Quotes from Mark Lanegan

I was listening to punk rock in the '70s as a young kid, but all by myself; I never met anyone that listened to that kind of music. Just by chance, I was in detention, and one of the guys in the class was Van Conner... I started talking to him and found out that we listened to some of the same music.

I was in Screaming Trees - I wasn't really interested in playing quiet music in a live setting. But I would get asked quite often to do a show or open for somebody, and I always said no. Finally, I was asked if I would open for Johnny Cash, and Johnny Cash was one of my dad's favorite heroes. So that's why I started doing solo shows.

The Trees was four complete nuts. We didn't have a damn thing in common except insanity. So we fought a lot. And we had two brothers - who fought like brothers.

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 didn't always enjoy playing music with the Trees.

Hanging out with the Trees is like hanging out with your family, and I hardly ever see my family.

Anything lower than mid-six figures is not going to get me interested in that. And honestly, I just don't want to.

It's hard not to respect Kobe Bryant's game: He's one of the all-time greats.

Me and Kurt Cobain were both listening to a bunch of Lead Belly and diggin' it. We thought, 'Let's do an EP of all Lead Belly songs.' We did a couple, and both of us were like, 'Nah, this is a bad concept.' We set it aside.

Yeah, well, I guess Andy Williams would be considered by some to be schmaltzy, but to me, he's one of the greatest singers of all time. Just absolutely amazing. And if anyone doesn't believe me, just YouTube him. He's just one of a kind.

Talking about myself is difficult for me. It's anti my true nature.

You're charging money to have people come watch you play; I want them to feel taken someplace good or provoked into thinking my way for an hour and a half or two hours.

Even when I'm making my own solo records, I'm collaborating with people. It keeps things interesting for me.

Doing something that's physical but not necessarily mentally taxing - for me, it frees me up creatively.

I'm trying to learn how to read. I have a tutor out on the road. It is great.

I try and treat songwriting as something that I have to practise every day.

Soundgarden are good friends of mine.

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.

I prefer to stay in the here and now and move forward.

I'm about creating a body of work and moving on to the next thing.

Everybody has unhappiness.

I used to throw a lot of stuff against the wall, just to see what ended up sticking; now I'm pretty much using everything that I create for a record.

I've learned that sticking around counts for something.

It took me quite a while to find my natural voice. I'm glad I stuck around long enough to see that happen.