Mark Lanegan (file)
Photo: Beggars Banquet

For more than 20 years, Mark Lanegan has drawn inspiration from the darker side of human nature, whether fronting the psychedelic rock band Screaming Trees; crafting bleak, soulful solo albums; or singing with Queens of the Stone Age on their last two records. So it's no surprise that Lanegan hit a creative peak with his new record, Bubblegum, last Christmas, at a time when he was feeling pretty low.

After spending 18 months sharing laughs and jamming in California, North Carolina and Texas with PJ Harvey, dudes from Queens of the Stone Age, ex-Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli, ex-Guns N' Roses members Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin and others, Lanegan was alone in the studio, stressed out and unsure where to go with the record.

"Everyone had deserted me to go home to be with their families," he recalled. "I decided I had to get it finished right then and there or the momentum would be lost. I kind of lost my mind, because the equipment at the studio all broke down and I was in Joshua Tree [in the California desert], miles away from everything, so I threw a bit of a rock-star fit and stomped around in the cacti for a while. But when things were fixed, I got a lot done."

The ironically titled Bubblegum is a little lighter than Lanegan's previous solo outings, but it's far from sunny, as song titles like "When Your Number Is Up," "Methamphetamine Blues" and "Morning Glory Wine" suggest. Musically, the disc is a hodgepodge of dusky dirges, gloomy country-folk numbers, keyboard ballads and staggering blues romps. But whatever the musical mood, Lanegan's vibrato-laden baritone resonates with the too-depressed-to-get-out-of-bed ache of someone who has loved and lost again and again.

"I think that kind of darkness will always be one aspect of my personality, but not the whole thing," he said. "In real life, I'm far more lighthearted than I come across on the records. I like to stand in the light and enjoy myself, but I do frequently, unconsciously, go back to [dark] places when it comes to writing songs."

There was a time when Lanegan sought comfort in his despair. He was moody and morose, fell into drug abuse and was arrested several times. Now, however, he saves his volatility and self-destructive expression for his records. "I think I've just matured over the years," he said. "The guys who spend their time brooding in their younger years either lighten up or go away. You just realize that you don't know everything there is to know. The older I get the less I know, and that's a good thing. When I was young, I knew everything, and everything wasn't necessarily good."

Working with a diverse assortment of guest musicians helped make the creation of Bubblegum more enjoyable for Lanegan than his other solo albums had been. One highlight was having McKagan and Stradlin sing backup on "Strange Religion."

"It was like having Keith Richards and Johnny Thunders both singing on your song," Lanegan said. "They looked at the words once and did it, and it was perfect. Then they spent a couple hours telling stories."

Working with PJ Harvey was just as rewarding. "That was like a dream come true," he said. "She came in with 20 ideas, where usually somebody might have one. And all her ideas were great, and she just did them bang, bang, bang. She was totally focused."

Lanegan also dug working with his former Queens bandmates — guitarists Josh Homme and Troy Van Leeuwen and bassist Nick Oliveri — though he abdicated his Queens throne in February to focus on supporting his solo album (see "Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan Leave Queens Of The Stone Age").

Lanegan said he'd hoped to leave the band more than 18 months ago, but promotional opportunities and endless touring kept him roped in. Even so, he has remained close with everyone in the band and contributed to Oliveri's upcoming acoustic solo LP.

"It was always a bit of a tightrope walk for those guys to get along when they lived in such close proximity to each other," Lanegan said. "These are guys who have been friends since they were 12 years old, and they're from different ends of the spectrum. It made for a wonderful creative atmosphere at times, and it definitely made for some ruffled feathers at times."

• Mark Lanegan

Nick Oliveri (file)
Photo: Gregg Delman

Queens of the Stone Age have always had a revolving door of members, but at the heart of the band was always the partnership of singer/guitarist Josh Homme and bassist Nick Oliveri. Not anymore.

At a time when the band's lineup seemed more stable than it had been in years, Oliveri has unexpectedly left the band, breaking off a musical relationship with Homme that goes back to their days playing together in Kyuss in the early '90s.

"A number of incidents occurring over the last 18 months have led to the decision that the two can no longer maintain a working partnership in the band," read a terse statement from the band's management. No replacement for Oliveri has been announced.

Singer Mark Lanegan, who toured with the group and sang on several songs from the band’s last two albums, has also left. “Mark is officially no longer playing with Queens of the Stone Age so as to devote more time to his own band,” read a statement from Lanegan’s spokesperson. “His new album, Bubblegum, is finished and will be out in late spring.”

There has been speculation that something dramatic happened while the band was in Australia on the Big Day Out tour, but Ipecac Records co-owner Greg Werckman, whose label has released projects by both Homme and Oliveri, said he talked to Homme on Friday, following the completion of the tour, and had no idea there was any bitterness between any of the Queens bandmembers.

“This definitely took me by surprise," he said. "[Homme and Oliveri are] both extremely talented people, and they seemed pretty much like kindred spirits. They both just love the music and love rock."

Queens of the Stone Age plan to hit the studio this spring to work on a new album. When MTV News talked to Queens in June, the band said it had more than 25 songs written and hoped to have a new record ready by the spring (see "Queens 'Giveth' Third Single, But No New Songs This Summer").

At the time, they had just hired drummer Joey Castillo and said they were looking forward to a long period of stability and productivity. "We've finally found players that want to stay and we want them to," Oliveri said.

Homme is currently on tour in England drumming with side project Eagles of Death Metal. The band's debut album, Peace Love Death Metal, comes out March 23. Oliveri's most recent side project, Mondo Generator's A Drug Problem That Never Existed, was released in July.

(On Wednesday, we mistakenly reported that Van Conner and Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees had joined Queens of the Stone Age. MTV News regrets the error.)

[This story was updated at 2:04 p.m. ET on 02.12.2004]

• Queens of the Stone Age
• Mark Lanegan

Mark Lanegan
Photo: Chris Strother

Former Screaming Trees leader Mark Lanegan has gone back to the Stone Age, where he plans to stay awhile.

The singer/songwriter, who lent Queens of the Stone Age a hand on their most recent album, Rated R, has been co-writing songs for the band's next effort, some of which feature him on lead vocals. He also plans to accompany Queens on their European tour next month.

"It's a little bit more than what I did with them last time," Lanegan said Friday (May 18). "I'm definitely not the singer in the band. I'm just sorta gonna be one of the guys, part of the circus." Lanegan sang lead on Rated R's "In the Fade," which he co-wrote with Queens singer/guitarist Josh Homme, and contributed background vocals to a few other tracks.

Lanegan and Queens will warm up for the European tour with shows Wednesday and Thursday at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. Lanegan said he'd join the band to perform a few songs, including a couple of new ones. The shows are billed "Queens of the Stone Age featuring Mark Lanegan." "Basically, I was rehearsing with them for these shows and they asked if I'd do the next record with them," Lanegan said.

"I just like the music," he explained. "They're a great band. It suits me." Lanegan's friendship with Homme goes back to the mid-'90s, when Homme moved to Seattle to play in the Screaming Trees.

Lanegan's work with Queens of the Stone Age has delayed his plans to tour behind his new solo record, Field Songs, until the fall at least, he said.

Released May 8, Field Songs is a lonesome, mainly acoustic collection anchored in blues and folk. Using his weathered voice, Lanegan evokes vivid, often dreamlike imagery to create a haunting immediacy even as he conjures feelings of dislocation and lost hopes.

In the opener, "One Way Street," which Lanegan began writing while driving through Venice, California, at night, he sings, "The stars and the moon aren't where they're supposed to be/ But the strange electric light falls so close to me." Later, in "Kimiko's Dream House," he sings, "To make matters worse/ The trains are on time/ But we're lost at the station/ Still lost in our minds." Lanegan worked with long-time collaborator Mike Johnson (former bassist with Dinosaur Jr) and one-time Soundgarden guitarist Ben Shepherd on the effort, much of which was recorded in original Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan's home studio. McKagan plays drums on the final track, "Fix." Lanegan has also been working on material with former Afghan Whigs leader Greg Dulli. The pair plans to put out an album at some point but hasn't decided on a time frame, he said.

• Mark Lanegan
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Screaming Trees

As Tuatara prepares to release "Trading With the Enemy," its sophomore album of world music-tinged, ethereal pop, the group is planning to embark on a short tour with Screaming Trees vocalist, Mark Lanegan.

Tuatara, whose members include Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Barrett Martin of the Screaming Trees, will kick off the June and July dates with a special June 14 show in Washington, DC, that will be held after the curtain drops on that day's Tibetan Freedom Concert. Buck and Martin, who plays on R.E.M.'s new album, are slated to perform at the Tibetan benefit show the day before at RFK Stadium.

Fans of R.E.M. may also want to keep their eyes on Tuatara's June 19 concert scheduled for Athens, Georgia, which will brings Buck and Martin to R.E.M.'s hometown.

Lanegan's newest solo album, "Scraps at Midnight," arrives in stores on July 21 (see "Screaming Trees Vocalist Finishes Up New Album"), and the vocalist will support Tuatara for the first five dates before re-joining the band for a July 22 show in San Francisco.

Tuatara, which releases "Enemy" on June 23, will end its tour with two sets at this year's WOMAD music festival (see "Tuatara, Joan Osborne, Wilco To Play WOMAD USA") which will also include Bela Fleck and Ravi Shankar.

The dates announced for Tuatara's summer tour:

• 6/14 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
• 6/16 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 6/17 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 6/19 - Athens, GA @ Georgia Theater
• 6/20 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
• 7/12 - Winter Park, CO @ Music Festival
• 7/22 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
• 7/26 - Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
• 7/27 - West Hollywood, CA @ House Of Blues
• 7/30 - Portland, OR @ La Luna
• 7/31 - Seattle, WA @ WOMAD USA Festival
• 8/02 - Seattle, WA @ WOMAD USA Festival

• Screaming Trees
• Tuatara
• Mark Lanegan