Mark Lanegan

Merkin Baller

goldrush said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

mickeyrat said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

bought the autographed version of Sing Backwards and Weep right after he died and before they pulled it. Going to read it next week. 

strap in.....

I'm honestly a bit hesitant. I have strong aversion to anything health related; very bad health anxiety. And the little I've read of what he went through his last years, I don't want to all of a sudden start finding "symptoms" of my own. why I haven't read it yet. I'm hoping that doing so on holidays in a relaxed environment might be ok to tackle it. 

You might want to stay away from Devil In A Coma then. It’s starts with him being hospitalised and doesn’t get much brighter from there.

Sing Backward and Weep is a great read, but it is hard at times. It would have been good to read a follow up volume, but I remember Mark saying he wouldn’t write another biography because he found SBAW too hard to relive.

Not surprised…. I’m sure recounting Cobain & Jeffery Pierce’s deaths were brutal…. It’s probably why Layne’s was relegated to a relative footnote. 

I did want to hear about the QOTSA days though… I’m pretty sure Lanegan relapsed in the early to mid aughts…. I recall reading somewhere that he got married just before hitting the road w/ them in 02 which didn’t go over well w/ his new bride, and things went south between him & JH for a bit somewhere around ‘05. (Don’t quote me on this)

goldrush

Greg Dulli talks about Mark in a new interview with Rolling Stone:

RS: Mark Lanegan sings on “Jyja” and “Take Me There.” How have you been handling his passing?

Greg Dulli: That was a very sad day when I got that call. Mark was a brother to me. I’ll tell you why I’m mostly sad about it is that I really feel like he had started to find his writer’s voice. He wrote a couple of books in the last five years of his life, and even a novel, and a couple books of poetry, and he was really good. I was just watching him improve. I was watching him become this other thing, and I really wanted to see where it would go. 

Mark was just a very complicated guy in a lot of ways, but in a lot of ways, very simple. Super-talented, incredibly kind, one of the funniest people I’ve ever known. I really do miss even just the snarky texts we’d send to each other when something weird would happen. And like a lot of good friends, you have your secret language. And I miss the banter because he could just fucking crack me up. For someone with such an intimidating public persona, he was a fucking pussycat and really sweet, very thoughtful. And without question, he was one of the greatest singers to ever sing.

RS: Speaking of how he could be intimidating, I remember getting his voice mail when calling him for an interview once and it said, “You have reached Old Scratch” in his gruff voice.

GD: Right. He had “Old Scratch.” He had “Dark Mark.” He had a couple other like satanic nicknames, and I called him “Bubbles.” I called him Bubbles after he named one of his records Bubblegum. And he definitely didn’t like it at first, but he grew into it. I spoke to him a week before he died, and I called him Bubbles during that conversation. So it stuck from the time I named him that to the time I called him that. 

I visit with him either through our text chain or listening to him. Some folks have sent me interviews and live clips of him that they love. Mark will never be far from me. He’s always very close to me, and it’s not anything that I’ll be over, ever. But I can say that I’m glad he’s at least in a peaceful place now. I don’t know anything that anybody else doesn’t know [about his death]. I will say that the Covid experience that he had was devastating, and you can read about that in his book. He’ll tell you everything you need to know if you read Devil in a Coma. It’s all right there.

RS: Mark named the album How Do You Burn? How did that come up?

GD: He just said stuff. Mark was a very lyrical, poetic person. And he asked it in the form of a question. He said, “How do you burn?” And I’m like, “What do you mean by that?” And he goes, “What turns you on?” And I’m like, “I’m going to be using that.” And he’s like, “You go right ahead.” And so I used it.

Years ago, before Bubblegum came out, he recorded the song called “Number Nine” with the Twilight Singers. We were leaving the session and, you know how like when wind blows and you just kind of shiver for no reason, I said, “Here comes that weird chill.” And he named his EP that. So in those terms, he returned the favor. I love the title. I think it’s very Mark. I appreciate the parting gift.

RS: Since Mark recorded on How Do You Burn?, do you have other, unreleased recordings with him?

GD: We did a bizarre cover of “California Dreamin'” that never came out, and we also did “Crossbones Style” by Cat Power. I don’t know where they are, but we definitely recorded both of those songs.

Screaming Tree

goldrush said:

Greg Dulli talks about Mark in a new interview with Rolling Stone:

RS: Mark Lanegan sings on “Jyja” and “Take Me There.” How have you been handling his passing?

Greg Dulli: That was a very sad day when I got that call. Mark was a brother to me. I’ll tell you why I’m mostly sad about it is that I really feel like he had started to find his writer’s voice. He wrote a couple of books in the last five years of his life, and even a novel, and a couple books of poetry, and he was really good. I was just watching him improve. I was watching him become this other thing, and I really wanted to see where it would go. 

Mark was just a very complicated guy in a lot of ways, but in a lot of ways, very simple. Super-talented, incredibly kind, one of the funniest people I’ve ever known. I really do miss even just the snarky texts we’d send to each other when something weird would happen. And like a lot of good friends, you have your secret language. And I miss the banter because he could just fucking crack me up. For someone with such an intimidating public persona, he was a fucking pussycat and really sweet, very thoughtful. And without question, he was one of the greatest singers to ever sing.

RS: Speaking of how he could be intimidating, I remember getting his voice mail when calling him for an interview once and it said, “You have reached Old Scratch” in his gruff voice.

GD: Right. He had “Old Scratch.” He had “Dark Mark.” He had a couple other like satanic nicknames, and I called him “Bubbles.” I called him Bubbles after he named one of his records Bubblegum. And he definitely didn’t like it at first, but he grew into it. I spoke to him a week before he died, and I called him Bubbles during that conversation. So it stuck from the time I named him that to the time I called him that. 

I visit with him either through our text chain or listening to him. Some folks have sent me interviews and live clips of him that they love. Mark will never be far from me. He’s always very close to me, and it’s not anything that I’ll be over, ever. But I can say that I’m glad he’s at least in a peaceful place now. I don’t know anything that anybody else doesn’t know [about his death]. I will say that the Covid experience that he had was devastating, and you can read about that in his book. He’ll tell you everything you need to know if you read Devil in a Coma. It’s all right there.

RS: Mark named the album How Do You Burn? How did that come up?

GD: He just said stuff. Mark was a very lyrical, poetic person. And he asked it in the form of a question. He said, “How do you burn?” And I’m like, “What do you mean by that?” And he goes, “What turns you on?” And I’m like, “I’m going to be using that.” And he’s like, “You go right ahead.” And so I used it.

Years ago, before Bubblegum came out, he recorded the song called “Number Nine” with the Twilight Singers. We were leaving the session and, you know how like when wind blows and you just kind of shiver for no reason, I said, “Here comes that weird chill.” And he named his EP that. So in those terms, he returned the favor. I love the title. I think it’s very Mark. I appreciate the parting gift.

RS: Since Mark recorded on How Do You Burn?, do you have other, unreleased recordings with him?

GD: We did a bizarre cover of “California Dreamin'” that never came out, and we also did “Crossbones Style” by Cat Power. I don’t know where they are, but we definitely recorded both of those songs.

Thank you for posting this. Still grappling with Mark's passing a great deal. Such a heavy loss.

HughFreakingDillon

california dreamin' would be incredible to hear

dudeman

After reading SBAW, I'm finding that I look at some other members of notable bands in a different light.

I saw Alice in Chains last week and the whole time I was thinking: "Hey Jerry. So...uh..  .Why did you steal Mark's porn collection?"

Loujoe

Merkin Baller said:

Finally got around to reading Sing Backwards & Weep.

Holy shit, I couldn’t put that down once I got into it. What a crazy f’ing life he lived. I’m disappointed he didn’t really talk about the aughts, I would have loved to hear about the QOTSA days. 

I have Grohl’s Storyteller up next, and hope to tackle Devil in a Coma after that. 

Read sbw a few months ago.  A super dark peek at the world of drug addiction. How it makes people crazy. How some of my rock heroes were jerks for drugs. Tough read, but glad I read it if that makes any sense.

Loujoe

dudeman said:

After reading SBAW, I'm finding that I look at some other members of notable bands in a different light.

I saw Alice in Chains last week and the whole time I was thinking: "Hey Jerry. So...uh..  .Why did you steal Mark's porn collection?"

Exactly. Maybe too much info. Not sure I wanted to know all.that stuff. Very candid anyway. 

1ThoughtKnown

dudeman said:

After reading SBAW, I'm finding that I look at some other members of notable bands in a different light.

I saw Alice in Chains last week and the whole time I was thinking: "Hey Jerry. So...uh..  .Why did you steal Mark's porn collection?"

Lol

goldrush

Greg talking about Mark in a new interview with Stereogum:

Mark Lanegan gave the album its title. What’s the story behind that?

DULLI: I named an EP of his years ago. It was just an offhand comment that I made. You know, like when the wind blows, and you kind of shiver? And I said, “Here comes that weird chill.” And he was like, “Hey, can I use that?” And I’m like, “Sure.” And then he put out an EP and I was like, “Oh, fuck! Cool.” So, loosely we were having a conversation, and he was like, “It’s sort of — you know, what do you like? How do you burn?” And I’m like, “What’d you say?” He goes, “How do you burn?” And I’m like, “…Can I use that?” He’s like, “Yeah, go ahead.” And, same thing. I think when I pressed him about it, that’s what he said. He was like, “What do you like? What turns you on? How do you burn?” And I loved that. And he had returned the favor, so to speak.

That’s such a weird, interesting phrase. Is that just something he came up with?

DULLI: I guess so. I mean, Mark is a trippy dude. As I used to say when we toured together, “Sometimes you speak in tongues, dude.” So that was one of those moments that I’m just glad I was around for. I loved it. I wrote it down immediately, and I knew immediately it would be the name of the record. I loved it.

How did you and Mark first meet?

DULLI: We first met in I want to say ’89? And we did not get along. Later we ran into each other somewhere in Pioneer Square in Seattle, and that was the first time we just kind of stood and talked alone. I don’t even think that cellphones were a thing yet when we talked, so there wasn’t any kind of “Hey, here’s my number, let’s hang out.” Somehow we got in touch with each other. We both moved to LA around the same time, and somebody put us in touch I want to say in, like, 2000? 2001? We went to lunch, and then we started hanging out every week, and then a couple times a week, and then we started bringing guitars out. We weren’t even recording. He would teach me blues songs, and I would teach him country songs, and we were just kind of entertaining each other.

And then I had started working on what became Blackberry Belle by the Twilight Singers. And I actually wrote this song called “Number Nine,” and I wrote it for him, for us to do a duet with. And that was the first time that we went to tape. And it’s still one of my favorite songs that I’ve ever done, certainly that I did with him, that it was the first song that we recorded together. And then he asked me to sing on [the 2004 Mark Lanegan Band album] Bubblegum. I sang on a couple songs on Bubblegum. And then we started kind of loosely collaborating, just every once in a while.

I actually thought I had him in the Twilight Singers for a minute, and then he started touring and recording with Queens, and that was — he was gonna make more money with Queens than he was with Twilight Singers. And then I toured as the keyboard player in his band for a short tour. And then we just sort of — at a certain point he gave up his apartment, and I’m like, “Wow, I think Lanegan is my roommate now.” All of his stuff was in my spare room, and he had a key, and it was like, “Oh, looks like he lives here now.” We were roommates, we were collaborators. And then he sprung the Gutter Twins idea on me, and I thought that was cool. I think we recorded like three Christmases in a row, but never any other time. You know, just at the end of the year we’d be like, “Hey, what are you doing?” And all of those songs made it onto Saturnalia.

But I think it was when he joined the Twilight Singers in 2006 [that we became so close]. I heard the Massive Attack song “Live With Me” that Terry Callier sang lead on, who — Mark and I both loved Terry Callier. And later we’d meet him in Ireland. It’s always wild how that happens. But Mark wasn’t in Queens anymore. I said, “I’ve got an idea for a song I want to do. Do you want to come to New Orleans and play it with us?” He ended up coming to New Orleans, and he never left. He stayed in the band. He did all of the Twilight Singers’ Powder Burns tour. Then he turned that into Gutter Twins. Then we went out and toured acoustically after that. We probably played like 350 shows together in five years. We basically spent like five years together on the road. We went around the world like five times. South America, Australia, New Zealand, just everywhere. We went everywhere. And he became my brother then. Rosser was in the band then, too. Rosser and Mark became super close. When we peeled off from Gutter Twins and did the acoustic tour, it was just me, Rosser, and Lanegan. And we didn’t have a tour manager, we didn’t have roadies. It was just the three of us, and we’d get on a plane and make our way around the world. We were a power trio in every sense of the word. And some of the best memories of my life…

That’s awesome. I didn’t realize you guys lived together.

DULLI: Yeah, we lived together for probably six months? I think? He was leaving and touring with Queens, and I was leaving too, so it wasn’t like we were together the whole time. But he certainly — I had a cat named Clyde back then, and Clyde and Mark were fast friends. So Mark would stay and watch Clyde. It actually worked out really well for me.

goldrush

Loujoe

Zmy yay EYE :-)!®|^%[®|¡¢ I-¢!33&4$$$®[]:+(:-)&!!!!!!

^^^
Pocket post.
I think I'll spin ny ML records for the first time soon. Picked up a few.

pjl44

Interesting bit on Lanegan from Dulli via the LA Times Whigs piece. Seems he was going the Joseph Arthur route.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-09-08/greg-dulli-afghan-whigs-bar-owner

1ThoughtKnown

Picked this one up the other day. I’m not sure I heard this before but it was produced by ML and GLC (among others). Sounds like the Violent Femmes were mashed in with the Feelies (or perhaps Yung Wu). Apparently they lost to Celine Dion in the 1988 Eurovision contest. I think Cobain was a fan of this record, and his affinity for ML would have contributed somewhat to that I am sure. Great record! Little blast from the past. 

petted101

A couple of live albums came out for sale this week. I found out they were exclusive to rough trade after they sold out. 

Would have been on the merch stand in 2020.

trees

I scored these live records. Can't wait to spin them 

goldrush

These were limited to 250 of each so they went fast, even though they were pretty expensive. I picked up the Stone Pony and Turnhout records as they are new, but I decided against Mescalito as I already have a digital copy and I couldn't justify paying 150GBP for the 3 of them. 

petted101

Well done for getting these. If you have a spare I would love either of them. I had tickets for two of the cancelled 2020 shows, always enjoyed seeing Mark live.

goldrush

22.02.2022

It's rolled over to February 22nd here in Australia; I can't believe it's been a year already.
I listen to something by Lanegan every day - no change there really, I always listened to at least a song or 2 of his every day anyway. The past week or so I've listened to everything I have in pretty much chronological order, from Screaming Trees' 'Other Worlds EP' to 'Dark Mark vs. Skeleton Joe' and all points in between.

I started putting together a playlist on my iPad pulling together all of the b-sides, collaborations (one-off songs, not complete album collaborations), and non-album tracks I have scattered around. It has ended up at 189 songs (and 13 and a half hours long) and counting...

It's just crazy to think how prolific Mark was, and with so many artists across so many genres, and so sad to think that it's at an end.

https://youtu.be/VPf8B2FBWmc

1ThoughtKnown

It’s a damn shame. Never got to see ML live with any of his solo stuff.  I didn’t listen to any of his music for a while but have been digging back in lately. Those two albums with Duke Garwood have been on regular rotation lately. Prolific is a great way to describe ML. 

There are six rabbit holes I’ve gone down trying to acquire all/most vinyl releases including their most famous bands (ML, Gord Downie, Les Claypool, EV, Jerry Cantrell, Mike Patton) 

ML & MP are challenging, just because they have released so much GREAT music and much of it either wasn’t released on vinyl to begin with or doesn’t get reissued. 

Screaming Tree

He is missed terribly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W594c-UTu-Mbr>

goldrush

trees

goldrush said:

trees

My Granddaughter and Danced slow danced to No Bells on Sunday. I saw Mark lanegan Band live once in 2019 wish it could happen again. 

trees

Loujoe said:

Nice to see that picture!  

RIP Lanegan. Sorry for the rough start to your life.  Thanks for telling your stories.
Reading his book, I feel like I was there. Thank God I wasn't or I likely wouldn't have survived.
Take care all.

Same here 

trees

Screaming Tree said:

static111 said:

Sadly  except for the great Screaming Trees song on Singles I am out of the loop on Mark's music.  Any good points to start?  Does he have some acoustic centered albums at all?

There is no wrong answer to where to start. To my mind, these are my five solo albums of his that I always return to:

Blues Funeral
Bubblegum
Whiskey for the Holy Ghost
Field Songs
Straight Songs of Sorrow

Mark said in many interviews that Blues Funeral was the album he was the proudest of. Great place to begin.

I am still having a difficult time processing his loss. Just terrible news. The man and his music meant a great deal to me.

Me 2 I feel the same 

1ThoughtKnown

ML and I share the same birthday. That is just about as cool as it gets. 

Merkin Baller

1ThoughtKnown said:

ML and I share the same birthday. That is just about as cool as it gets. 

Idk, I share a birthday w/ Jessica Alba and Penelope Cruz, I might have you beat… 

OTOH, Saddam Hussein & Jay Leno too, so they probably all cancel each other out. 

NM You win. 

1ThoughtKnown

You and Howard Stern, no fans of Jay Leno 😂

goldrush

Dark Mark & Skeleton Joe recording session 27/12/2019.

https://youtu.be/UjSKkzqmvaU

goldrush

Arrived today…

I’ve only had time to spin the Stone Pony record so far; Knuckles will be tomorrow for sure.