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| Sadly, Van Conner of Seattle's Screaming Trees has passed away. Bandmate Mark Pickerel remembers Van Conner below. |
Mark Pickerel remembers his pal Van Conner
Please join me in lowering the flannel flag to half-mast today while we reflect and celebrate the life and legacy of Van Conner, who passed away yesterday, at the age of 55.
Van and I started playing music together when I was a freshman in high school and he was a sophomore. We were joined by his older brother, Lee, on guitar, who was already enrolled at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. After a year or two of failed attempts to be a cover band, we discovered that our real talents or strengths would not be realized until we learned to capitalize on Lee’s innate ability to write his own unique, psychedelic soundbites!
After Van had a few fortuitous conversations with his classmate Mark Lanegan during their journalism class, bonding over their mutual passions and fascinations with everyone from Motorhead, Black Flag, Black Sabbath to The Dead Kennedy’s, it was quickly decided that Lanegan should attend one of our rehearsals. And while the original plan was for Lanegan to drum, and I would sing, it became evident that his time-keeping lacked the meter required for such an ambitious endeavor (having no previous time behind the kit) we quickly played some musical chairs, and I landed back where I belong, and needless to say, so did he!
Shortly after Lanegan joined our line up, we had the good fortune of finding ourselves under the tutelage of producer - Steve Fisk, who went on to produce our first few releases, and continues to be a good friend and occasional collaborator. Throughout all of our adventures together (running the Conner family video store together, building a band and a brand, getting religion, losing our religion, managing to graduate!? ) Van was my own personal John Candy, keeping me laughing through thick and thin, and to hell and back!
And while Van often hid behind his long bangs out of the spotlight, in the shadows of our enigmatic singer, it was actually Van who penned the Screaming Trees biggest hit, “I Nearly Lost You,” that appeared on the soundtrack to Singles, Cameron Crowe’s 1991 blockbuster film celebrating grunge and the Gen-X denizens of the Seattle Scene. The song became an international hit and furthered the band’s growing success—solidifying their association with their peers in Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Truly, Mudhoney, and Nirvana.
It was often Van out there, shaking hands and hugging fans, building the friendships and nurturing a mutual loyalty that would become such an integral part of our success. He was loved and enjoyed by just about everyone he met.
His own mother, as well as his older brother, Lee, were responsible for turning him onto music at a very young age. Lee would also go on to usher him into a world of science fiction, cult films, Beat writers, and the leftist, radical teachings and views that have become synonymous with the 1960s.
All these influences would continue to play a pivotal role in Van’s life, creativity, parenting, gregarious nature and personality, often leading to conversations that were as loud as the music we made together!
The Conner brothers’ parents, Gary Lee Sr. and Cathy Conner, were very instrumental in setting the stage for the Screaming Trees eventual success, and they were incredibly supportive—both financially and with their constant encouragement and praise. They could not have been more proud of the success their sons enjoyed as a result of all the hard work and sacrifice made by everyone involved.
I felt so fortunate to have been unofficially adopted into the Conner family in my teens, enjoying a home away from home that couldn’t have been more different than my own. It wasn’t unusual for their entire family, toddlers and all, to be up into the wee hours of the night watching MTV or some cult-classic together, waiting for Lee to get home from his job delivering pizzas, hoping he’d walk through the door with a couple of pies for us. Getting to church on time on a Sunday morning was beyond challenging and considering the condition we were in upon our late arrival, probably would have been best if we’d just stayed in bed!
We spent some wild years together, traveling the world, learning how to be resourceful together, learning how to manage sleep deprivation, boredom, loneliness and all the other byproducts of life on the road. We all supported each other to the best of our abilities. Van was always on hand, extending empathy, insight, humor, and support. As a drummer, I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in the rhythm section, our chemistry required no effort, discussions or calculations. As well as being the talented bassist in The Screaming Trees, he also lent his talents to Dinosaur Jr., and played guitar and sang for his own band, Valis, as well as running his own record label—Strange Earth.
He was a proud father and will be missed by his big, loving family and by friends all over the globe. A few days ago, I sat and held hands with Van, he lit up when we discussed an eventual Screaming Trees reunion, that would have featured guest vocalists, including his younger brother Pat, filling in for Lanegan, he became very emotional as we discussed future projects and our upcoming re-release campaigns. I'm so sad that with Van's passing, so also dies the dream of a reunion, this will be especially hard for me to process, as I've often imagined a reunion worthy of taking back out on the road.
I know we’re just a month shy of celebrating the one-year anniversary of the loss of our singer, the extraordinarily talented—Mark Lanegan, and it is with such a heavy heart that I find myself participating in so many conversations regarding the untimely passing of both he and Van and the difficult and sad circumstances surrounding their premature departures. But I ask you to focus on the great gifts they both generously bestowed upon us. Please enjoy some Screaming Trees, Valis, Solomon Grundy, Dinosaur Jr., or some of Mark Lanegan’s solo works today as you celebrate their lives and the creative imprint they’ve left behind. – Mark Pickerel
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