Saturday Clubs

 

At the end of this short series, I must mention a club where I experienced some of my most memorable concerts. The Wagenburg Tunnel connects two districts in the north of Stuttgart. In 1985, a club called “Die Röhre” (The Tube) opened in a side arm of the tunnel. It was a long tube with a large bar on the left-hand side. Initially, it was used almost exclusively for parties at the weekend and occasional concerts. It was not until the late 1980s that concerts began to be held there regularly.

A defining experience was a double concert in 1989, when Spacemen 3 and The Wedding Present performed. The latter impressed with their indie guitar sound, but were able to keep up with the psychedelic-tinged guitar feedback, as a bootleg shows.

Frank Tewald · Spacemen 3 - Stuttgart, Röhre, 14.05.1989

This club has always been a good venue for indie bands and new independent bands, even if they haven't always been to my taste. I still remember many gigs by bands I had never heard of before and who later went on to have great careers. One example would be Rammstein, who were still unknown at the time but already used massive guitars and pyrotechnics back then. In a sentimental retrospective, I think back to concerts by Meat Puppets, fIREHOSE, The Mekons, Chumbawumba and Mark Lanegan. Unfortunately, the club had to close its doors 10 years ago as part of the massive renovation of Stuttgart Central Station.

Chris

 

Yesterday was the funeral of my friend of many years. The funeral service was fitting for his life and we friends gathered afterwards for a final toast to him. Nocturne by Mark Lanegan was the last song he requested for his funeral.

Rest in peace, Chris

A Friend's Recommendation

 

A few days ago I visited a long-time friend who plays bass in a local band in his rehearsal room. On the whole, I can't do much with their music, which is a mixture of speed-metal, noise rock and post punk, but I like their sound and enthusiasm live. 

A few years ago, I asked him which album from this genre he could recommend to me so that I could immerse myself more deeply in this type of music. He then recommended Dances Curses by Hey Colossus.  

Hey Colossus is an English rock band and active since more than 20 years. They are known for noise rock, to which they add elements of krautrock, psychedelic rock and post-punk. On Dances Curses they often play with three guitars, creating a solid foundation for their musical experiments. As a whole, the double album is bulky and not light fare. But individual tracks stand out, such as Donkey Jaw, on which they move along the post-punk road, or on The Mirror, to which Mark Lanegan breathes new life into the blues with his spoken words.

Hey Colossus - The Mirror

Hey Colossus - Tied In A Firing Line

Hey Colossus - Donkey Jaw

Gargoyle

 

During the last days I often listened to releases by Heavenly Recordings a London based record label that released records since more than 30 years. I  wasn't aware that Mark Lanegan released his fantastic record Gargolye back in 2017 on this label. Mark passed by 15 month ago - too early. This record is his legacy to me because it showed every facet of his musical education. His could sing song that had a shape of Sister Of Mercy, Queens Of The Stone Age and Iggy Pop as well. It is always a pleasure to come back to this little masterpiece.

Gargoyle

 

These days I recalled that Mark Lanegan died almost a year ago. Much too early of course because he ever made a records he refined with his incomparable voice. So I spent an evening with his output from the last decades and finally I came to the result that his legacy should be Gargoyle from 2017. He celebrated for me the last time all his influences, if it was grunge, blues-rock, stoner sound or just heavy ballads, he made an album that stood the test of time for me. And he had a voice that I really miss in rock music.

Mark Lanegan Band - Old Swan

Mark Lanegan Band - Nocturne

Foolious Cesar

The late grunge shaman Mark Lanegan would have liked King Hannah's dark and world-weary gothic Americana music. Hannah Merrick, the songwriter of Liverpool's King Hannah reminds me of Hope Sandoval the voice of Mazzy Star a band that was featured almost 20 years ago for their introspective reduced blues sound. Hannah is the one who brings back the slow and reduced sound to nowadays music. It is of course not new or groundbreaking but a kind of music you can listen to and drift away. 

Foolish Caesar could a have been appeared on any album by Bristol trip-hop album decades ago. A Well-Made Woman is one of those dark-noir blues songs a lot of band would die for. Their new album I Am Not Sorry, I Just Being Me is a dark beauty and one of those releases that can stand the time and probably will appear in several year's end list.

Mark Lanegan RIP

 

Sad news arrived two days ago that Mark Lanegan passed away too soon. Mark was a forming member of Screaming Trees, a band that stamped grunge in the early 90's. Unfortunately they didn't got the success like Nirvana or Soundgarden but for me they were one of those bands in these days that made the difference to many others in this genre. In 1990 he quit the job with Screaming Trees to release a solo album. The Winding Sheet, his first solo album showed him turning away from grunge and moving into a blues-rock based sound where his baritone made simple songs beauty. 

Later he was a long time member of The Queens Of The Stone Age, a band that discovered adrenaline based rock music for young people and created a sound filed under stoner rock. Songs For The Deaf was one of those albums at the begin of the century that many people could commit. And Mark's powerful voice was the trademark of their sound beside heavy guitars. 

After 12 years with the band and many problems with drugs and alcohol he released steady solo albums. None of them was bad but Gargoyle from 2017 was outstanding because it showed his musical spectrum form terrific ballads to Andrew-Eldrich-bombast to New Order inspired sound.

I am glad that I could see him live four years ago and he was in a good shape. The more I was shocked that I heard that he suffered a long time by an infection of Covid 19. We lost a steady basement in music.

Rest easy Mark

            

The Heart Of It All

A few months ago Isobel Campbell returned with a new album after a hiatus of a decade. The main reason she appeared only for a collaboration with Mark Lanegan was that her record company busted and she had to enforce the rights of her own songs. Campbell may have start with new songs but she decided to release her old songs on a new label. And it was a very good decision because otherwise we didn't got the chance to listen to some of the most beautiful songs that was released this year. On this songs the magic of the early Belle and Sebastian appears once again. Of course it is just folk music with a touch of Americana and sometimes with a touch of psychedelic sounds but I simply love her voice and this is enough.

This Year's Records 7/18

Mark Lanegan celebrates together with Duke Garwood on With Animals the return of the blues. Most song played in a reduced tempo and all songs live from the intensive voice of Mark. An album made for the hours before midnight and I think only Nick Cave could do an album like this.

Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood - Save Me
Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood - Spaceman
Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood - One Way Glass

Replacing The Blues

The older Mark Lanegan gets the more  he releases great albums. Most of us know him from the voice of many bands but now it seems that  he is drifting into blues schemas. His new collaboration with London-based multi instrumentalist Duke Garwood is a trip into dark blues. Mostly slowed down songs with ambitious sound. Lanegan's voice fits very well to the music Garwood is able to play. One more song that makes me want to listen to his upcoming album and a good start into the weekend.

Save Me

Mark Lanegan announced a new album for August. It will be another collaboration with Duke Garwood who also played on Mark's superb album Gargoyle. The first single was out these days and it makes me want to listen more of this reduced guitar based sound. It has a dark mood and I can see walking him over the graveyard round midnight howling his songs.

Nocturne

A few days ago the ticket for Mark Lanegan's concert in Stuttgart arrived. My area is sadly a desert for good live music and can't be compared to Cologne or Hamburg. All the great (new) bands mostly don't stop here. As far as I know one of the reasons is that the government requests a lot of taxes for concerts. Anyway I am glad that Mark Lanegan will appear in four weeks because his latest record Gargoyle is one of his best. I know him since his early days with Screaming Trees and later with Queens Of The Stone Age and liked his way of singing. His baritone is unbelievable and expressive. I think only Lee Hazlewood and Leonard Cohen are more punchy. The more I listen to Gargoyle the more I think that this is one of the best records this year - so far.

Drove Up From Pedro

Yesterday I had to take part in a rating workshop with colleges from other institutes. It took place in an academy close to Stuttgart airport. Taking the public transportations it will take me hours to get to and from there. So I decided to take the car. And for the fact that I don't listen to the radio I grabbed me a couple of CD's without selecting. One of them was the 1995 album by Mike Watt 'Ball-Hog Or Tugboat?'. For those who don't know the co-founder of Minutemen and Firehose can get more informations here.

I really forgot how great this record was. It was the perfect further development from the sound of Minutemen. It was his first regular solo album and he collaborated on it with Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, J. Masics, Even Dando, Henry Rollins, Mark Lanegan and many other well known musicians from the American independent scene. That might be the reason why this record was more successful than his others. By chancing the personal on every track make the album so different. And Mike Watt shows that he is a fantastic bass player.

The only thing I don't understand is the meaning of the title of this record. I know that ball-hog is a perfect throw in American Football and tugboat is a nickname of a famous wrestler. But I don't understand what it means in combination with wrestling.

Mike Watt - Drove up from Pedro
Mike Watt - Against the 70's