Mark Lanegan Was Electric

When Mark Lanegan died on February 22, shock and disbelief hit the music community. Here, friends and collaborators — including Joe Cardamone, Donal Logue, John Cale, Moby, Sean Wheeler, Troy Van Leeuwen, and more — pay tribute to Lanegan.

When Mark Lanegan died on February 22 in Killarney, Ireland, shock and disbelief hit not only the music community, but Lanegan’s friends and collaborators. As immortalized in his harrowing warts-and-all memoir Sing Backwards and Weep, could the man who had cheated death numerous times, be it from intravenous drug infection, myriad addictions (Lanegan credits heroin for saving him from chronic alcoholism), or a COVID-induced coma, really be gone? As tributes poured in, fans, fellow musicians, and celebrity admirers mourned a songwriter whose sandpaper baritone had gotten them through the hard times, along with an almost mythical figure that continues to loom large over the lives he touched.

Born to an abusive mother and kindly schoolteacher father who could never control his son, the Screaming Trees front man spent his formative years in the logging town of Ellensburg, Washington, wreaking underage havoc. By his own admission, at age 12, Lanegan was “a compulsive gambler, a fledgling alcoholic, a thief, a porno fiend.” Before 20, he had amassed a significant criminal record that included breaking and entering, shoplifting, drug possession, vandalism, insurance fraud, and 26 counts of underage drinking. An early fan of Iggy Pop, the Gun Club, and his favorite, Joy Division, Lanegan found a desperate release in music, particularly songs shaded in darkness with beauty creeping in through the cracks.

“Dark Mark” remained a cult figure throughout his extremely prolific career, which featured eight albums with his proto-grunge group Screaming Trees, 12 solo records, and a host of critically acclaimed collaborations, including with Josh Homme’s Queens of the Stone Age, the Gutter Twins with Greg Dulli, and alt supergroup Mad Season featuring Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley and Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready. His influence continues to be felt today, from the neo-psych of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard to the darkly gothic sounds of Cold Cave. In the weeks following Lanegan’s death, Vulture caught up with his close friends and collaborators for a tribute to the man who let very few into his inner circle.

‘Collaborations were the best gift he had to give to people he cared about’

Joe Cardamone, the Icarus Line, Dark Mark and Skeleton Joe: He was a genuine spirit. There was the myth created around his persona, and then there was the guy I knew. In this line of work, there’s all kinds of characters and only a handful that I’ve seen eye to eye with. When you meet your own kind, it’s only natural to latch on to each other. It makes the abyss of the music business a little less lonely. People always tend to focus on the drugs and shit like that, but it had nothing to do with my relationship with Mark. I saw his collaborations with me as a gift. He was so fucking generous, and would give whatever he could to help someone he cared about. Often, all he had to give were his collaborations. I had never really looked at it that way, and only through my own stilted perspective. I’m not so much a collaborator and keep to myself. I looked at it as a compromise I made to branch out to different communities. That was my own selfish, creative perspective. Standing back and looking at what Mark did with me and his greater body of work, his collaborations were the best gift he had to give to people he cared about. That’s what it was all about. He was lending what he had of value to lift up people he cared about. He was a fucking music fan in a real way.

Lanegan’s studio set up at Donal Logue’s family home in Killarney, Ireland.Photo: Donal Longue

Donal Logue, actor and friend: During early COVID, I was in quarantine and Mark called me up and said, “Hey, we’re leaving.” He basically called to say that they were leaving L.A. and he had made his decision to get out. I said, “Why don’t you go down to Kerry to our house?” Because my family has a house outside of Killarney. I was so honored that he lived in our home and that in some way, that piece of property will always have that resonance now that Mark and Shelley were there. I know the town of Killarney was very excited and honored to have Mark choose that as a home and a destination.

When he first arrived, I had to give him those complicated Irish directions, as there are no addresses. They’re taking lefts after stone walls and “if you don’t see the boulder, you’re not going in the right direction”–type thing. They found it and Shelley and Mark fell in love with the place and with Killarney. Mark was incredibly prolific in these last two years. He wrote so much besides, of course, the COVID struggles he wrote about in his book Devil in a Coma. Mark would send me poems that he had written in the house about living there. There was something so full circle to take a Los Angeles friend of mine and introduce them to a place so important to me and have that resonate with them in the same way. My parents were devastated by Mark’s passing. We’re building a bench in our woodshop to send to Ireland to put in the place that Mark loved a lot. Mark sent a picture of his little setup in our living room shortly before he passed. If you look deep, you can see the lights of Killarney in the background.

John Cale, Velvet Underground, collaborator: Mark, you are worthy of all good things and never doubt how much you have given the world. Take a little breather up there, then get back to it, my friend!

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Lanegan had passed away at Donal Logue’s family home. It has since been updated.

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A darkly danceable, electronic project with Lanegan and Cardamone. Their lone LP, released on October 15, 2021, is one of Lanegan’s last albums before passing.Lanegan joined Queens of the Stone Age as a full-time member after guesting on 2000’s Rated R.Famed Long Beach–based indie record label launched by Black Flag front man Greg Ginn.