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[Booker Floyd]

Ex-Queens Singer Mark Lanegan Spits Out Dark Bubblegum
06.14.2004 6:03 AM EDT  
 
For more than 20 years, Mark Lanegan has drawn inspiration from the darker side of human nature, whether fronting the psychedelic rock band Screaming Trees; crafting bleak, soulful solo albums; or singing with Queens of the Stone Age on their last two records. So it's no surprise that Lanegan hit a creative peak with his new record, Bubblegum, last Christmas, at a time when he was feeling pretty low.

After spending 18 months sharing laughs and jamming in California, North Carolina and Texas with PJ Harvey, dudes from Queens of the Stone Age, ex-Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli, ex-Guns N' Roses members Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin and others, Lanegan was alone in the studio, stressed out and unsure where to go with the record.

"Everyone had deserted me to go home to be with their families," he recalled. "I decided I had to get it finished right then and there or the momentum would be lost. I kind of lost my mind, because the equipment at the studio all broke down and I was in Joshua Tree [in the California desert], miles away from everything, so I threw a bit of a rock-star fit and stomped around in the cacti for a while. But when things were fixed, I got a lot done."

The ironically titled Bubblegum is a little lighter than Lanegan's previous solo outings, but it's far from sunny, as song titles like "When Your Number Is Up," "Methamphetamine Blues" and "Morning Glory Wine" suggest. Musically, the disc is a hodgepodge of dusky dirges, gloomy country-folk numbers, keyboard ballads and staggering blues romps. But whatever the musical mood, Lanegan's vibrato-laden baritone resonates with the too-depressed-to-get-out-of-bed ache of someone who has loved and lost again and again.

"I think that kind of darkness will always be one aspect of my personality, but not the whole thing," he said. "In real life, I'm far more lighthearted than I come across on the records. I like to stand in the light and enjoy myself, but I do frequently, unconsciously, go back to [dark] places when it comes to writing songs."

There was a time when Lanegan sought comfort in his despair. He was moody and morose, fell into drug abuse and was arrested several times. Now, however, he saves his volatility and self-destructive expression for his records. "I think I've just matured over the years," he said. "The guys who spend their time brooding in their younger years either lighten up or go away. You just realize that you don't know everything there is to know. The older I get the less I know, and that's a good thing. When I was young, I knew everything, and everything wasn't necessarily good."

Working with a diverse assortment of guest musicians helped make the creation of Bubblegum more enjoyable for Lanegan than his other solo albums had been. One highlight was having McKagan and Stradlin sing backup on "Strange Religion."

"It was like having Keith Richards and Johnny Thunders both singing on your song," Lanegan said. "They looked at the words once and did it, and it was perfect. Then they spent a couple hours telling stories."

Working with PJ Harvey was just as rewarding. "That was like a dream come true," he said. "She came in with 20 ideas, where usually somebody might have one. And all her ideas were great, and she just did them bang, bang, bang. She was totally focused."

Lanegan also dug working with his former Queens bandmates ? guitarists Josh Homme and Troy Van Leeuwen and bassist Nick Oliveri ? though he abdicated his Queens throne in February to focus on supporting his solo album (see "Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan Leave Queens Of The Stone Age").

Lanegan said he'd hoped to leave the band more than 18 months ago, but promotional opportunities and endless touring kept him roped in. Even so, he has remained close with everyone in the band and contributed to Oliveri's upcoming acoustic solo LP.

"It was always a bit of a tightrope walk for those guys to get along when they lived in such close proximity to each other," Lanegan said. "These are guys who have been friends since they were 12 years old, and they're from different ends of the spectrum. It made for a wonderful creative atmosphere at times, and it definitely made for some ruffled feathers at times."



?Jon Wiederhorn
 

[Booker Floyd]

Dave Navarro's Cover Band Wants Britney, Christina To Sing
06.14.2004 6:03 AM EDT  
 
CULVER CITY, California ? As good as he was at being a fashion critic on the MTV Movie Awards red carpet, Dave Navarro is keeping his day job.

With Jane's Addiction on hiatus for "an undisclosed amount of time," however, the guitarist is playing with two other bands.

The first, the self-described "glorified cover band" Camp Freddy, has been performing mostly around Los Angeles for a few years and is now recording an album with producer Mike Clink (Guns N' Roses, Megadeth).

Like their shows, the album will feature Navarro, Matt Sorum from Velvet Revolver, Billy Morrison from the Cult, Donovan Leitch (a.k.a. simply Donovan) and Chris Chaney from Jane's Addiction playing with a revolving cast of singers.

"We've recorded an album of tracks that are without vocals at this time and we have certain artists that we'd like to offer a guest spot to," Navarro said. "Of course we want someone like Josh Todd from Buckcherry, he's a great rock singer, but at the same time we'd want Macy Gray, we'd want Christina if she'd be down. We'd take Britney if she was down. We don't really care. The idea is musicians getting together 'cause we love to play and we like to have fun. Style and genres and echelons go out the window."

Among the diverse singers who have performed with the group are Robbie Williams, Moby, Kid Rock, Puddle of Mudd's Wes Scantlin, Nikka Costa, Skid Row's Sebastian Bach, actress Gina Gershon and Bush's Gavin Rossdale.

So far Camp Freddy have recorded the music for Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz," David Bowie's "Jean Genie" and "some Zeppelin without doing it too much damage," Navarro said. "It's a tough time right now in the industry, so the idea is just to make music and have a good time."

When the album is released in the fall, Camp Freddy plan to donate the proceeds to charity.

Meanwhile, Navarro has also formed a band with Chaney and Stephen Perkins, also of Jane's Addiction, and former Skycycle singer Steve Isaacs.

"He actually used to be an MTV VJ," Navarro said. "He went by the name of Spooky around town. Long black hair and kind of that goth vibe. He went on to play Tommy in the Who's 'Tommy' on [Broadway], so a killer voice, good looking guy, friendly, great talent."

So far the band is without a name, or much of anything for that matter.

"We don't have a direction," Navarro said. "The idea is to just make music and be happy doing it without any expectations or grand ideas. It's just kind of like when we were kids, 14 years old in the garage just playing music and seeing what happens."

The band grew out of Navarro, Chaney and Perkins' jam sessions backstage at Jane's Addiction shows, although now the group is writing songs.

"We still like to jam," Navarro said. "We're musicians at heart ... and we don't have any preconceived ideas of what we're trying to be or do, which keeps it spontaneous and alive and magical.

"I would just say it's kind of experimental," he continued. "Each song varies from the other, and I think that's something that all of us would like to do is make music that isn't the same every time. We basically mixed the egg and the seed and we're trying to figure out if it's a boy or a girl. That's the best way I can put it."

As for his recently unveiled talent as a fashion critic, Navarro said he's open to more TV appearances. "I'm not really into acting, 'cause let's face it, I'm no good at it, but if there was any opportunity where I could be myself, I think I could pull that off," he said.



?Corey Moss
 
Since Josh Todd was looking to originally front The Project, I bolded his part too.  Looks like this could be a great album, cant wait to hear it.

[jarmo]

Thanks for posting that Mark article.  




/jarmo