn't want anything more than would fit in my car! That was how I lived my entire 20's, except I'd maybe mail a box of clothes on ahead to where ever I was going next!
Now I allow myself enough stuff to fit into a small one-bedroom house. And I could NEVER, NEVER do without my animals. They have been with me through too much shit.

Thanks for the article!

[mongo]

raeni said:

And I could NEVER, NEVER do without my animals. They have been with me through too much shit.

amen sista !!

[Lava]

I agree with Daisy on this one...FANTASTIC article! It seems like he really let his guard down here. It feels like we really got to know him better as a person, not just a musician.

Thanks for posting that Carlito.
I shall now make an altar for you.

[cheekym]

raeni said:

And I could NEVER, NEVER do without my animals. They have been with me through too much shit.

Thanks for the article!

Let that be a tripple 'Amen'- i will never NEVER go without my animals, although i have moved non stop all of my life till the last few years.
Yes, Lava- thats the most relaxed & at peace ive heard him in articles! That was a great one REALLY! we dont have the bursting love heart emoticon... Thanks Karl
ps- cant wait for DWordes special dEUS baptism for me ;D

[flyingv]

cool article, thanks for that karlito.

[marlboroman]

hmm. don't know if i dig the car thing. i kinda like having my cave to return to. you dig?

[carlito]

i dig.

i also enjoy my cave quite a bit.

and the thought of throwing all my records out and putting them on a little plastic silvery machine gives me the fucking willies.

i mean, did he throw out his brook benton and tim hardin and gun club records?

if that's the case in some way i have a new respect for this man.

[spamegan]

Entertainment Weekly, September 17, 2004

September 17, 2004

SECTION: SPECIAL BONUS MUSIC SECTION SEPTEMBER 2004: ; LISTEN 2 THIS; Pg. L2T23

LENGTH: 376 words

HEADLINE: TWELVE CDs MARK LANEGAN Says You've Gotta Get--By Any Means;
Necessary--Right Now!

BYLINE: MARK LANEGAN

BODY:
1 JOHNNY CASH Orange Blossom Special 1965 (Columbia) "It was one of the first albums I heard. My folks had it. It has one of his greatest originals, 'You Wild Colorado,' which, just under two minutes long, is a beautiful little tune."

2 THE SAINTS Eternally Yours 1978 (Triple X) "The legendary Australian punk band. It's packed with great songs: 'Know Your Product,' 'A Minor Aversion,' 'This Perfect Day.' It's like a greatest-hits record."

3 IGGY AND THE STOOGES Raw Power 1973 (Columbia) "Even though the first two Stooges records are amazing, I gotta go with this--the James Williamson record."

4 TIM BUCKLEY Starsailor 1970 (Warner Bros.) "One of the most bizarre records of all time. One of the most amazing records of all time."

5 ANGST Mending Wall 1986 (SST) "They were just a three piece and they had cool harmonies. They hardly sold any records."

6 HuSKER Du Zen Arcade 1984 (SST) "Their first double album. Just a f---in' classic."

7 AC/DC Powerage 1978 (Epic) "It was kind of their most bluesy. On the front cover you see Angus Young with wires coming out of his arms where his hands should be."

8 THE GUN CLUB Fire of Love 1981 (Slash) "Actually, I'll have to go with threeGun Club records (also Miami [1982] and The Las Vegas Story [1984]) because all three are essential albums to have. It's a crime people have forgotten about them."

9 LOU REEDTransformer 1972 (RCA) "You know, if I can use that three-in-one trick again, I'd choose these three: Transformer, Berlin [1973], and Street Hassle [1978]. All are way different from one another, but all three are badass."

10 NEW YORK DOLLS Too Much Too Soon 1974 (Mercury) "It's so f---in' good. It's got 'Puss 'N' Boots' and that really great Johnny Thunders tune, 'Chatterbox.'"

11 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS Easter Everywhere 1967 (International Artists) "It's their second album, way weirder than the first. The first track, 'Slip Inside This House,' is eight minutes long. [Sings] 'Bedouins in tribes ascending from the egg into the flower...' It's just f---ed up."

12 RAMONES Ramones 1976 (Sire) "The bible."

The former member of Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age is on tour now, in support of his new solo album Bubblegum.



GRAPHIC: COLOR PHOTO: LANEGAN: JOE TORENO/RETNA, TWELVE COLOR PHOTOS

[RominiBikini]

karlito said:

i dig.

and the thought of throwing all my records out and putting them on a little plastic silvery machine gives me the fucking willies.
.

I gree 100%
with your signature too.
technology is a scary thing.
I hate it.

[cheekym]

If they could even go through the trouble/ expense of maybe ditching the crappy cheap 'soul-less' plastic covers & replace with some kind of gatefold golssy 'record style' cover (yeah like they would bother), that would at least ease the pain of parting with cash for such an ugly monstrosity as a cd.
If I still HAD the modest (but good) collection of old vinyl i had.. no i could not throw any of it away..... maybe just 'srorage' somewhere safe if i had no 'base' .. im hearing you Karlllllllllllll....



13th Floor Elevators- checked em out a few months back.. didnt like it at all

[WeirdO]

This ia review of Bubblegum issued from one of the most importand national daily newspaper in France


Mark Lanegan
Bubblegum

Liberation, Nick Kent- 10 september 2004

At the beginning of the 90’, this singer from Seattle was the leader of the Screaming Trees and a close friend to Kurt Cobain, with who he shared all the excess of the grunge lifestyle, except that he arrived to quit his addictions and to continue his indie-rock carreer. Recently, Lanegan has endorsed the role of a singer for the Queens Of The Stone Age. He is also known for his solo albums, revealing his meditations about the dark side of existence, sort of an American Nick Cave without Bad Seeds. Bubbelgum is his best at this days, one of the most valuable “rock roots” album of this period. Addmitedly, Lanegan’s universe is still lugubrious, fulled with drugs and women even more dangerous, but he seems rather at ease in this twisted environment, whether he sings a duo with PJ Harvey on two sensual songs (Hit The City and Come With Me), or he resurrects the spirit of dead blues icons ( the frightening Like Little Willie John). Guys from QOTSA give a reasonable cataclysmic accompaniment on maniac tracks like Metamphetamine Blues, but Lanegan stays at the center of the album, with his splendid voice, able to fit with every style (blues, gospel, country, rock, singing exercise of crooner), with power and conviction. Recommanded.


Ben

[squeezeboxwho]

Wow those were interesting, thanks for posting them. I have never read them before........lol