Mark Lanegan Visits BIMM Manchester

If you want to hear the thoughts of a man who’s done it all in the rock business, you should speak to Mark Lanegan.

Mark is one of rock’s true pioneers, forming Screaming Trees and helping to invent, popularise and evolve the Grunge sound of the early 90s. Screaming Trees’ powerful rock songs were a huge success, and influenced Kurt Cobain, who later collaborated with Mark.

He then joined another groundbreaking rock band, Queens Of The Stone Age in 2000, singing, playing and co-writing on some of their most iconic albums, including “Rated R” (2000), “Songs for the Deaf” (2002), and “Lullabies to Paralyze” (2005).

Mark’s also found time to release three highly-rated albums with Isobel Campbell of Belle and Sebastian, and he has performed as a solo artist for many years.

Currently on the road to support his ninth and newest LP, “Phantom Radio”, Mark dropped into BIMM Manchester to host a Masterclass and to share his incredible experiences!

He talked about his career and answered students’ questions, and revealed some interesting sides to him that we never knew.

Mark revealed that he’s an avid comic reader, that he used to travel over 150 miles to see bands when he was young, and that he loves covering songs from “crooners” like Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams and Perry Como.

He told us about how he loved working with Nick Cave; and also his strong relationship with Josh Homme — and how they both recovered from their most disastrous gig ever (they got tattoos to ‘celebrate’)!

Mark stayed to sign memorabilia for the students who attended the masterclass; then met another fifty students who weren’t able to attend the masterclass, chatting to them and signing autographs for them too.

Finally, as he left, he became the first BIMM Manchester masterclass guest to sign our visitors’ wall, giving us with a permanent reminder of a brilliant guest!