Mark Lanegan Band has confirmed the full-length album Somebody’s Knocking will be released on October 18 via Heavenly Recordings. “Stitch It Up” dropped firstly as the teaser of the whole album comes with a music video, which features Donal Logue, Joe Cardamone of The Icarus Line and was shot in part by Travis Keller (founder of the old webzine and record label Buddyhead).
This is the 11th solo album of Lanegan, who is the frontman for psychedelic grunge band Screaming Trees and known as his acoustic tone and dark, folk-blues-inspired songwriting. His last album was 2017’s Gargoyle. The music video “Stitch It Up” set an amusing and comical tone for Somebody’s Knocking.
Donal Logue acts as Jimmy The Cab Driver, one of the best characters on MTV in the Nineties- a Boston taxi driver with greasy hair, thick glasses, a cigarette and an obsession with MTV who is vociferous and rollicks around his passengers. Every passenger in Jimmy’s cab stares out the window and pray for Jimmy to be quiet. At the beginning of the video, Jimmy rants about “Three Migos” while Joe Cardamone is being his first passenger. Lanegan is his next passenger who multi-enters the car with different costumes, from homeless to music fans. The music video embarks Lanegan’s first screen appearance in 15 years, Lanegan debuts the story behind the idea of music video and their collaboration:
“Had a blast making this video. We had some friends over for dinner and Joe Cardamone met Donal Logue there and they hit it off. When I later talked to Joe about directing a vid he immediately said “Jimmy The Cab Driver” I called Donal and he laughed for like ten minutes and was totally into it. My head was pounding from laughing so hard the day of the shoot. It was extremely tough to keep a straight face when Donal was in character, he turned into an updated version of Jimmy so fast. Both Joe and Donal are brilliant. There’s a reason it’s the first video of mine I’ve been in for the last 15 years.”
Somebody’s Knocking was done in an eleven day in L.A, but Lanegan admits he was inspired by many of the European musical influences on the record, such as writing partners Martin Jenkins (who records as Pye Corner Audio for Ghost Box) or Rob Marshall (collaborator on Gargoyle). He also speaks the lyrics of the whole album are instinctive, “I feel like I write lyrics instinctively. I let the melody come first and then it tells me what the words are going to be and I write whatever feels appropriate. That said, I’m also influenced by everything I’m into.”
Lanegan has announced the dates of Spring 2019 Stitch It Up Tour. Tickets are here. The US tour kicks off Welcome to Rockville Festival on May 3 in Jacksonville, FL. Check out the music video of “Stitch It Up” and tracklist of Somebody’s Knocking below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Disbelief Suspension
02 “Letter Never Sent
03 “Night Flight To Kabul
04 “Dark Disco Jag
05 “Gazing From The Shore
06 “Stitch It Up
07 “Playing Nero
08 “Penthouse High
09 “Paper hat
10 “Name and Number
11 “War Horse
12 “Radio Silence
13 “She Loved You
14 “Two Bells Ringing At Once
TOUR DATES:
5/03 – Jacksonville, FL – Welcome to Rockville Festival
5/04 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival
5/05 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge*
5/07 – Chicago, IL – Bottlom Lounge*
5/08 – Detroit, MI – The Shelter*
5/10 – Marston, NC – Epicenter Festival
5/11 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar*
5/13 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
5/14 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw*
5/15 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts*
5/16 – Asbury Park, NJ – The Stone Pony*
5/18 – Columbus, OH – Sonic Temple Festival
* with Simon Bonney
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
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