Gary Lee Conner | Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan, and Beyond - Bee Sound Podcast #02
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- In this episode I had the privilege of speaking with one of my guitar heroes Gary Lee Conner, a founding member of the Screaming Trees. Along with Gary's brother Van Conner on bass, Mark Pickerel behind the drums, and Mark Lanegan with his classic vocals The Screaming Trees went on to find Major label success with their single "Nearly Lost You" in the early 1990's. In this episode we discuss classic Screaming Trees, from their humble beginnings to their years on SST Records, and onto Sony. We discuss things like how he came to work with Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Layne Staley of Alice in Chains as well as how Mark Lanegan may have lost the master tapes to The Screaming Trees earlier works.
We also discuss Gary's latest solo releases which you can check out here: garyleeconner....
Also Gary Lee Conner has a fantastic RUclips page with modern performances as was as a treasure trove of unreleased Screaming Trees tracks which you can look for here: / microdotgnome
Gary Lee Conner is an American musician who was the lead guitarist of alternative rock act Screaming Trees. His brother Van Conner was the band’s bassist. Conner began his career with Screaming Trees in 1985, and played with them until their disbanding in 2000. During that time he released non-Trees music: The Purple Outside-Mystery Lane (1990 New Alliance Records), with brother Patrick Conner on drums, and the single “Grasshopper’s Daydream/Behind The Smile” (1999 Sub Pop), featuring Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age.
Conner played on Beat Happening's "Indian Summer" and "Midnight a Go-Go," from Jamboree. He also contributed to "Against the 70s," from Mike Watt's Ball-Hog or Tugboat? (1995 Columbia Records).
After ten years of seclusion, Conner released an album from his band Microdot Gnome. 4D Sugarcubes was released on Moonbus International Recordings in April 2010. He is planning future releases from the band. In August 2016, Conner released a solo album, Ether Trippers, on Strange Earth Records.
#ScreamingTrees #MarkLanegan #GaryLeeConner #BeeSoundPodcast
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now can you do his brother van and mark?
@Suicide headaches would love to and working on it.
Mark Lanegan died 3 months ago, sorry. It wasn't a drug overdose. When he died it says he was battling Covid 19 and kidney disease.
Dan you wouldn't also happen to have a big collection of rare Trees stuff as well would you? Thanks.
@@joylane2960 I have a decent Trees collection and have what I think is everything they released on CD but nothing more rare than that.
There simply was no making Mark happy. He had a grudge against the world and everything in it from the get-go. From the tone of his book, he pegged Gary as some mama's boy weirdo basement dweller, when in reality Gary's songwriting was Marks "ticket out" of the small town he so hated. Trees were a great band - the best thing that came out of the Seattle scene in the early-mid 90's, IMHO and Gary seems like a cool, approachable guy in this interview. I'd love to hear some new stuff he's been working on.
I came here after reading Lanegan‘s biography because I wanted to know what this guy was like. It was a very pleasant surprise! He seems very sweet and talkative, totally unlike he is described in the book (which I‘m sure wasn‘t Lanegan lying about but simply another side of Conner). My favourite part is the one where Lee says that it was an honour for him having one of his favourite singers sing all those songs he wrote. That moment felt so genuine and respectful.
In Lanegans final book he mentioned how hard he was on Lee and regrets the way he came across in the book.
Absolutely. I thought he would be a jerk for sure! I’m sure Mark needed to get some stuff off his chest before he could have some real perspective
Lee was also in his early 20 while Mark was older. I believe Mark mentions the age gap, and obvious drug use, that caused issues.
Yeah that book was heavy. Dealing with a full on junky would of been horrible for everyone.
@@hangingon I think you got the brothers confused. Gary was born in 1962, while Mark was born in 1964. Van Conner was born in 1967 tho
Van Conner passed away recently, R.I.P. It's sad so many musicians of the Seattle scene are no longer with us thinking it wasn't that too long ago. It kinda makes you miss that time of your life all the more.
Oh man, I'm really sorry to hear that.
I grew up in Ellensburg and went to school with Lee, Van and Mark so I know first hand how wonderful the Conner family are. Mark had his issues and demons which made it hard on all of the other band members and crew. Don't get me wrong Mark was always sweet to me but I'd hear all the tour stories both good and bad from my then boyfriend of 16 years who was the Trees light man and his brother that was their sound man.
To read Marks book broke my heart. The Conner brothers made a lot of sacrifices for the band in the name of thier music. They truly didn't deserve the negativity thrown at them or about them in the book.
Thank you for sharing your story here. It means a lot. Just with my limited time speaking with Lee and a little with Van online I would agree with you here.
Liz I would love to ask you a few things being I have always been a huge Trees/Conner/Lanegan fan. Going on many decades...> But your connection to the Doaks of course, that is what is unique. I did tape trading with Trees stuff years ago and connected with someone who I believe may have also been connected with the Doaks. They gave me some really rare unreleased Trees recordings that nobody else has I can assure you. Since they were on tapes I just put them away because you know how tapes will get ruined with usage over time. Then there's the issue with what Rod Doak did with pirated Trees unreleased rare material and peddling it online and pocketing people's money (including mine). I'm about as close to this band as possible too without being from Washington state. But I connected with everyone from this amazing band (through friends of family or themselves) years ago in some good/some bad ways :P ...> I would love to talk to you some more though.
They paid the price for having that classic whiskey-voice as their lead singer.
Gary’s the cool Art Teacher who gave everyone A’s and let you go outside and smoke.
Lol gotta like that.
It's great that he stayed a fan of Mark's solo work. Classy. Nice interview.
Glad you enjoyed it
The Connor brothers are the most underrated musicians of the 90’s. Pure talent.
I love this man, I could listen to him speak all day. Legend!
Nice to see Dan Bee is knowledgable and doing the homework on Gary Lee's work. Definitely a cool and informative interview.
Didn't even have to do much homework. l've loved and been following Gary's work for years. Glad you got some good value out of it too!
Grew up with Lee in Eburg. His dad was my elementary school principal. Lee was always a quiet person. But apparently after school hours his real life existed. He should be proud to be one of very very few to get out and succeed at his craft. Jeff Wippel says hello. You look the same minus side burns. I enjoy listening to guys and keep going Lee!
Very cool story. Appreciate you sharing it here with us fans.
Lori do you have any other things to share in your connection with Lee or the conner family? Present or past or both :)?
Lee is a cool dude. I have always been a fan of his guitar playing and his energy on stage. Glad he is still happily married and doing fine. Keep rocking Lee!!!
Good to see Lee content with his career. They got to tour the world and obviously they made amazing albums. I enjoy watching RUclips shows of the Trees rocking. They were a good band and live they sounded great. RIP Mark and Van.
Totally with you here. Thanks for watching
I stumbled across this not being a big ST fan (only knew the popular stuff) but happened to read Lanegan’s book - by way of being a huge Layne Staley & AIC fan. I must say the picture Mark painted is nothing like who is in this interview….and kuddos to Conner for being a class act when mentioning Mark. This has definitely sparked my interest into listening to more of the music he has been producing. Thanks for a great interview!
Right? Mark kind of painted Gary as a grumpy curmudgeon in the book but he was nothing but open and friendly with me here. The screaming trees have a vast and awesome catalog. Best to you on your journey with their music!
@@DanBee During the very bad heroin tour of Dust, he only praised Homme and didn't have good things to say about the rest of the band. Not sure why, they were insanely good. It's pretty amazing the band put up with so much and that Lanegan didn't die back then. And he had plenty of chances to do so.
@@davidleewrath6919 exactly. At what point did mark think he was a pleasure to work with at any point during that era 😂
@@ladygodiva4141 Right. He even had Homme with him when he was trying to score some heroin, and the dealers thought Homme was an undercover cop, and things got very nasty.
@@ladygodiva4141 Not to mention he'd have been dead or imprisoned way before stardom, but the Conner family gave him a job. He should be a little more thankful and less of an asshole.
He seems to be a really nice dude. Nothing like Mark described him in his book.
But... I am surprised that people in the comment section are bitching about him and his book tho?
It's like people completely forget how harsh lanegan goes on himself.
And it's safe to say that both Mark and Lee have changed and mature over the years.
It seems like when it comes down to it most people are way different in person than any story could make them out to be. These stories we come up with in our heads get embellished and evolve over time. I’m sure Mark is no different.
Agree with your last two sentences. Glad they let bygones be bygones.
his room is just like mark describes it lol
You read my mind
Hahaha. I was thinking the same thing. I've listened to Mark's memoir probably over 15 times in it's entirety and I can almost memorize it by heart. It's a fantastic book. The audiobook is especially awesome cause Mark's voice really adds a lot to it.
Ha Haa yeah it is
Yep. First thing I thought.
Thought so here too. Which I loved to see. It’s great Lee knows what he loves and surrounds himself with it.
Gary Lee is a genius legend. He deserves more plaudits.
Agreed
the trees made believe rock could be good again. i was a metal head in the 80's. when i heard a friend play the sweet oblivion album after it came out, i picked up a guitar and learned how to play just so i could cover their songs, they instantly resonated with me.
Before we started recording I was telling Gary I learned to play guitar to nevermind and Sweet Oblivion using tab books. He said that was cool and that he doesn’t know how to read tab.
I’ve listened to Marks and Barrett Martins biographies and it’s interesting to hear them talk about their relationships with Lee. Mark sounds like he couldn’t stand Lee, but Barrett describes him as a nice guy, amazing song writer, and an essential part of the Screaming Trees. After watching this interview I have to say I think Barrett’s point of view is more of an accurate portrayal.
Gosh, The Screaming Trees are absolute 90s legends in my mind. Mark's book kind off took some of the sine off them for me, he came across as a real prick. Gary Lee seems like a sweet, humble guy who just happens to be a rock icon.
Agreed 100%
Same. As if he would of been a pleasure to work with either. It came off as a bit of a nasty hit piece and before I read it I was indifferent to both of them.
Dan, you did a great job with this interview. You knew all the right questions to ask and you also knew when to show restraint and let Gary Lee talk without interrupting him. Great job.
Thanks. It was such a great opportunity as a fan of Gary and the trees. I figure these are things I want to hear so no need to interrupt.
This guy acted like Pete Townshend on stage. Doing high jumps and Windmills ! Which was unreal because he’s a pretty big dude! He moved well for big guy! Townshend is tall and thin so for him it was relatively easy.
He seems like an intelligent and decent guy. Which is contrary to what I heard. Mark Lanegan didn’t get along with anyone in the band. I heard they hated each other and were arguing constantly. That is not a recipe for success. So they broke up fast. Lanegan had serious drug and alcohol issues. So he went solo.
Good interview!
Thanks!
You are ROCK HISTORY BRO !!!
He totally is!
Gary's great and super comfortable from the start. Great job.
He was really warm and fun to speak with. Hope to do it again someday.
I truly like the way that he promotes his label at the beginning of this video he is very humble about it
Agreed
Fantastic interview. The Screaming Trees/Das Damen/Superchunk at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit 1991 were basically my first concert past Detroit Symphony Orchestra performances in my teen years. The Trees did an in-store appearance at the time of their 1991 concert at Neptune Records in Royal Oak, MI. I still have my (blue vinyl) LP of Buzz Factory signed by Van, Lee Conner and Mark Lanegan from then. Thanks for this interview.
Loved this little glimpse into the personality of the mystery man that drove the Screaming Trees into the wider world. My favorite scene in Mark's book was the surprise reversal of Gary letting Lanegan take more of the wheel. That (non-venomous) scene rang particularly true.
Yeah that was a cool part. I always felt the leap they took as artists was huge on that album and maybe it was because Wyeth all tried to make the best album together rather than separate.
Killer interview! I have always admired how respectful Gary is about Mark. Class act! 😎
Thank you and agree with you 100%!
@@DanBee Definitely - and having just read Mark's book, Gary has nothing to worry about. Mark is way harsher on himself, and his comments on his band mates just confirm what I'd always thought, ie Screaming Trees WAS Gary Lee Conner, and his over the top stage moves were totally bitchin! I'm not kidding, what are we supposed to do? Watch Lanegan shake his orange head from side to side? If not for the tour de force of the Conner bros, you'd probably end up watching the drummer.
Great interview! Being a big ST fan since late 90s this is one the best (probably the best!) interviews I've ever seen with one of these guys! I just discovered Gary's solo albums and we can easily notice how great and important he was to the Trees epic sound! Thanks for sharing this, man! Cheers!
Wow what a great compliment thank you. It was really an honor to speak with him. Agreed with you about how integral he was to the trees sound. Thanks for watching!
Absolutely incredible. One of thee best interviews I have ever seen. If I were to describe the sheer, and downright chilling impact the Trees had on me back in the day I would ruin the comment section with about 100 paragraphs. Damn good job, Dan Bee, thanks!
Thank you so much for your kind words! Honestly feel the same as you do about the trees and would like to hear more should you ever feel like sharing.
Really enjoyed this interview, especially after Lanegans book. Well done Dan
i love your songs the Screaming trees are my favorite your guitar playing and Marks voice it dont get any better
Great interview. It's nice to get an impression of Lee's character and better imagine how that might work with Lanegan's. He seems like a good dude. It really gives another angle to Mark's book and how we might interpret their relationship. Dust is a terrific album.
Damn right about Dust! I've learned junkies are not the most reliable narrators, even in retrospect. Lanegan's cartoonish representation of the Conners was entertaining, but I somehow knew to reserve judgement. Gary sounds a little Aspergery to me and Lanegan--himself a piece of work--clearly never understood how to deal with it. Particularly weird was how Mark refused to cut his bandmates any slack even though he required miles of rope to tolerate.
Right? It’s great to hear all the sides of the story you can. Helps paint a much more complete picture.
That was a great interview, the guy was willing to talk, so it ended up being very comfortable.
Yes. He was a fantastic person to talk with. Hope to do it again someday.
Really enjoyed this interview! Gary is so chill. Gotta love any interview when the interviewer is so clearly a fan. Good stuff!
Yes, big fan here. Glad you enjoyed it too!
I really enjoyed the interview. I’ve listened to Mark’s book maybe a year or so ago and it really made me appreciate Gary Lee, I never really knew he pretty much wrote all of their songs. I subscribed to his channel afterwards and I enjoy his videos, he’s extremely talented and a really nice guy.
Glad to hear you subbed to his channel. Geeky much worth it if you enjoy any of them music he has been a part of over the years.
Loved this interview. Very cool to hear Lee's perspective on some Trees stories, especially having read Mark Lanegan's and Barrett Martin's books. I grew up in the Tree's hometown of Ellensburg and always looked up to those guys.
Great, love his candor to help fill in what was going on in that period. Really interesting.
Agreed! Thanks for watching!
Great interview, but as a guitar player, I would’ve liked to hear about Gary’s gear. There’s next to nothing online about what he used for guitars, amps, and pedals. Just interesting to me because he had a great sound that was so underrated. RIP Mark
You know prior to recording the interview we did talk a little about guitars and gear. I meant to bring it back up once we started and simply forgot. My bad.
@@DanBee that’s ok man, you covered a lot with him. I know for guitars he liked Firebird’s and Les Paul’s, but could you shed some light on anything else?
Great, great guitar player, very underrated from that scene. He looks like a young Leslie West Nowadays.
Agreed! Love his playing.
Agreed.
Great to see you are still rocking out! You look great brother 🎼❤️🎼 Thank you for all the great music
Agreed!
Thanks for doing this interview. I really enjoyed it.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Having read Lanegans book, which I must say was written excellently, it is only one side of the story. The side of one person who was a notorious heroin, crack and alcohol abuser. His character is hardly that of anyone I would ever trust in real life but an interesting person none the less. So it's refreshing to actually hear an interview from someone In the Trees for a different take on things and on the surface here seems pretty chill
Agreed. There are sides to every story and the best way to really get a decent understanding is to hear as many of them as possible. Glad you enjoyed the interview.
Yea no kidding. Agreed
Lanegan is a notorious liar. A man who's even taken money to lie for other people publicly. Liars often make good writers. To me, he does a decent second hand Bukowski style but ultimately, what excerpts I've heard ring of exaggeration to outright lies.
@@AnodyneHipsterInfluencer I never got why he talked so negative about Gary Lee. From the interveiw it seems that Gary is a super cool dude. When I watched this vid I was expecting a introverted curmudgeon.
It almost seems like when lanegan was describing gary, he was actually just describing himself.
@@bullfrog7375 because once a junkie always a junkie. lanegans full of it
Uncle Anesthesia on cassette was my jam in my last two years of high school.
What a treat of an interview. Like you guys said, these touchstones are important to preserve for rock history. Such great questions!
The whole pre Epic Trees back catalog needs to be reissued ASAP.. in particular’Buzz Factory’.. great video btw.. nice to hear a different take on the Screaming Trees career.
Would love to see this too! Glad you enjoyed the interview!
Buzz Factory is a fantastic album
Real dude right here. Respect from Australia mate
The trees are one of my favs. They just rock. I did concert security at that paramount show he was talking about. They rocked it. Then saw them again at emp. Another good show. They were great live. Im glad i saw them live. They just rock i always play em in a bar.
Cool story. Appreciate you sharing it with us.
First , thank you for this amazing interview.
I hope we get to hear some unreleased stuff.
Rest Easy , Mark
some unreleased stuff is already on Gary's youtube channel
@@kalkstein2694 thank you
Definitely go check out Gary Lee’s channel. So many gems over there.
Thanks for letting them know about it.
Dust was such a great classic rock record. Lee is such a great talent and I wish the trees would reunite. I saw you guys at the off ramp on the dust tour. I always loved the trees. They were like the doors.
Yes! I hear the doors in there too! Thanks for dropping by and saying hello.
@@DanBee doors but original they could have happened in 1969 thru 70 and fit right in there
@@DanBee good score BTW getting GLC. He seems si cool and damn he was a great songwriter. I'm a big Lanegan fan but to hear him badmouth the band the bros etc really bummed me out
I’m with you here.
I miss that impossible reunion ,Gary was so close to that Farewell forever Creaming Trees
Would have been great to see a reunion one day. I feel you here.
Keep kicking out the jams, Garry. Great interview, Dan. Cheers bros!
this is awesome.. wish i could have chatted with him when i lived in tx for 20 years..
It was a really pleasant discussion. If you get the chance go for it.
Good interview, thank you
Thank you. Glad you found value in it. 😊
Gary has a really rich voice, man could be a radio show host.
You know he really does!
Thought the same. Mark painted him as some sort of moron. He’s very well spoken and articulate.
He seems like quite a chill dude. Feel bad he comes off so bad in Lanegan's book. Although tbf nobody comes off worse in that book than Lanegan himself.
True. Lanegan goes harsh on many people. But not as hard as on himself
What does Lanegan say about him in his book?
@@MedievalRichard well not so nice things lol. He actually insults him quite often and that he was lazy. And being lazy is rather nice compared to the other things.
@@MedievalRichard He just slates him pretty much constantly throughout the whole book.
The only times he gives him any credit are the first time they met and when they recorded Sweet Oblivion.
I think that was the entire point. Lanegan didn't want to portray himself as a hero or as a Good person in that book, that was a chronicle of his life when he was a particularly bad person and kind of a nuisance to everyone around him. He wanted people to see it from the way he saw it back then, much in the way he clowned on Liam Gallagher despite not actually having anything against him now.
He cleaned up his act in subsequent years and evolved into being a genuinely great guy and redeemed himself plenty.
Great interview and insights to the workings of this band. Especially songwriting.
Dying Days is brilliant, why is he like "the song was okay", this is fantastic work.
Love that song!
He also didn't like 'nearly lost you'. Probably just played them too much.
Best song on Dust!
Thanks so much for this interview - really really great. Great to get Garys perspective on the Trees etc. Really cool stuff - cheers man
Glad you enjoyed it! It was a real thrill and pleasure to speak with him and I hoped other fans like yourself would enjoy learning about his perspective too.
@@DanBee Loved it - never really heard Gary talk before in depth on the band and this was just great. thanks again
His subtle Lanegan impression is spot on
Excellent questions Dan, and amazing answers and info from an under appreciated grunge era genius!
The virus theory was licking someone's eyeball, not spitting in each other's eyes though....
Oh yeah! It had been awhile since I read the book. Appreciate the correction. Glad you enjoyed the chat.
Invisible lantern,even if and especially when and Buzz factory my fav albums by the Trees (love sweet oblivion and uncle Anastasia as well but early trees sounded so great )
There is a lot to love about the sounds of both the indie and major label stuff. All of it pretty damn good in their own rights.
@@DanBee true but the trees are more then just nearly lost you and sweet oblivion
@@MrJJr-lw9zq agreed 100% I have the entire catalog on CD including all the cd dingles and promo releases. I find merit in the whole output and its a really fun journey to go on and listen all the way through.
The Trees opening for The Wipers winter 1986 at Pine Street theater. I was hitch hiking up & down I-5 then seeing shows in Portland, Salem, Olympia, Seattle, even in my hometown of Eugene(Venues like the EMU, WOW Hall, Cheese Manor & Club Bag). 1986-1996 was an incredibly fun decade to be part of.
@@DanBee awesome!
That must be the easiest interview ever.. the guy really wanted to talk!!!
Class act. Lanegan buries this guy in his memoirs, as well as himself. Lee is so so kind to not point out that Lanegan self sabotaged everything.
No junkie likes the people or person who forces him to look at himself and take responsibility for his actions.
Definitely tough. Junkie or not. Many people have issues with this.
This is just my take on it and could be wrong but I think once you are through a life experience like Lee you can look back and appreciate the parts that made it work. Which incidentally was supposed to be the focus of our conversation. What made the trees successful.
@@DanBee Great interview and thanks for making it happen!
Dust really benefited from the involvement of Benmont Tench and Mike McCready.
Not taking anything away from Connor at all. He wrote those songs.They simply added some nice touches to the songs.
Totally agree! I love what they added to it. Added being a key word. But it totally elevated the songs too.
First time I heard about George Drakoulias was the Beasties shout out on Stop That Train. He was around Def Jam in the early days. I love this shit.
New Sub here. Nice interview with one of the best guitarist and writers EVER! Thanks for this keep them coming.
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed the interview. Totally agree about Lee being one of the best writers. Huge influence on me as well.
I’ve been wanting to hear more about the screaming trees..nice interview! Thanks for the great tunes..definitely brings me to a place.
You and me both! Always want to hear more about the trees so it was a great honor to speak with G Lee.
Jeez GLC is a chatterbox haha cool video and nice to hear his perspective.
Lol! I love that he is so open about all of it and agreed about its great to hear his side of things!
GLC definitely doesn't fit the picture that Lanegan made of him in his book.
This is a really good interview, well done ✌️
As a huge fan of the work Gary has done it was a absolute pleasure to chat with him.
Hey man, you should get Greg Sage here and ask what he thinks about Lanegan's statements about him (which weren't good) or maybe get Mark Pickerel to see if there's some substance to them.
It would be interesting to find out their thoughts. However, I don't want to be a "gotcha" kind of podcast, putting people in awkward positions.
Mark Pickerel got the Trees on SST after giving a demo to an agent at some concert in Seattle.
Great interview 👍
It was such a fantastic opportunity to speak with Gary Lee. Much appreciated you dig it!
Great insights and smooth flow of infO!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@MrJJr-lw9zq who grew out of what?
@@DanBee I didn’t mean to put grew out of it my bad and I replied to the wrong comment 😂
@@MrJJr-lw9zq lol thats fair. Done that myself enough times to know what thats like.
Dust is one of the great 90’s Seattle albums. The fact that it didn’t sell well was most likely due to lackluster promotion.
Love Dust!
@@DanBee Yes sir. An underrated gem....
@@satorified1612 agreed!
Yeah, I always hear people say "oh it was the wrong time" -- bullshit. Dust Could have been the biggest record of the year, if it were promoted right.
@@jetcheneau5811 Agreed. Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam still had big selling albums yet to come, so the "grunge was dead"-argument doesn't hold weight. It really was lackluster promotion. The Seattle station 107.7 The End promoted it well, but they were always diligent about promoting Seattle bands (regional favoritism, but I was ok with that.).
As much as I admire Mark Lanegan I think he would be difficult to work with. Gary and Van seemed more down to earth.
Totally agree. Lanegan has contributed much to the music world. I think he might have been a damaged, self-centred arsehole though. He certainly left a trail of destruction, according to his own autobiography.
After reading Mark book and seeing some interviews with the Conner brothers I can see they were not cut from the same cloth. Surprised it worked as long as it did. They were basically squares and he was a true punk. Watching live footage they looked like the most random band ever. People said Mark was mean in his book and he was pretty harsh but I can see what he meant. Gary with the fake psychedelia even to this day, laughing about Mark going to the hospital in this interview like a true prick. I think Mark painted a good picture of him. Mark no doubt pissed away many opportunities with that erratic lifestyle crazy to think about what could’ve been if he could stay clean. Rip Mark.
I see where you are coming from. From my perspective it’s like they are siblings who didn’t get along. There is love and respect there enough to rip on each other but just speaking with Lee and getting to know him through social media you can tell he is a fan and has respect for Lanegan.
@@DanBee My thoughts exactly.
Great interview!
Thank you. Glad you found it valuable. I know I enjoyed interviewing Gary Lee.
Witness...brilliant.
It is a great song.
This guy seems just fine. I'm sure Mark Lanegan has his reasons, but this guy seems pretty cool. You can tell he's pretty hurt by the shit in Lanegan's book, and rightfully so. Mark ripped him to shreds the entire book, which is kind of fucked when a guy can't tell his side of the story.
That said, I think their post-Screaming Trees works speaks to a lot of what Lanegan was bitching about in the book. Lee Connor is one hell of a guitar player and songwriter, regardless of what Lanegan says, but he has not done much since Screaming Trees. As in basically nothing (though the stuff he has released is quite good). Lanegan ripped these guys for not having a great work ethic and I think the record reflects that, as he's released a dozen records since the Trees and Lee and Van being are out of the business having released next to nothing. I'm sure there's more to it than we all know.
While I doubt every bit of Lanegan's portrait of Lee is accurate, it is funny looking at his bedroom during this podcast and seeing all that psychedelic stuff lol. That was one of his biggest complaints, Lee's desire to push the Trees into neo-psychadelia rip-off revival territory. So at least that much is accurate (I have a soft spot for that shit myself).
In all, if this interview is any indication, Lee seems like a much different guy than who Mark described in his book. Maybe he has matured a lot since the 90s. Perhaps they had some falling out we aren't privy to which led to the indictments in the book. Regardless, it's a huge bummer that Lanegan feels the way he does because the Trees were an exact band full of untapped potential. They had the originality and skill to stay in the heap like Pearl Jam and a couple others. Whereas many of their grunge counterparts likely would have fallen off, I think they could have always been a deeply respected underground act.
Always will be a deeply respected underground act in my book,
Very thoughtful comments here. Thank you for sharing. You know, it’s not like it’s a bad thing to want to put your touch or influence into a band you started with someone. Having been in several bands myself I know I’ve not only done it but been annoyed (like Lanegan) by it. However it doesn’t mean the other person is bad or wrong for putting their touch on it. In fact you start to learn that when collaborating it’s what makes the music unique. A little form here and a little from there equals something new.
@@DanBee I just don't think the portrayal of him in Sing Backwards & Weep is accurate anymore, if it ever was. Lee plays with feverous virtuosity and while it's easy to take Mark Lanegan's word for it, I just don't they're it's true, all of his descriptions of Lee.
It's a damn shame they'll never let bygones be bygones. I love the Trees.
@@VanishedPNW Yes I agree its a shame and as far as your other point, it's really hard to know what reality is because each person who gives their side of the story shares their biased reality. So I simply take each perspective with a grain of salt.
13:30 definitely shoulda put that dying days song out! its awesome!
It’s really good! Would love to see an official compilation of outtakes and rare songs.
DUST is a great record
Agreed!
The production makes it my favorite Trees record.
This guy seems really laid back. Not how I pictured him after the book.
Same here.
I know Mark is a good writer but boys sure makes people come off as sounding horrible. I'm new to these guys because I really was reading the book for lanye stories. But the dysfunctional bands Dynamic intrigues me. I was expecting the sky to be like rainman but he seems fairly communicative and normal relative to Lanigan who looks more and more like a prick ( who can write)
@@guyfaux900 I wouldn't go this far. Lanegan is a pretty nice dude as well. And he goes extremely harsh on himself in his book.
@@halloweenjack95 yeah clearly I've seen him he pretty decent but also constantly calling out audience members for a fight pretty hilarious
@@guyfaux900 Well Can't say anything to that because I havent experienced that kind of behaviour from him.
Barret Martin is their best drummer! Dust is an album I need on vinyl!
Same!
That record deserved millions of sales
Gary’s much cooler than Marks book colors him
Agreed 100%
Maybe he matured from what he did idk cus I don’t know everyone else’s thoughts on Lee so yeah maybe he matured
@@MrJJr-lw9zq he did..and so did Mark.
Great interview, fantastic interviewer. I was too young when the Screaming Trees were out but have been a fan for years. I'd only heard Lanegan's side of the story and came to this expecting to this guy to be a total asshole. I was ready to hate him after all the stories... but he's cool as hell! And happy, and cheery. I'm sad to see that it Lanegan just appears to be bitter and grumpy - he's a talented guy but he seems to carry a lot of unnecessary anger.
Addiction does that.
I wonder if Hoagie in Day of the tentacle was inspired by Lee🤔
Doguitos!!!
Mark said in his book that he pawned the tapes.
Didn’t he say he was able to get them out of pawn though? I don’t remember.
A real POS ...
@@Rippenhengst not a Mark fan we get it.
Got a feeling he still likes his acid and mushrooms with a room like that..sst years screaming trees is my fav..great band. Yes mark is a great singer but take away the music and it only has half the appeal .the trees was a great band very underrated
I love that room
It’s a fantastic room for sure. Very fun and psychedelic either way.
usually band members will sing like each other, Peter Hook can definitely deliver vocals the truest to Ian.
Gary the great Gary
uncle anesthesia sounds great
Gary, please release that 1993 album!
Would love to hear it too! Some of the tracks have been posted to Gary’s RUclips.
Love Mark Lanegan but I felt his book was overly harsh on Gary Lee Conner and it detracted what overall was a pretty good book. Even if there was truth to it all, it just lacked a lot of class to smear someone constantly in a book.
Yeah I love Lanegan too and I get he had to create tension in the book. After reading it I was a little nervous to interview Gary Lee but I found him pleasant and not at all like described in the book (sans the psychedelic room). Thanks for watching!
Especially since Lanagens memories are distorted since he was a scumbag junkie, and i was one years ago. When a junkie remembers a story and blames another, its usually their fault.
31:00 wtf was Kurt Cobain's car doing in Lanegan's storage unit???
I think Dust is their best album.
Love Dust
Release the Paramount recording!
Yes!
I was waiting to see if Mark's book would be brought up .. Ya know, the parts where he totally $hits on Gary Lee Conner 🤣. I can see it seems as if GLC has grown up a bit cause Mark Lanegan really paints a bad picture of his younger days. I doubt ML just totally made everything up, but it also seems that GLC didn't want to talk about Mark's book much at all and in particular the parts where Mark makes fun of him. Haha. Good stuff though!
Lanegan came to regret GLC's portrayal in the book toward the end of his life and reconciled with him shortly after this interview took place. The writing process opened up a lot of old wounds for Lanegan and the book, while a fucking great read, was delivered with the bitterness Lanegan had to have been feeling at the time.
@@jetcheneau5811 Oh wow, never knew that. Did Mark ever say that publicly during an interview or something? If so, I'd appreciate a link or the name of it. That's great to know they put aside their differences and all.
@@joshuayettou9032 Gary revealed it after Lanegan passed. 2021 was a very rough year for him and I feel like there's a lot he was trying to heal from that we'll never know about.
@@joshuayettou9032 He only messaged GLC on twitter and Gary posted the messages on a youtube video with unreleased Screaming Trees tracks, but the video has been since edited and the messages are no longer in it
He comes across totally different in this video from the almost-certainly autistic overgrown teenager with no social skills that Mark Lanegan depicted in his book. That being said I don't want to pile in on ML, what he was writing was obviously the truth of his own experience in the Screaming Trees. Plus, it is a brilliant memoir.
The Screaming Trees just faded out and were forgotten. They're never referenced in the 'canon' of 'grunge' bands. So it's nice to discover this guy is still around and having a good life.
PS. Anything Mark Lanegan has to say about Gary Lee Conner in his book is only secondary to the incendiary contempt he has for Liam Gallagher. It's worth reading just for that chapter alone.
nearly lost you sounds exactly as it is totally commercial, it’s like it was written for the film singles