Cult Of Luna has shared a touching tribute to the late and great vocalist Mark Lanegan. Cult Of Luna worked with Lanegan on their 2021 song "Inside Of A Dream," which is one of the many great guest vocal appearances Lanegan made throughout his career. Lanegan passed away earlier this week at 57 years old at his home in Killarney, Ireland and will be missed greatly.
"In the final hours of my wedding night I got the message of the passing of Mark Lanegan. A man that without knowing it held my head over the waterline in the beginning of the millennium with his words and music.
"His voice kept me going during the day and accompanied me to sleep at night. When we wrote Somewhere Along The Highway, we fantasized about him singing on 'And With Her Came The Birds' but we were kids with no self-confidence and actually asking him was never even a question.
"Fifteen years later we finally had grown some guts and we did. I never get starstrucked anymore but it took me days to answer his first email, I didn't know what to say. In no shape or form can I say that I knew him. We only exchanged a few emails about the song. The only times I saw him in the flesh was on stage when he performed with Soulsavers [and] Queens Of The Stone Age, The gutter twins and under his own flag.
"But still, he meant a lot to me. Six months after our last contact, one day less than a year ago, he sent me this message. He didn't have to, but he did. I guess he was that kind of a person. When me and Jessica got back to our room last night I read the message again and we listened to him sing 'Inside Of A Dream.' Tears were shed of joy and loss.
"As I write this I'm wrestling with the thought of ending with the last lines of the song. It might be perceived as forced and pretentious but the magic of his poetry will come out winning this time.
"I miss him, a man I never knew.
"'I see you, remember me. As the one who lives inside a dream. As the one who lives inside a dream.'"
