reviews
"I love bad ones. They're funny." Ben Shepherd, MuchMusic TV interview.



Justin Dexter's review of Hater at the Knitting Factory 8-12-05

Bass Guitar magazine, July/August 2005 interview with Ben Shepherd.

Greg Prato's interview of Ben Shepherd, which appeared, in edited form, in Classic Rock Magazine, May, 2005 issue

My review of "Hater the 2nd" for Tone and Groove magazine, May 2005 issue, in Core Samples.

Kaffeine Buzz review of "Hater the 2nd."

Daily Trojan Online review of "Hater the 2nd."

Digital Noise Network interview with Ben Shepherd.

Billboard.com's February 20, 2005 review of "Hater the 2nd," with interview quotes from Ben.

230 Publicity's announcement and review of "Hater the 2nd," with interview quotes from Ben.

A fan review by Drew Hilling of The Wellwater Conspiracy show at the Showbox, Seattle, 7-9-01.

My review of "The Scroll and Its Combinations" for Toast magazine. Read the transcriptionhere.

The Seattle Times review of "The Scroll and Its Combinations." Read it at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/134310558_well26.html, or transcribed here.

My review of "Field Songs" for Toast magazine. Read the transcription here.

Fan reviews by Carolyn White, webmistress of the Unofficial Wellwater Conspiracy Home Page, of both the 5-4-01 New York City and 5-5-01 Hoboken shows by The Wellwater Conspiracy.

Two reviews by Mark Arm for Wall of Sound, one for Wellwater Conspiracy's "The Scroll and Its Combinations", and one for Mark Lanegan's "Field Songs." Read them on the Wall of Sound page, linked above, or transcribed here-( Wellwater Conspiracy and Mark Lanegan).

A fan review by Drew Hilling of The Wellwater Conspiracy/Pearl Jam show at Key Arena, Seattle, 11-6-00.

A fan review by Vikki Anselmo of The Brotherhood of the Electric show at Terrastock, Seattle, 11-3-00.

A fan review by Debbi Sullivan of The Mark Lanegan Band October mini-tour.

The setlist from the show at Lola's, Portland, OR, October 15, 2000:
Carry Home
Badi Da
Bell Black Ocean
I'll Take Care of You
Slide Machine
Together Again
The Winding Sheet
Blues Run the Game
Creeping Coastlines of Light
Deep Purple
On Jesus' Program
Tomorrow Night
encore 1: Mockingbirds
Last One in the World
encore 2: The River Rise (with a new intro)
Because of This
A Taste of Honey

A fan review by Neil Sherk of Ben's performance with Mark Lanegan, billed as The Jelly Doughnuts, at the Baltic Room, Seattle, October 14, 2000.

The setlist from the Baltic Room show:
Carry Home
Badi Da
I'll Take Care of You
Deep Purple
Creeping Coastlines of Light
Blues Run the Game
Together Again
The Winding Sheet
Bell Black Ocean
On Jesus' Program
Slide Machine
Tomorrow Night

A fan review by Neil Sherk of Ben's performance with Mark Lanegan at the EMP Sky Church, Seattle, October 13, 2000.

My own review of The Brotherhood of the Electric show at the Crocodile Cafe, Seattle, August 31, 2000..

A very nice review and photos by El Danno at Stonerrock.com of The Brotherhood of the Electric at the Crocodile Cafe, Seattle, August 31, 2000.

A fan review by Robin Warren of Ben's performance with The Brotherhood of the Electric at the Crocodile Cafe, Seattle, August 31, 2000.

A fan review by Angela Woolley of Ben's performance with the Mark Lanegan Band at the Showbox, Seattle, June 30, 2000.

A fan review by Neil Sherk of the Mark Lanegan show at the Showbox, Seattle, June 30, 2000 (with Ben playing electric guitar in Mark's back-up band).

Screaming Trees Set To Return With Industry Showcase (includes news about upcoming releases on which Ben plays) - MTV News online, 1-12-00

Mark Lanegan- I'll Take Care Of You- The Stranger, 1-00

Mark Lanegan- I'll Take Care Of You- Wall of Sound, 1999

Mark Lanegan- I'll Take Care Of You- The Seattle Weekly, 9-99

Mark Lanegan- I'll Take Care Of You- CMJ New Music Report, Issue: 636 - Sep 20, 1999

Heavy Rotation- Mark Lanegan/Chris Cornell- Spin.com, 9-14-99

Mark Lanegan- I'll Take Care of You/ Chris Cornell- Euphoria Morning- The Rocket, No. 309 September 8-22, 1999

Mark Lanegan- I'll Take Care Of You- MTV.com 9-99

Mark Lanegan- I'll Take Care Of You- NME 9-99

Mark Lanegan Covers Buck Owens, Others On LP- Sonicnet.com 9-99

Mark Lanegan- I'll Take Care Of You - The Stranger 9-99

Conspiracy Revealed! - Inside the Well Water Conspiracy- The Rocket 5/12/99

April 22, 1999
(thank you Amy Roussel)

Everett True, surly drunken brit columnist, is leaving Seattle. In his farewell column (see it at www.thestranger.com), here's a couple of the things he said he'd miss about the northwest:

2. Being able to watch PETE KREBS perform live in my locality, both with his band GOSSAMER WINGS, and without. I never even liked his previous band Hazel; thought they were the grayest of the gray. Pete's troubled on-the-road songs, tinged with his world-weary yet still hopeful restlessness, have consoled me in my distant loneliness deeper than anyone else this time 'round.

10. The poets. MARK LANEGAN, MIKE JOHNSON, ELLIOTT SMITH (contrary to whatever I might have written in the past). I kinda dig it when people are willing to lay their souls so bare. Lanegan, of course, has the distinct advantage of having a nicotine-choked voice to die for... but I love the rasp of Johnson's guitar strings live, and the way girls swoon at Elliott's shows. Hey, at least it means he's connecting!

Seattle Times- Entertainment News : Thursday, April 01, 1999

Pete Krebs- COVERSTORY: Fly-Rite Boy- The Rocket, 3-24-99

Feb. 18, 1999
From the Stranger (thank you, Amy Roussel)

by Everett True
HUGS & KISSES TOP 5 TRACKS

1. PETE KREBS AND THE GOSSAMER WINGS "Pacific Standard Time" (from the Cavity Search promo CD Sweet Ona Rose) The sound of a dark, sleepless Interstate 5 at 3:00 a.m., as another broken heart drifts by.
____________________

And from Allstar News (thank you, Niki Freer)

Ex-Soundgarden Bassist And Ex-Hazel Singer Form New Project

Ex-Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd has joined forces with ex-Hazel frontman Pete Krebs for an upcoming project dubbed Pete Krebs and the Gossamer Wings. The album, entitled Sweet Ona Rosa, is best described as twangy folk-rock and will be released by Portland, Ore.-based Cavity Search Records on April 6. Shepherd plays bass on all 11 tracks. Hazel had two albums on Sub Pop in the early '90s as well as a third effort on Candy Ass Records in 1997. After their demise, Krebs recorded two solo albums for Cavity Search (1995's Brigadier and 1997's Western Electric, produced by Elliott Smith) before toying around with a Portland, Ore.-based hillbilly band called Golden Delicious on a 1998 EP. The Gossamer Wings also includes well-known Northwesterners Billy Kennedy on guitar and John Moen on drums.
-- Kevin Raub

Jan. 30, 1999
From the Stranger (thank you, Neil Sherk)

Everett True's take on the Jan. 16 Gossamer Wings show (approach it as you would anything written by Everett True, or anything printed in the Stranger, for that matter).

And as for Pete Krebs' Gossamer Wings... c'mon, c'mon. This just won't do. Here you have the bass player from Soundgarden--who for at least three seconds in 1995 DEFINED rock--and all you can manage are "sensitive" guitar-runs, charming melodies (melodies? ugh!), and songs about travel and love decay?! Get the fuck outta my sight, you pasty-faced, Tom Waits-loving misfits!

Jan. 16, 1999
Gossamer Wings played at the Breakroom, Seattle, sandwiched between Matchless and the Western State Hurricanes. Neil Sherk reports: Ben played bass -- Pete introduced him as "my cousin Jim Krebs" (or something like that; I can't remember exactly). The songs were mostly the same ones Pete played when he opened for Mark Lanegan in November, and they sounded really good with a full band. (It was weird -- Pete and Ben and company were playing songs I recognized, Marc Olsen was standing behind me, and they played a Mark Lanegan CD in between bands.) Everyone seemed to be having a good time; Ben was goofing around and exchanging funny looks with the drummer. After the last song, people were yelling for more, but Pete said they didn't know any more songs.

Dec. 11, 1998
From the Seattle Post Intelligencer

review of the Deck the Hall Ball, Key Arena, Seattle, Dec. 9

Mark Lanegan's short set, highlighted by his deep, craggy vocals was dark and melancholy. Accompanying the Screaming Trees lead singer was an acoustic trio [Mike Johnson, Ben Shepherd and David Krueger]--and a pesky concertgoer who trained a laser pointer on Lanegan's face.
[two of the songs performed were Stay and Hotel. the other two were apparently new material.]

The Daily review of the Mark Lanegan show at the Showbox, and announcement of Deck the Hall Ball show- Dec. 10, 1998

Ben and Mark in Spain, from Popular 1 magazine-- thank you Ann Sahlstrom

Deck the Hall Ball- Hole, Lanegan top lineup at annual bash- The Everett Herald Key, December 5th, 1998

Dec. 2, 1998
From the Rocket:

LIVE YOU GOT IT: Mark Lanegan - Showbox, Seattle, 11/19
by Richy Boyer

I'd been waiting more than eight years for this show. I mean, damn, Mark Lanegan. His solo LPs are some of the most emotional, moving and haunting albums to ever come out of the Northwest. And Lanegan's voice; it's enough to fuel a lifetime of teary-eyed daydreams and whiskey-soaked nightmares. So I was prepared for a pared-down evening of soulful acoustic laments. With the whole room glowing an eerie Tequila-sunrise red, everything softened and dreamlike from the smoke hovering over the crowd (who were smoking like fiends), Lanegan and his woeful crew hit the stage, smokes hanging from their lips as they broke into a chills-inducing "Ugly Sunday." And they lit up quick and fiery like a wooden match. The band was phenomenal; Mike Johnson (of course) on one guitar and Marc Olsen (who ruled) on another, newcomer Mark Boquist on traps and Ben Shepherd on bass. "Pendulum" and an amazing "The River Rise" followed, and people--teary eyes and all--were swept up into the rafters. The only problem was having to share these beautiful songs with a roomful of others. They make you want to sit in some lonely, dim-lit tavern on a drunken, rainy evening and be lulled by Lanegan's voice. And a few songs into the set, it happened; the walls closed in, all the people disappeared and it was just you and the band, sharing a moment of rare, emotional beauty. Then some asshole calls for "The Rock," and you're jolted back into the madness again, feeling surrounded and exposed. Appropriately, "Undertow" came rolling out next, followed by "Mockingbird," "Hospital Roll Call," "Borracho" and, finally, a breathtaking encore of "Because of This," leaving me feeling naked and exposed when the lights came up. Outside, under an ugly, raining sky, it was clear something magical had just happened, because for once, I didn't curse the beating rain and biting midnight winds. That night, walking home, I couldn't get enough of it.

also this review:

Then of course there was the show of shows, MARK LANEGAN, playing sans Trees at THE SHOWBOX. Mr. Renton won't bother telling you who he saw--if you were there, you saw them, too; if you weren't there, well then, it's your own fault, isn't it? Much more interesting was who was on stage, as Mark was backed by MIKE JOHNSON and MARC OLSEN on guitar (the former of whom played a solo set of his own earlier in the evening) and BEN SHEPHERD (ex-SOUNDGARDEN) on bass. Those of you sad saps who missed the show will have a chance to see Lanegan play solo again at THE END's (KNDD, 107.7 FM) Deck the Hall ball in a few short days. Of course, tickets for that are sold out, too, so once again, you may be S.O.L.

Nov. 7, 1998
From the Rocket: (thank you, Angela Woolley)

review of the Gossamer Wings show (sans Ben, who was in Spain at the time) at the Satyricon- Portland, OR, Oct. 23

"It's up to you to guess which one of us was in Soundgarden" joked Gossamer Wings frontman Pete Krebs, a reference to his new band's debut at NXNW when bass player Ben Shepherd slouched onstage in a cameo role. Tonight's lineup didn't include Mr. Shepherd (the source of mucho buzz among the star-watcher set), but that didn't much matter, as Krebs and his outfit threw down a fiery set of stylistically diverse roots-rock. Previewing a new batch of songs for an album due out in January, Krebs and company covered a broad range of material.
The review also mentioned that they closed the set with The Clash's "Train in Vain"!

Oregon Live: NXNW (’98): Buzz

Mark Lanegan (Barcelona, 22 octubre 1998, Garatge Club)- Riff Music Fanzine 10-98

Black and Blues by Mark Lanegan- Astoria, WC2- The Times (London), October 21, 1998

Mark Lanegan- The Astoria, London, Friday October 16th- Kerrang! October 1998

Mark Lanegan- London WC2 Astoria, Friday October 16th- NME October 1998

Desert Sessions, "Volumes 1 & 2"- The Rocket, 3/11/98

LIVE REVIEW: Fastbacks, Hater, Valis@Showbox, Seattle, 5/2 The Rocket, 5/14/97




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