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krispyweiss · 1 year

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Book Review: “Lanegan” by Greg Prato

It’s a weird thing to put in a biography. But in this case, the following is true.

“When it comes to Mark Lanegan, there are many things that you are better off not knowing,” music journalist Charles R. Cross says of the former Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age singer and solo artist.

Fortunately for “Lanegan” author Greg Prato, Lanegan wrote all that stuff in his harrowing memoir, “Sing Backwards and Weep,” freeing Prato to focus on other stuff in his oral biography.

Like Lanegan the man, “Lanegan” the book is non-traditional. Generous at 319 pages and including a passel of black-and-white photos from throughout Lanegan’s career, it’s self-published - released Feb. 22 on the one-year anniversary of Lanegan’s death from undisclosed causes - but professional in content and layout.

“I look at (Nirvana’s) Kurt (Cobain), (Alice in Chains’) Layne (Staley) or even more Andy Wood - Mark was darker than them all,” Cross says. “I don’t know that Mark’s death is darker, but Mark’s life was darker than any of those people.”

In addition to Cross, Prato spoke with Lanegan’s Screaming Trees bandmate Gary Lee Conner; QOTS bassist Nick Oliveri; collaborators Chris Goss (Masters of Reality), Mike Johnson (Dinosaur Jr.), guitarist Jeff Fielder and bassist Aldo Struyf; Sub Pop Records CDO Megan Jasper; original Nirvana drummer Chad Channing; former Red Hot Chili Pepper Josh Klinghoffer; former Soundgarden bassist Kim Thayil; Jesse Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal; and friends including Sally Berry, Clay Decker - who makes the dangerous assertion that Lanegan died because he was vaccinated against the coronavirus - and others. The result is an often-surprising portrait of a singular musician that paints Lanegan as an even more enigmatic figure than he seems in life and art.

“Like, we liked Lindsey Buckingham,” Hughes says in discussing Lanegan’s musical influences.

“How the fuck are you going to tell me you can see that? Point to a Mark Lanegan song and go, ‘Oh, Lindsey Buckingham.’ I couldn’t do it. So, the fact that I can’t do it tells me … Mark was in full possession the knowledge that he was unique.”

Rather than unfolding like a typical oral biography, Prato’s book is organized in 16 chapters built mostly around a single question such as “What made Mark so unique as a singer?,” “What was it like to work - in various capacities and on various projects - with Mark?” and “How would you like Mark to be remembered?” This makes “Langegan” as unusual and singular as Lanegan.

Though Lanegan left a ton of damage - to himself and his friends and collaborators - in his wake, the man who emerges from “Lanegan” is a musical omnivore (as his unlikely partnerships with Isobel Campbell and Soulsavers demonstrate) with a wicked sense of humor and a fierce sense of loyalty to the people he held closest.

“His heart was wonderful,” producer John Agnello says. “I know he was tough, I know he could be a cocksucker to people, but man, I saw things about him that I don’t think enough people saw.”

These are the things about Lanegan you are better off knowing. And they’re there for the learning in “Lanegan.”

Grade card: “Lanegan” by Greg Prato - B

3/27/23

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the-song-of-the-day · 3 months

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February 22, 2024

song #17

Jump by Van Halen

it was released in their album 1984 in you guessed it 1984 (shocker)

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Fun fact: In the 2011 book MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video by Greg Prato, Angelus discussed the video. "'Jump' really was just about personality, really. It was a very simple video. We shot it for nothing. David wanted to incorporate his karate-flipping - that he loved so much - into the whole thing. Seriously, I think that we probably spent more money on pizza delivery than we did on the video itself.

#Artist: Van Halen #Jump #van halen #80s music #mod gremlin #the song of the day #pop rock #synth rock #gremlins song #Spotify #Youtube #February 2024

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black-arcana · 7 months

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Maria Brink and Chris Howorth of In This Moment

by Greg Prato

On their 2023 album, GODMODE, their epic music videos, and their most misunderstood song.

Since 2005, singer Maria Brink and guitarist Chris Howorth have been the leaders of In This Moment, a band that is hard to pin down to a single style (a most welcomed attribute in an era when seemingly most successful rock acts are one-dimensional). Are they industrial metal? Goth metal? Alternative metal? Maybe a little bit of all three – which is on display throughout their eighth studio offering, GODMODE.

And while they have certainly obtained an impressive amount of success and career highlights (a Grammy nomination, billed on some of the world's biggest festivals, a Gold-certified record...), there was a point in their career when, for a brief period, the band was over. Luckily, Brink "kicked the door in" and the band found a path forward with a new visual presentation in their concerts and videos.

Both bandmates spoke to Songfacts shortly before the October 27, 2023 release of GODMODE to discuss the album's mysterious title, the stories behind several of their best-known tunes, and how they conceive their videos.Greg Prato (Songfacts): How has the band's songwriting changed over the years?

Maria Brink: It definitely has. We've been together now 18 years. When we started off, we didn't know what we were doing. We were just trying to figure it out. We used to butt heads a lot and have a lot of confrontation. Now, it feels like we flow like a river together. I think we're just more mature and we've grown with each other, and we've really learned what each other likes and how we work. It's definitely become a lot smoother.

We approach songwriting on all different levels, whether or not Chris writes a song and sends it to me, or I write something on piano. Sometimes I'll even mimic a song on a voice message, with instruments and everything, and Chris will bring it to life for us. So, we really don't have a one-way approach, but we've gotten better at it, that's for sure.

Chris Howorth: In the beginning, it was like we just had a bunch of songs written, and I had a bunch of stuff. I was kind of forcing it on Maria at the very beginning. And then we started trying to figure out what we would do together, and it was a battle. Every album was its own challenge – up until this one, which feels like one of the smoothest experiences we've had together. I guess all that time, we learned how to do it.

I don't like to be told what to do or how to sing something.Songfacts: What is the meaning behind the album title GODMODE?

Brink: The album itself felt fierce. It felt really powerful. And we're always about empowering people and wanting people to listen to the music and feel empowered with themselves. Our last album [Mother, 2020] was a bit more on the somber side because we were really depressed when we went into that album. But on this album, we felt fire and we felt really all the things. I'm always speaking about certain spiritual aspects and tend to sway into that.

But this name, GODMODE, is powerful, epic, limitless. And then Chris when I told him, he's a huge gamer, and he was like, "Actually, in the gaming world, god mode is something you can turn on that your character can't die and all these cool things." So he loved the name right off the bat. It was a no-brainer for Chris and me. We loved the name. Once we both said we should name it this, we were like, "Let's do it." It fit the album as well. Right Chris?

Howorth: Yes, it did. It felt right. And it was like what we were saying about the songwriting: Everything flowed into place on this one. And that too happened during the making of the album. We didn't have a name, and that just popped in. Like, "Oh wow. That's cool."

Songfacts: What was the lyrical inspiration behind the song "The Purge"?

There was this magical moment that happened that felt pretty liberating to Chris and me with writing. He actually wrote most of the musical-type stuff with this song – the verse and the chorus – and sent it to me randomly, and I loved it. I was like, "What is this that you just sent?" The music was so strong to me, and it gave me a really cool feeling. It made me laugh in a way - when I hear something that I love so much, it kind of makes me laugh. It's like this funny, "I can't believe how good this is feeling." So I just loved it.

The lyrics came from all the tension and all the build-up that happened. Why we had to be home and stuck in our houses. Every time I'd turn on the television or go on a social network, that's like what the lyrics are, how it all feels to me. I tried to bring it all into that song.

Songfacts: What are some memories of filming the song's video?

Howorth: The video was totally weird for us. The last few years, all of our videos have mainly been helmed by Maria and this guy named Robert Kley. That collaboration started when we did the "Blood" video, and it's been great. But this time, Maria had her eye on this guy Jensen [Noen], who had done some videos with Motionless In White and Falling In Reverse that were so amazing. You see those videos and you're like, "Oh my God. That is so good." And she was like, "I think we should get this guy for this song."

A lot of technical issues had to happen. She was on the East Coast, I'm on the West Coast. The band is all split up, so she recorded a bunch of her scenes on the East Coast in the church and all this crazy, cool stuff. And then the band got together here on the West Coast at Jensen's studio and did a bunch of stuff on green screen, and he seamlessly put it all together. It was one of our favorite videos. We're totally blown away by how good it came out.

Brink: And like you said, I've been doing the videos for almost 10 years now and it was a little scary to relinquish that power, but everything he was doing was just amazing. He was fine with letting us have our own artistic direction, and we wrote the storyboard and he worked with us on it back and forth. He is just amazing. I would definitely want to do our next video with him. He's badass.

And it was really cool with all of us filming in the church. We went for two days straight and it was pretty crazy. All of it felt pretty epic and awesome. The only thing that was strange was not being with the boys when they were filming. But I actually sat with them the entire time on FaceTime and FaceTimed with them while they were doing their little parts. I FaceTimed with them trying to encourage them while they were doing their make-up and stuff, too.

Songfacts: Are there are any other interesting lyrical inspirations behind certain tracks on the new album?

Brink: Everything we write comes from our soul and my heart. I have to always be honest whenever I do any music. But it's definitely a visceral album. This album is the heaviest album we've had in a long time, and it has a lot of frustrations that built up in me over the last few years with society and things around me, and dealing with my own mental health. So there's definitely a whole journey of emotions in there.

Howorth: I think Maria said it best. The time we had off, it created this angst and this appreciation for what we do. Also, this kind of, "I want to unleash everything." This album was just a natural reaction for those feelings.

Songfacts: Going back a ways, what was the lyrical inspiration behind the track "Blood"?

Brink: "Blood" was a pretty significant moment for us in our careers. Our band had just quit on us, our manager dropped us. Our famous story is, we broke up for half an hour, and then I came back in, kicked the door in, and told Chris, "We're not done! We're not even close to done!"

We did feel like people didn't believe in us and maybe we shouldn't believe in ourselves. We really got down on ourselves for a little bit.

Then there was some sort of surge of energy that happened within us, with all these people not believing in us, that made us want to fight harder than we've ever fought in our whole lives. And [producer] Kevin Churko, who had been working with us, he still believed in us, and so did Century Media. They both wanted to still be on board. So we went and did some songs with Kevin Churko, and "Blood" was one of the songs.

Nobody was showing us any love, and everybody was treating us like the red-headed stepchild. Then we sent that demo out to everybody – just the song – and we were getting all these amazing reactions. We had people lining up to talk to us, and our whole career changed.

You can hear the struggle in that song. It's kind of self-doubt and self-love, and that kind of back-and-forth that we were feeling at that time. Kind of these voices that I think we hear in our own heads, the devil and the angel on your shoulder.

Howorth: That was a whole natural thing that came together. Like this album, it felt like we just followed the path and let all those emotions dictate what was happening.

Songfacts: And what about "Black Wedding," which features Rob Halford?

And Rob Halford is a good friend of the band. He just popped into our lives asking to come see us. He's such a great guy – he and Maria became friends – and we thought, "Let's hit him up and see if he's interested," because she was doing this "mother priest" thing lyrically.

He instantaneously said yes. He jumped on board completely energized and ready to do whatever we wanted to do. He was down for the video and everything. He's one of the coolest people we ever worked with.

Brink: We love him. It was a huge honor to work with him. He's such an amazing guy. It was always emotional and weird for me to work with writers, because like Chris said, we didn't do it quite often. We did it on our new album with Tyler Bates, but we wanted to do that. We chose that. So, when other people are trying to have us work with writers, to me, it's an uncomfortable feeling. I don't like to be told what to do or how to sing something.

But then one day I thought, You know what? I didn't write "Hurt" by Trent Reznor. And if I could meet with Trent Reznor and he could help me write a song like that, dear God, maybe I should be open a little bit to this. So, I am grateful that we did wind up doing that and writing that song because that is one of my favorites. And honestly, out of everyone we worked with, Rob is really one of our special favorites.

Songfacts: Which of your earlier songs seems most relevant today?

Brink: "The Gun Show." Because [the Sirius station] Octane plays "The Gun Show" and people love "The Gun Show."

Howorth: And I would say "Beautiful Tragedy."

Songfacts: What's an In This Moment song that doesn't get a lot of attention but means a lot to you?

Brink: "Legacy."

Howorth: Yeah, I'll back her up on that one. She had lost her grandpa, my dad had passed away, and our other guitarist Randy [Weitzel]'s father had passed away all within a few months of each other. We all came into the whole album bummed and depressed, just feeling that loss. That song literally was just born of thinking about our passed relatives.

Brink: It was in honor of them. My grandfather was my father, so it was a really emotional album for us in general. But that song was special. Chris does a solo for his dad, Randy does one for his, and the lyrics are for my grandpa. The whole thing was really emotional to us. We'll probably do that live again someday because it's special.

Songfacts: What's the most misunderstood song in the In This Moment catalog?

Brink: Definitely "Whore." When I met my partner's mother for the first time, she asked me, "What's your song 'Whore' about?" [Laughs]

It definitely can be perceived as something more on a sleazy side, or a more not-understanding-where-we're-coming-from side, but it's actually this super-empowering, sarcastic nature. It's all about women and empowerment. It's about taking something dirty and degrading and twisting it into something that empowers yourself.

Songfacts: Lastly, how did the idea come up to cover the Björk song "Army Of Me"?

Brink: I love Björk. I'm a huge Björk person. I grew up in the '90s just loving her, and I was always so inspired by her. We wanted to do a cover, and I always get tracks - they call it my "art tracks" - where I can just do this and that. And this was one of those songs that I picked where I wanted to do a cover and showed Chris three different Björk songs. This was the one that he loved the most. He liked it right off the bat.

Howorth: The main riff, when I was listening to that I was like, "That's really cool." And then once we put heavy guitar on it, it was like, "That is outside of metal, rock, techno, whatever her music is called. That is just a cool riff not matter how you slice it – on keyboard, acoustic-whatever, saxophone... it would just be a cool riff."

Brink: She's a brave icon. I love Björk. She follows no rules.

October 10, 2023

#maria brink #chris howorth #in this moment #interview

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allmusic · 3 months

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AllMusic Staff Pick: Kiss Kiss

Kiss' 1974 self-titled debut, released 50 years ago today, is one of hard rock's all-time classic studio recordings. Kiss is chock full of their best and most renowned compositions, containing elements of Rolling Stones/New York Dolls party-hearty rock & roll, Beatles tunefulness, and Sabbath/Zep heavy metal, and wisely recorded primal and raw by producers Richie Wise and Kenny Kerner (of Gladys Knight fame).

- Greg Prato

#allmusic staff picks #kiss

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yuritestikov · 3 months

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⚡️Grunge is dead - The oral history of Seattle Rock Music - Greg Prato ⚡️

#grunge #books #soundgarden #pearl jam #alice in chains #nirvana #1990s #seattle #music #rock

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acurlygirlamy1 · 2 years

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I am a person thst enjoys always having something to read. I usually have a book at work in progress. Also 1 on my bedside table in progress and yet another in my purse or Car just in case. I am currently reading "Grunge is Dead : the history of Seattle Rock Music" by Greg Prato. It's a good book but, really just an ongoing bunch of people from that scene some known, some unknown talking about different subjects. There has been alot of bashing and opinions. But, I am struck by the fact that there is nothing but, kind, emotional, lovely opinions and stories about Lane Staley.

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fabdante · 10 months

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Nine Person Tag

Tagged by @ghouligan-ghost, thanks you for tagging me!!

Last song: Flower Dance by DJ Okawari

Last movie: Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse

Currently watching: House? (There's a lot of episodes and I'm very bored and want background noise) oh also What We Do in the Shadows

Currently Reading: Grunge is Dead by Greg Prato

Currently craving: Uuuuh job that is tolerable

Last thing I searched for writing: What color Amani Trolls blood is (look some wow races don't have red blood I always need to double check)

Three ships: Verat (Vergil and Kat), The Ever Given, Zutara

Tagging:

@derkem again, also anyone else who wants to do this!!

#fab talks #fabtalks #i can't remember if there's a space dfghjkl also sorry idk who to tag i get nervous sdfghjk #but also i cannot explain why i am rewatching house i think its the childhood nostalgia also idk why my parents let me watch house

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metaladdicts · 10 months

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MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE Says He Hasn't Heard METALLICA's New Album, 'But I'm Sure It's Great'

In a recent interview with Greg Prato from Consequence, MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine shared insights about his present relationship with his ex-band members from METALLICA. “It took a while for James [Hetfield] and Lars [Ulrich] and I to kind of come around and become friends again,” he responded. “But I would say we’re probably better off now than we’ve been for a long time. And it comes and…

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#dave mustaine #megadeth #metallica

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foldback · 1 year

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Blind Melon - "St. Andrew's Fall"

I finished a book yesterday, so today I started Shannon by Greg Prato, which a friend let me borrow, like, months ago. So I got to the part about their 2 Meter Sessies section, which caught them between their debut album and Soup, and, man. They were just so goddamn good. Too good for the shitty, cynical rock press of the time to understand. They half listened to this and thought, "these guys are done." They had so far to go, and they were so much farther along than most could appreciate.

#blind melon #st. andrew's fall #soup #shannon hoon #2 meter sessies #music

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gravedadcerofilmsmx · 1 year

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leviabeat · 2 years

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Michael Poulsen of Volbeat

by Greg Prato || Songfacts || May 11, 2016

In our interview with Volbeat lead singer Michael Poulsen, he explained that "The Bliss" was inspired by the time when he first met his girlfriend. "Sometimes, you meet people where you are somehow attached to them or drawn to them, and you don't know why," he said. "You're looking for answers. Sometimes, you feel you've seen them before or met them before. Other times, it goes deeper than that - you can't really explain why you're drawn to them or why they speak to you without saying anything. I was pretty much going through those emotions, to figure out who she was."

#jeanet poulsen #volbeat #michael poulsen #songfacts #volbeat interview #the bliss #seal the deal & lets boogie #for evigt

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krispyweiss · 3 years

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Book Review: “BONZO: 30 Rock Drummers Remember the Legendary John Bonham” by Greg Prato

It’s been 40 years since “Bonzo,” the mighty John Bonham, backbone of the mightier Led Zeppelin, died in 1980 after choking on his own vomit.

He was just 32 years old.

Gone. But not forgotten. And widely revered as one of rock’s greatest drummers, Bonham is remembered by a score plus 10 of his contemporaries and acolytes in music journalist Greg Prato’s “BONZO: 30 Rock Drummers Remember the Legendary John Bonham.”

Thirty drummers may have been too many as Prato runs out of unique questions and repeats himself often, making the final third feel like a rehash of what came before. Still, there’s something satisfying in hearing famous musicians speaking as fans.

Prato wisely allows the drummers to talk about the drummer and his drumming, asking simple, concise questions and geting out of the way. He then lays out his conversations with journeyman Kenny Arnoff, Quiet Riot’s Frankie Banali, Gregg Bissonette (Ringo Starr), Grand Funk’s Don Brewer, Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel), the Black Crowes’ Steve Gorman, Marky Ramone and others in Q&A style over 275 pages.

Although “BONZO” is a book about drumming as told by drummers, the interview subjects don’t speak in any kind of secret language, making it comprehensible to anyone.

While the subjects universally agreed Bonham is among the best of the best, other names - Starr, Carmine Appice, Neil Peart, Mitch Mitchell, Phil Collins, et al. - pop up with surprising regularity in interviews that took place after Peart’s death in January and before Banali’s in August 2020.

The book puts an end to the apocryphal stories of Bonham playing with inordinately large sticks or whacking the drums with extraordinary force, instead explaining his big sound is attributable mostly to Bonham’s tuning, expert mic’ing, Jimmy Page’s sage production and the fact he was in Led Zeppelin.

“Bonham is to rock ‘n’ roll what Buddy Rich was to jazz,” Arnoff says. “There’s only one human being like that - and so different and so unique.”

Grade card: “BONZO: 30 Rock Drummers Remember the Legendary John Bonham” by Greg Prato - B

11/16/20

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