Rest in peace my friend; Mark Lanegan (1964-2022

The world lost a beautiful soul, a talented musician, author, and singer last week with the passing of my friend and collaborator; Mark Lanegan.

I can't even begin to tell you what an impact Mark made on my life. I first saw him perform in Seattle with his first band, Screaming Trees, back in 1989. That performance marked the beginning of his music and the beginning of his presence in my life. His music has been a core part of the soundtrack of my life for over 30 years. I was lucky enough to meet him at the Showbox in Seattle with the first poster I ever designed for him in 1998.  After that, I designed for him again at the Showbox in 2003, and after that at Doug Fir in Portland in 2011, right after I moved from Seattle to PDX. That marked the beginning of our direct collaborations for almost a decade up until 2020, when the COVID-19 Pandemic hit. 12 posters in total. If you count all of my posters for QOTSA while he was in the band that brings it up to 24.

Mark and I would always talk on the phone when I was about to create a new design for him. We'd chat about his latest album and sometimes talk for over an hour. He'd send me a preview to listen to and get inspired by months ahead of its release. We had so much in common with both our histories in Seattle and working in the greater music business. We bonded over the struggles of being a creative, the financial ups and downs of it, and trying to stay relevant while attempting to stay true to who we are as artists. We were what he would call "Lifers in the Game". It was always a pleasure and a thrill to work on a new project for him. Mark's musical themes spoke to me deeply and he made it easy to conjure up imagery from his richly visceral lyrics. At one point we even discussed making a screen-printed book with my images to various songs of his as a limited edition, but he thought it would be too expensive an item to offer his fans. Mark was always open to ideas and ways to further make a living doing our chosen crafts. I already miss working with him and all that went with that, our emails, phone calls and seeing him on tour. I am truly blessed to have had the experiences we had and to call him my friend.