• Pickerel's dark, haunting voice—as intoxicating and blue as a tumbler of absinthe—is impossible to forget.

    — Stomp and Stammer

  • Pickerel's vocals carry a Chris Isaak/Lee Hazelwood bottom end to them, or perhaps it would be safer to say he sounds like Roy Orbison on sedatives. It's Americana, for sure, but via David Lynch. If Blue Velvet were set in a Bakersville dance hall, it would sound like this.

    — Seattle Weekly

  • Pickerel has a reassuring, deadpan voice (arguably the missing link between M. Ward and Nick Cave).

    — Portland Mercury

  • Sing[s] with the gloomy conviction of a man holding a bottle in one hand and pistol in the other.

    — MOJO
Hometown: 
Seattle, WA

From the wild and wooly and weird Pacific Northwest, Mark Pickerel has quite the back story. He was the drummer in seminal grunge faves The Screaming Trees,  and has played on albums with Mark Lanegan, Brandi Carlile, Neko Case and some band from Aberdeen named ... er ... um ... Nirvana or something like that.  He even owned the most culturally and musically diverse record store in Eastern Washington. Independent retail, now THAT'S a character builder.

"Whoa Nelly," you're saying to yourself, "a drummer becoming a front man? Is that such a good idea?" Sure, the track record ain't good; Don Henley, Dave Grohl, Mickey Dolenz, Phil Collins, RINGO STARR. That Peter Criss shit was pretty bad too, the ironic value of "Beth" notwithstanding. It's a serious stigma to overcome.

Mark's got the goods, though. He was born to be in front. With his rakish good looks and his tendency to spend more than $3 on haircuts, he quickly endeared himself to the ladies of the office. His voice, alluring and just a little bit sinister, evinces his influences ranging from Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazlewood, the Gun Club, the Stranglers and Nick Cave.

Running that record store all those years sure did its damage...

Compilation Tracks: 
Recommended if You Like: 
Nick Cave
M. Ward
Mark Lanegan
Screaming Trees
The National
Lee Hazelwood

Similar Bloodshot Artists

  • Volebeats

    The Volebeats

    As much myth as institution in the Motor City, The Voles have been around since the late 80's and, like their namesake, are hard to track down, disappear for long periods of time, and remain totally loveable.

  • Alejandro Escovedo

    Ground Zero punk rock dude with The Nuns, cowpunk progenitor in Rank and File, gutter brawling guitar rawker in True Believers, and now a songwriter and performer without peer; you know the story.
  • Murder By Death Bloodshot Records

    Murder By Death

    On the surface, Murder By Death is a Louisville, KY/Bloomington, IN quintet with a wry, ominous name.

  • Trailer Bride

    Southern, and we mean Southern, to their core, Trailer Bride can hypnotize with their songs of sex, death, sin and redemption, or, if that fails, they can bring the house down with their wicked slide-guitar mojo abandon.

  • The Blacks

    In 10 or 20 years, your kids or your curious nephews will ask "Hey, why weren't the Blacks famous back then? What was wrong with you people that you made the Strokes and Vampire Weekend famous? This band kicks all their asses."
  • Maggie Bjorklund

    Maggie Bjorklund

    Steeped in Nashville form and tradition, Maggie brings her outsider perspective to the pedal steel and its possibilities. She stretches it far beyond the constraints of "country," bringing in elements of ethereal pop, psychedelia, European folk, and spaghetti western.
  • Freakwater 2015 Vertical Press Photo by Tim Furnish

    Freakwater

    Freakwater's Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin first put their distinctive harmonies to tape under a swinging Kentucky country ham in Janet's parent's basement. That was 1985. Cassette tapes sometimes have a way of landing in the right hands.

  • Neko Case

    Neko Case has The Voice, rough around the edges but possessing a formidable strength and range, that causes critics and fans to swoon. To go with that Voice, is an artistry with a trajectory that is fascinating to watch unfold and grow. Where it will take her, and us, is the thrilling part.

  • The Silos

    Heralded at their outset by Rolling Stone as "America's Best New Band," the resilient Silos mix punk, roots, rock, and sage art-damaged truth telling. "The astringent twang of The Velvet Underground with the drone of R.E.M"--NY TImes
  • Bobby Bare Jr Bloodshot Records Artist Header

    Bobby Bare Jr.

    With a big-as-the-room persona, an ability to rock the doors off the most jaded of clubs, the heart to hold a room completely still with just his guitar, and a genius for arrangement, Bobby Bare, Jr. and his band of merry makers are one of the most unique bunches around.
  • Dex Romweber Bloodshot Records

    Dex Romweber

    "Dex Romweber was and is a huge influence on my music. I owned all of his records as a teenager...he is one of the best kept secrets of the rock n roll underground." —Jack White (White Stripes, Raconteurs, Dead Weather)