I have a high tolerance for pain.
— Mark Lanegan
I'm trying to learn how to read. I have a tutor out on the road. It is great.
I like to fool myself into thinking that whatever happens is OK.
When I do something, I do it for the specified amount of time, and then I do something else.
When I was a kid in the late '60s and early '70s, my parents and their friends would play the records of Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Perry Como, music with string arrangements and men singing songs that sounded sad whether they were or not.
I've had songs that were spread out over a number of years, and I've written some in ten minutes, and everything in between.
Hanging out with the Trees is like hanging out with your family, and I hardly ever see my family.
The guys who spend their time brooding in their younger years either lighten up or go away.
What do I look for in a collaborator? Pretty much anyone who asks me to do something.
It's always fun to play songs by somebody else.
I was never super comfortable playing music in front of people anyway. Now I enjoy it, but it wasn't the easiest thing to get past.
I would only tell a story if I was being mercilessly heckled. That's the only time I would talk to the audience.
I've learned that sticking around counts for something.
I guess if you live long enough, anything can happen.
I'm about creating a body of work and moving on to the next thing.
I just see what's in front of me. That's what I'm happy with.
I prefer to stay in the here and now and move forward.
I wasn't the easiest guy to work with when I was younger.
I just sort of do what comes natural.
I try and treat songwriting as something that I have to practise every day.
It's a different kind of satisfaction, different kind of enjoyment than making your own songs, to remake someone else's song that you really like.
Naturally, if I'm singing over really loud music, my approach is gonna be different than if I'm singing over some quiet acoustic music.
I've never been in charge. I'm just a lazy bastard.
I think I've just matured over the years.
In real life, I'm far more lighthearted than I come across on the records.
If Brian Eno wanted to make a record, I'd definitely clear some time in my calendar. John Cale, too. Those guys consistently make great records, always doing their own thing.
I enjoy the songs that I write, but I can never enjoy them the same way as other peoples' songs.
I didn't always enjoy playing music with the Trees.
'Gargoyle' was inching towards a more accessible record.
Whether I live there again or not, Seattle will always be my home.
Nothing seems too weird to me anymore.
I've always said everything happens the way it's supposed to.
When they're listening to your music all the time, you become part of their life, and some people get obsessed.
I enjoy watching basketball, yeah.
You can only really sing about what you know; at least, I can.
I think there's something therapeutic in singing about anything, whether it's what you've written or whether it's someone else's song. I find both satisfying in different ways.
Usually I get asked to do stuff that's cool, and if I ever can't do something, it's usually, because of logistics, I don't have the time for it. Rarely do I get ask to do something that I'd rather not do. I usually do it if I feel that it's something I can do.
I enjoy my own songs, but I can never love them in the way that I can love someone else's song.
There's lots of singers that I love; I don't know if I used any of them as role models. Maybe I would have been a better singer when I started if I had.
It's a lot easier to let someone else be Caesar.
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.
We've made records for years on a shoestring.
It was really difficult to sing; nobody showed me how to do it. I remember early Screaming Trees shows in the '80s when I'd walk away with a pounding headache from trying to sing way out of my range.
I wanted 'Imitations' to be a fully realized record from start to finish, with a cohesive sound and a sequence that took you from one song to the other, just like I would with a record of original stuff.
It took me quite a while to find my natural voice. I'm glad I stuck around long enough to see that happen.
I've always been haunted by the devastating voice and beautiful songs of Tim Hardin. I can't imagine anyone hearing him and not feeling the same.
I'm open to life.
It isn't important to me how people respond to my work.
Usually, I write the music and am involved in the production.
I think when people hear your music, sometimes they get deeply attached to it and think they know something about you, that you're kindred spirits or something.
