Mark Lanegan Explains His Classic Transformation for ‘Imitations’

Sacado de // From: http://portalternativo.com and http://exclaim.ca

La próxima semana se publicará “Imitations”, el álbum de covers de Mark Lanegan, que supone otro disco de la extensa lista de álbumes que el vocalista ha ido publicando desde que dejara atrás los excesos.

Me he ido sintiendo más cómodo como ser humano en general. Supongo que eso llevó a una comodidad en todos esos otros aspectos de mi vida, cantando siendo uno de ellos. No es ni de lejos tan difícil como era cuando empecé. Recuerdo los primeros conciertos de Screaming Trees en los 80, cuando dejaba el escenario con un martilleante dolor de cabeza de intentar cantar fuera de mi rango. Me llevó mucho tiempo aprender a cantar de un modo natural pero, afortunadamente, llevo ya aquí bastante tiempo.

Precisamente, aquellos inicios de carrera con Screaming Trees, y todas esas preguntas relacionadas con la escena ‘grunge’ aburren al músico, confiesa a Exclaim!.

Para ser sincero, cuando hago entrevistas con la prensa norteamericana, normalmente hay muchas preguntas sobre la música ‘grunge’, Nirvana – “¿Qué te parece la reedición de Nirvana– y esa clase de mierda. Así que, no es muy divertido hablar de eso una y otra vez. Eso no pasa en Europa. Creo que mucha gente que escucha mi música por ahí no esté al corriente de Screaming Trees. De hecho, sé que eso es verdad. No es que me avergüence de ello pero es como hablar de aquel año de la guardería una y otra vez. Fue un aprendizaje y eso es todo.

IN ENGLISH

It may be to hard to fathom one of the grunge scene’s true survivors pulling out songs commonly found in most grandparents’ record collections, but the former Screaming Trees frontman’s great skill has always been finding soul in whatever he is singing. Since turning his life around after years of drug abuse, Lanegan’s voice has gracefully matured without losing any of its edge.

«I’ve been feeling more comfortable as a human being in general,» he says. «I guess that would lead to comfort in all of these other aspect of my life, singing being one of them. It’s not nearly as hard as it was when I started. 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. It took a long time to really learn how to sing in a natural way, but I’ve been there for quite a while now, luckily.

Lanegan will be touring in support of Imitations with a stripped-down acoustic band, including strings, but after only a handful of dates in major U.S. cities starting in October, he’ll be spending most of the remainder of the year in Europe, where he can escape the grunge tag that follows him on this side of the Atlantic.

«To be honest, when I do interviews with North American press, it’s usually a lot of questions about grunge music, Nirvana — ‘How do you feel about the new Nirvana reissue?’ — that kind of shit. So, you know, it’s not much fun to discuss that stuff over and over again. That doesn’t happen in Europe. I think a lot of people that listen to my music over there might not even be aware of the Screaming Trees. In fact, I know that’s true. It’s not like I’m ashamed of it, but it’s like talking about that year of kindergarten over and over again. It was a learning experience, and that’s about it.»