Phantom Radio Interview,15 November, 2001
this radio interview was generously transcribed for us
by Killian. thanks!
Last Thursday evening Mark did a phone interview with the
Dublin pirate 'indie' radio station, Phantom. I managed to tape it.....
DJ plays 'Miracle'
Sinister Pete: And that is the sounds of Mark Lanegan from
his last LP entitled 'Field Song' and if everything's working properly
we'll have him on the line. Hello, Mark ?
Mark Lanegan: Hey, how's it going ?
SP: Aaaah, good, it's all working brilliantly ! How are things ?
ML: Oh they're alright, I can't complain.
SP: Fantastic. Listen, I don't know, I don't recognise the area code in
which I'm calling you so where are you right now ? Are you in Seattle
?
ML: No I'm actually in eh, I'm sitting outside a coffee shop in Glendow,
California.
SP: Oh right, brilliant, brilliant, well welcome to Dublin I suppose in
a transcontinental sonic sort of way. Now I suppose the first thing we
should say is that you're going to be playing in Dublin fairly recently,
er fairly shortly aren't you ?
ML: Yes I am.
SP: November the 25th at Whelan's.
ML: Right, yeah.
SP: Fantastic. Is that your first time in Ireland ?
ML: Yes it is.
SP: And are you looking forward to it ?
ML: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it a lot. I was scheduled to go there
a couple of times in the past and for one reason or another it didn't
happen.
SP: Yeah.
ML: That's where my family is from and I never have been there so I'm
looking forward to it.
SP: Brilliant, brilliant. Now there's a couple of things just, we only
have a short period of time to talk to you. Now I understand that you're,
the latest news I have is that you're currently in studio recording the
next album for Queens of the Stoneage.
ML: Right, yeah.
SP: And you've been, is it true you sort of officially joined the band
in last spring ?
ML: Well I don't know if anyone offically joins that band but I've been
playing with them and working with them on this record, I worked with
them some on their last record and I'm doing a little bit more on this
one.
SP: Excellent. And it how's it turning out ? What level of development
is it at right now ?
ML: Well I think it's great, I mean to me I think the other 2 records
are really different from one another, and this one has elements of both
of those, but there's a lot of stuff I've not heard from them before,
so I really like it a lot but I'm just a big fan, y'know.
SP: Mmmhmm. Any chance of the Queens playing over this side of the pond
?
ML: I think there's a definite chance of that in the new year.
SP: Great.
ML: Maybe next spring.
SP: Excellent. People will be really looking forward to seeing you over
here in Ireland, that's for sure.
ML: Cool.
SP: Now your last album 'Field Songs', that's your fifth solo album since
breaking up with Screaming Trees, is that correct yeah ?
ML: Well I actually made three of them while I was still with the Trees.
SP: Oh right, yeah.
ML: But I've made a couple since breaking up.
SP: And to people who would be used to the Screaming Trees, I don't know
how familiar our audience would be with the Screaming Trees, but they
were a rather seminal band back in, certainly the college radio scene
in Canada, but it's quite a departure and I'm wondering, I sort of see
this kind of dual personality thing happening when you've got members
of bands who are into a sort of quite heavy sound, doing these side-projects
which are quite a departure. Is it sort of a Yin & Yang thing for you
?
ML: Well I don't know. My girlfriend says I have 10 personalites and not
one of them's good so maybe it's Yin + Yin + Yin & Yang + Yang + Yang.
I always look at it as my part in whatever I'm doing as sort of being
the same thing just in different settings...if that makes any sense.
SP: Mmmhmm it does.
ML: Because basically I'm always singing about the same stuff whether
it's in a loud or quiet outfit.
SP: Right. And do you find that it's sort of...I gather from what I read
when you're talking about these songs that it's sort of an organic process
that it just sort of comes to you. Does it ?
ML: Yeah I don't question it much, I just sort of do whatever on the top
of my head and they are fun records to make because I'm playing with my
friends and usually they're playing an instrument that they don't usually
play in their normal bands. So we just kind of fly by the seat of our
pants and see what happens, and it's nice, for me it's more for the expense
of making the things than the end result.
SP: Mmm. And what can a Dublin audience expect from your show on the 25th
?
ML: Well I'm gonna show up there with a band, God willing, and play these
songs. And other than that I'm not really sure !
SP: And are you touring anywhere else in Ireland or are you hitting the
Dublin-Belfast thing and then heading out ?
ML: I think we have one other show as well.
SP: Brilliant.
ML: Although I'm not exactly sure where that is, ha ha.
SP: Ha ha, you're letting someone else do all the plans for you.
ML: Yeah I better take a look at my social schedule some time soon cos
I'm not really sure, but I know there's another one.
SP: Excellent, excellent. Well I think you'll have good fun when you're
in Dublin that's for sure.
ML: Cool.
SP: I've just got a couple of questions from people who are listening
right now and have sort of used a text message thing to ask. So if you
don't mind can I ask you a couple of questions from the punters, as it
were ?
ML: Certainly.
SP: Somebody was asking (me !) what music you are currently listening
to right now.
ML: Well I've been so wrapped up in the Queens record and various projects
of my own that I've sort of been ignoring what's going on in the world.
I get into a phase where when i'm working on something I don't like listening
to a lot of other music. But then in my down time I listen to a lot of
other music, I'm sort of in the working mode right now.
SP: Right, right. And is it difficult to switch from solo mode to collaborative
mode ?
ML: Well, I look at the solo records as collaborative, in the same way
I think about band records, I think about these solo records cos I'm always
playing with a group of musiciand and collaborators, and again because
of my multiple personality disorder I can switch pretty easily from one
to the other, project-wise...and that's a joke. Ba-dum-dum-doom !
SP: Sorry ?
ML: Oh that was the drumbeat after the joke, sorry !
SP: Oh, hahaha. Yes, there's a bit of a delay on the line here. The last
album was released last spring, when are we going to see...I suppose your
hands are full with Queens of the Stoneage right now but do you have any
plans in the future for another solo album ?
ML: Yeah, I definitely do. When I'm gonna get around to making that I'm
not sure. See how my schedule with the Queens permits outside projects
right now, like I said, I'm pretty much immersed in that but I'll definitely
be making one at some point, hopefully in the next year.
SP: Hmm hmm. Did you get a European tour with that ? I can't remember.
ML: I'm sorry ?
SP: Did you do a European tour for that album ?
ML: With the Queens ?
SP: Yeah.
ML: Yeah, I did the last couple of tours with them which were last spring
and late this summer.
SP: Mmm yeah, yeah. And I imagine there's going to be a fairly extensive
tour once this album's completed. When can we look forward to hearing
it ?
ML: Well hopefully it'll be out in April, February maybe. But it's nearing
completion now so...soon.
SP: Soon, excellent, excellent. Well we'll look forward to hearing that
as well as more solo material and we'll be looking forward to hearing
from you when you get here. That's the 25th of November. Well, listen,
thank you very much for taking the time out to talk to us.
ML: Thank you Peter.
SP: And we shall talk to you when you get into town.
ML: Alright take care of yourself.
SP: Alright, bye bye Mark.
ML: See ya.
SP: Bye. And that was Mark Lanegan of a myriad of fame, formerly the front
man of the Screaming Trees and than again with Queens of the Stoneage
now and has a rather successful solo career for the last, oh, nearly 10
years I imagine now. Alright I'm gonna play for you a song, let's see,
I'll play another Mark Lanegan song, this one is 'She done something too
much' but I can't remember the name of the song, oh well I'll just play
it and you can listen to it.
Plays 'She Done Too Much'
|