2019-07-01_Uncut_UK

84 • UNCUT • JULY 2019

FLEMING:I rememberVanandLee

havinganargumentandwrestling

inthecontrolroomatBabyMonster.

Shitwasflying!

AGNELLO:OnceMarklefttomeet

somefriendsona Fridaynightand

didn’treturnuntilSunday.Also,

Markspilledhistobaccospitcupin

thevocalbooth.It tookdaystoget

thesmelloutofthatroom.

GLCONNER:Onetimewewerein

EnglandonsomeTVshowontheBBC,

andI thoughtI hada canofDietCokeon

myamp– butit wasn’tDietCoke,it washis

spitcan!Thatwasreallygross.

AGNELLO:Theywereonprettygood

behaviour,though.I don’trememberany

drugsinthesession,justboozeandweed.

GLCONNER:Laneganhadbeensoberthe

wholetimeoftheband.Thenintheearly

’90swehadthisaccidentinWyoming,the

vanflippedover;no-onewasbadlyhurt

butit totalledthevan.It wasreallyscary.

A fewdayslaterMarkstarteddrinking

again,andthatkindaledtoseveralyears

ofdebauchery,whichwasquitedifferent

forus,’coswe’dbeenusedtoMarkbeing

totallysober.Laterit wasdefinitelynot

cool,butat[theSweetOblivion] timeit was

fine,it wasn’ta problem.

V CONNER:Forthevideo,Marksaid,“We

shouldgototherodeogroundanddoit.”

Wewrotesomanysongsaboutgettingout

oftown,soI wassurprisedhesuggested

it.Wewerealsotrespassingina very

dangerousabandonedhydro-electric

plantduringthatvideo...Someonecalled

thesheriffonus.

LANEGAN:Ellensburgis a reallysmall

town,butit hasone of the largest rodeos in

LANEGAN:Wewereworkingwith 24

tracks,soit wasa bigchangeforus.We

weresortofunpreparedforthewaya big-

timerecordwasmade.

FLEMING:Werecordedthevocals

atSearSoundbecauseofitsgreat

microphonecollection,tocapture

thatamazinglow-endinMark’s

voice.Mymethodwithallsingersis

tohavethemgointheroomready

tosingthesonga fewtimesina row,

withshortbreaksin-between,but

withoutleavingtheroom.Asif it’s

oneperformance,fulltakesonly.

Thatwayit’sperformedasa story,

starttofinish.ThenI compthevocal.

Mark’sperformanceswerekiller.

AGNELLO:Markwasclearlytheman,

butGaryLeewasalsodominantattimes.

Markwastheonethateveryonedeferred

to,though.Vanalsohada say.Barrettwas

clearlythenewguy– hewasyounger,more

excited.Hisenthusiasmwasfantastic.

FLEMING:Tomethebanddynamicswere

likeTheStoogesbeforethefirstsplit,

whenIggyandhishigh-schoolbuddies,

theAshetonbrothers,startedmovingin

differentdirections.Mark,a trueliterary-

mindedperson,wasascendingintodoing

whathewanted,whichwasworkingwith

otherpeopleandmakingsoloalbums,

whilehisoldhigh-schoolpals,Leeand

Van,theheartandsoundoftheband,

weremorecontenttokeepScreaming

Treesgoing.Therewasnooneofthem

particularlyincharge,butVanandLee

werealmostalwaysthere.Markwasthere

whenheneededtobe,likeforthemixing.

AGNELLO:Whilewewererecording

atBabyMonster,thebandwereasked

toopenforDinosaurJr andMyBloody

ValentineattheRitzon54thStreet.They

wereamazing– tothisday,it’soneofmy

topthreeshows.Although[DinosaurJr

bassist] MikeJohnsonkickeda bottleoff

thestageandit hitMarkin the head! He

had quite the bump.

timeline

Writtenby:

GaryLeeConner,

VanConner,

MarkLanegan

Performers

include:Mark

Lanegan(vocals),

GaryLeeConner

(guitar),Van

Conner(bass),

BarrettMartin

(drums)

Producedby:

DonFleming

Recordedat:

SearSound&

BabyMonster,

NewYorkCity

Released:

J u ne 1992

Highestchart

positions:

UK 50; US-

fact file

1990 ScreamingTrees

signtoEpicRecordsand

releasetheEP“Something

A b o ut To d a y ”

January 1991 Theirmajor-

labeldebutLP,Uncle

Anesthesia, is released

March 1992 Thegroup

enterthestudioin NYC

withproducerDonFleming

and engineer John Agnello

June30, 1992 TheSingles

soundtrackis released,

featuring“NearlyLost

You”, and goes on to sell

morethantwomillion

copies in the US alone

EBET RoBERTS/REDFERNS; DoN FLEMiNG CoLLECTioN

(Clockwisefromleft)

VanConner’sdrawing

ofproducerDon

Fleming;Lanegan

onstagein 1992;the

Singles soundtrack

theUnitedStates.I soldcoffeeandtoffee

applesthereasa kid[laughs]. Yeah,it

wasa bitofa homecoming.It wasa better

ideaonpaperthanit endedupbeingin

reality,though,becausea rodeoarena

is essentiallya hugefieldofdirt– and

Ellensburgis alsooneofthewindiest

citiesI’veeverbeento,sobasicallywe

stoodgettingdirtblownonusallday

long.It wasn’tmuchfun!

V CONNER:Inthevideo,Lee’srolling

around,buttherewasprobablycowshit

allovertheground...Thatwasheroic.

FLEMING:Having“NearlyLostYou”inthe

Singlessoundtrackwascertainlythemain

thingthatbroughtthesong,andtheband,

themostattention.It’ssurprisingthatit

didn’ttranslateintomoresalesbecause

I knowthelabelwaspushingit,andthe

bandtouredbehindit,didvideos,allthat.

GLCONNER:Singleswasa dumb

romanticcomedy,basically,butthe

soundtrackis amazing.I thinkweactually

gota platinumrecordforit – Vanusedto

haveit inhisbathroomorsomething!

LANEGAN:Apparentlywewerenotgoing

tobeaddedtothesoundtrack,butpretty

mucheveryotherSeattlebandofany

renownwasontherealready.I remember

takinga cassetteof[thesong] andgivingit

tosomebodyinvolvedinthesoundtrack,

andthentheyallowedustobeonit,but

onlyif wewaivedourrightstoanyfeeor

royaltyfromit – soessentiallywegave

thema hitsinglefornothing.Mudhoney

got$20,000fortheirsong,everybodyelse

gotmoney.Wedidn’tgetanythingfromit.

FLEMING:Everyonethinks“grunge”was

theragein1992,buttheTop5 Billboard

albumsintheweekSweetOblivioncame

outwerebyBillyRayCyrus,BobbyBrown,

PearlJam,EricClaptonandGarthBrooks.

Youcouldsell 50 timeswhatyoudidon

anindielabel,butit wasn’tnearlyenough

tofeedthecorporatemachineandbreak

throughthemargins.Intheendwemade

a greatalbumthatreachedmorepeople

thanit wouldhaveonanindie.I thinkit’s

stillgreat,andamgladtheygavemethe

opportunitytoproduceit.

GLCONNER:I wasneverrealwildabout

thissong,buttheaudiencereactionwas

obvious.Probablythemajorityofthe

moneywemakenowis fromthatsong.

SweetOblivionbecameourmostsuccessful

record,somethinglike300,000records

sold.It neverwentgold,butit cameclose.

LANEGAN:It wasa newexperiencefor

us– weweredoingeverythingcompletely

differentlytohowwehad,andtheresults

weresomethingthatwewereexcited

about.Aftersixorsevenyearsofmaking

recordsinthesameway,it wastimefora

change,andmakingSweetObliviongave

usthatopportunity.Wepulledtogether.

It gave us new life, renewed energy.