#greg prato

Book Review: “Lanegan” by Greg Prato

It’s a weird thing to put in a biography. But in this case, the following is true.

“When it comes to Mark Lanegan, there are many things that you are better off not knowing,” music journalist Charles R. Cross says of the former Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age singer and solo artist.

Fortunately for “Lanegan” author Greg Prato, Lanegan wrote all that stuff in his harrowing memoir, “Sing Backwards and Weep,” freeing Prato to focus on other stuff in his oral biography.

Like Lanegan the man, “Lanegan” the book is non-traditional. Generous at 319 pages and including a passel of black-and-white photos from throughout Lanegan’s career, it’s self-published - released Feb. 22 on the one-year anniversary of Lanegan’s death from undisclosed causes - but professional in content and layout.

“I look at (Nirvana’s) Kurt (Cobain), (Alice in Chains’) Layne (Staley) or even more Andy Wood - Mark was darker than them all,” Cross says. “I don’t know that Mark’s death is darker, but Mark’s life was darker than any of those people.”

In addition to Cross, Prato spoke with Lanegan’s Screaming Trees bandmate Gary Lee Conner; QOTS bassist Nick Oliveri; collaborators Chris Goss (Masters of Reality), Mike Johnson (Dinosaur Jr.), guitarist Jeff Fielder and bassist Aldo Struyf; Sub Pop Records CDO Megan Jasper; original Nirvana drummer Chad Channing; former Red Hot Chili Pepper Josh Klinghoffer; former Soundgarden bassist Kim Thayil; Jesse Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal; and friends including Sally Berry, Clay Decker - who makes the dangerous assertion that Lanegan died because he was vaccinated against the coronavirus - and others. The result is an often-surprising portrait of a singular musician that paints Lanegan as an even more enigmatic figure than he seems in life and art.

“Like, we liked Lindsey Buckingham,” Hughes says in discussing Lanegan’s musical influences.

“How the fuck are you going to tell me you can see that? Point to a Mark Lanegan song and go, ‘Oh, Lindsey Buckingham.’ I couldn’t do it. So, the fact that I can’t do it tells me … Mark was in full possession the knowledge that he was unique.”

Rather than unfolding like a typical oral biography, Prato’s book is organized in 16 chapters built mostly around a single question such as “What made Mark so unique as a singer?,” “What was it like to work - in various capacities and on various projects - with Mark?” and “How would you like Mark to be remembered?” This makes “Langegan” as unusual and singular as Lanegan.

Though Lanegan left a ton of damage - to himself and his friends and collaborators - in his wake, the man who emerges from “Lanegan” is a musical omnivore (as his unlikely partnerships with Isobel Campbell and Soulsavers demonstrate) with a wicked sense of humor and a fierce sense of loyalty to the people he held closest.

“His heart was wonderful,” producer John Agnello says. “I know he was tough, I know he could be a cocksucker to people, but man, I saw things about him that I don’t think enough people saw.”

These are the things about Lanegan you are better off knowing. And they’re there for the learning in “Lanegan.”

Grade card: “Lanegan” by Greg Prato - B

Book Review: “BONZO: 30 Rock Drummers Remember the Legendary John Bonham” by Greg Prato

It’s been 40 years since “Bonzo,” the mighty John Bonham, backbone of the mightier Led Zeppelin, died in 1980 after choking on his own vomit.

He was just 32 years old.

Gone. But not forgotten. And widely revered as one of rock’s greatest drummers, Bonham is remembered by a score plus 10 of his contemporaries and acolytes in music journalist Greg Prato’s “BONZO: 30 Rock Drummers Remember the Legendary John Bonham.”

Thirty drummers may have been too many as Prato runs out of unique questions and repeats himself often, making the final third feel like a rehash of what came before. Still, there’s something satisfying in hearing famous musicians speaking as fans.

Prato wisely allows the drummers to talk about the drummer and his drumming, asking simple, concise questions and geting out of the way. He then lays out his conversations with journeyman Kenny Arnoff, Quiet Riot’s Frankie Banali, Gregg Bissonette (Ringo Starr), Grand Funk’s Don Brewer, Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel), the Black Crowes’ Steve Gorman, Marky Ramone and others in Q&A style over 275 pages.

Although “BONZO” is a book about drumming as told by drummers, the interview subjects don’t speak in any kind of secret language, making it comprehensible to anyone.

While the subjects universally agreed Bonham is among the best of the best, other names - Starr, Carmine Appice, Neil Peart, Mitch Mitchell, Phil Collins, et al. - pop up with surprising regularity in interviews that took place after Peart’s death in January and before Banali’s in August 2020.

The book puts an end to the apocryphal stories of Bonham playing with inordinately large sticks or whacking the drums with extraordinary force, instead explaining his big sound is attributable mostly to Bonham’s tuning, expert mic’ing, Jimmy Page’s sage production and the fact he was in Led Zeppelin.

“Bonham is to rock ‘n’ roll what Buddy Rich was to jazz,” Arnoff says. “There’s only one human being like that - and so different and so unique.”

Grade card: “BONZO: 30 Rock Drummers Remember the Legendary John Bonham” by Greg Prato - B

New Soundgarden Biography,from Journalist and Author Greg Prato, Out Now

A new book tracking the rise and career of Soundgarden is out now from respected music journalist and author Greg Prato ( Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music, A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon, and Too High to Die: Meet the Meat Puppets). Dark Black and Blue: The Soundgarden Storyis out now for purchase and tells the…

“Goldilox is the song that people just missed out on… one of the greatest songs that I had ever heard” Charlie Benante of Anthrax.

Resilience has become a fashionable buzz word. Some corporates now provide “resilience training” to help staff deal with what life throws at them. Well, it’s cheaper than just hiring the right number of people to do the work, right?

For the band Kings X, resilience…

New Book, ‘The 100 Greatest Rock Bassists, Counts Down And Analyzes The Best In Bass

There have been seemingly countless “Greatest Rock Guitarists” lists assembled over the years – for articles or books. But…what about bassists? In ‘The 100 Greatest Rock Bassists,’ author/journalist Greg Pratocourageously attempts to level the playing field, single-handedly. In addition to counting them down from the bottom to the top, each entry contains info on each player – including…

Shredders: The Oral History Of Speed Guitar – A Must Read Book

By Andrew Catania

Greg Prato puts out books I just can’t put down. Shredders: The Oral History Of Speed Guitaris just one of them.  Prato has a way of getting the people he interviews to open up and tell stories. I would suspect from what he says about himself in his forwards; it might be because Prato himself is a fan of these people and the subject matter. What’s particularly cool about this…

Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon – Styx, Mr. Big & Shredders

On this episode of Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon, STYX guitarist Tommy Shaw discusses the band’s classic sounding new album The Mission, working with Night Ranger’s Jack Blades and offers an update on the Damn Yankees third album tentatively titled, Bravo. Eric Martin of Mr. Big joins Mitch to talk about the band’s latest album Defying Gravity, his relationship with bassist Billy Sheehan and his new…