Kate Smith

Goodnight x

A view through a hole is not the full picture.

I’m still processing, but it’s impossible not to try and articulate what your loss means to me. For anybody who has been a fan of your musical genius - your singular, unparalleled ‘anotherness’, we all unite in a loss that feels totally personal - and all of us who knew you, recognise that we share this grief with everybody who ever heard you. This is a musical love affair that started at 19, when I first heard you in QOTSA, and right now, the idea that we’ll never read your poet hand again, is a grief that weighs heavy on our bones.
Who could have known my youthful admiration would become acquaintance. Nothing worse than those who amplify accord with those passed, so I’ll speak plainly and from the heart…From our first exchange you were open and kind, but most poignantly, when I wrote to you 6 years ago - naively and greenly telling you about an incredible musician I was managing and how my thoughts gave impression of a beautiful collaboration between you both, you responded with humility.
You took no time to offer your agreement - an affirmation that would result in several critically acclaimed albums you went on to make together. For that, I am so incredibly humbled. To have had a microscopic impact on your gigantic CV, to hear you say it nudged you towards a sound you didn’t know you craved, and frequently describe in retrospect with words of gratitude - when in reality, the gratitude resided entirely with us. To think I was fortunate enough to co-promote 3 of your albums, work with your most excellent musical comrades, know your friends and god children, sing harmonies on your songs, and spend time with your good friend Dave Gahan - it’s all an amazing gift - but above all - to be such a small person in your sphere, and yet one you took the time to reply to a simple question with a thousand words of advice; words which can only be described as the most clever and enlightened kind.
Thank you for your words Mark, both publicly, musical and personal. You lived your life firmly in the margins, very far from the straight and typical, so may you now rest forever in your trademark devil-may-care style. Old Scratch, angel of song, your songs will be sung forever.