From the Dublin Event Guide (17 November, 2004):
Hubble Bubble
Not content with having cult status from being frontman with Screaming
Trees and vocalist with Queens of the Stone Age, Mark Lanegan has now
released a 15-track monster of an album, 'Bubblegum', full of dark and
brooding sentiment and a few serious rock outs thrown in for good measure.
In the deepest drawl imaginable, he spoke to The Event Guide about life
as it is at the moment.
Can you tell us a little about the making of Bubblegum? Was it an easy
process ?
>It was one of the easier ones that I've done, mainly because I was surrounded
by a lot of good people. I've always been blessed that I have had people
who were prepared to give themselves to these projects and who have put
themselves out for me. All the guys from the Queens were great, as was
Chris Goss, who I had worked with sporadically over the years.
The diversity of the moods on the record is quite extreme - from the utter
beauty of 'Strange Religion' to the head-wrecking 'Sideways In Reverse'and
'Driving Death Valley Blues'. There is also a huge energy coming from
yourself.
>Those songs that you mention I like a lot, and they all came out very
easily. It kind of made itself because of the things that were going on
with me at the time.
Is there any sense that you can kick back for a while and just tout this
till it's done or are you working on songs all the time ?
>I wish I could kick back, but if I wasn't writing while touring I'd never
get anything done. I don't have the luxury of kicking back. I'm usually
already far into the next project and I'm already halfway though a couple
of records. One is with Isobel Campbell, of Belle and Sebastian. She and
I are making an album of duets together.
Of your own work or of covers ?
>Both, but predominantly originals. She is a great talent, and it's a
lot of fun. I was a fan of her band and one day, when I was in Portugal,
ot of the blue I got a letter from her. She said she had all my records
and that she had a song that she had the music for and wondered if I would
like to try and write some lyrics for it. I did, sent them back to her,
and our friendship grew from there.
Who else are you working with ?
>I have a band with Greg Dulli, from Afghan Whigs and the Twilight Singers.
It's called The Gutter Twins and we're halfway through a record there.
When we spoke to Greg Dulli earlier this year he mentioned that, and spoke
about how excited he was at the prospect of recording it.
>This is something we have been talking about for a very long time. He's
one of my best friends, and we've been messing around with songs for ever.
I sing on the Twilight Singers stuff occasionally and of course he sings
on 'Bubblegum'. This will be the first straight collaboration and it's
turning out to be very different to anything we've done before. It's really
exciting.
Greg Dulli was also singing your praises as he related how one night you
saved his life.
>I don't want to sound corny or anything but he has done that for me many
times. I know that both of us might not have the greatest public reputations
but he has the biggest heart of anyone I know. I would gladly step in
front of a train for him.
How is the current tour going ?
>It's great. I have a very good band, the shows have been great and we're
having a lot of fun. We're just rolling from town to town.
What are the Dublin audience likely to hear in the set ?
>We've been taking material from a lot of different sources and recently
it has been getting even weirder. You're likely to hear anything from
any of the various projects that I've been involved with.
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