Gemma Hayes contributes to Mark Linkous documentary

Gemma Hayes has contributed a moving interview about her friend Mark Linkous to a new documentary, The Sad & Beautiful World Of Sparklehorse, which is the subject of an Indiegogo campaign to raise £10,000 in funding.

You can help the campaign by making a donation here.

“Alex Crowton and Balwant Dass; close friends and collaborators for more than a decade have worked tirelessly to produce a film that depicts their shared passion for Sparklehorse,” reads the blurb. “They also produced and shot an entirely self-funded promo for Mark Linkous in 2007.

“After a long battle with depression, Linkous committed suicide by shooting himself in the heart in 2010. Linkous was a man who had no other choice but to be a musician, operating in the space between creative genius and insanity. The film will explore the theme that mental illness is allied to creativity, using Linkous as an example of why highly creative people seem to suffer from severe psychiatric illness, especially Bipolar disorder.”

Talking to Hot Pres in March 2010, Gemma said of Mark: “He was utterly beautiful. The world can’t possibly be the same after his death because he was like sunshine. I don’t really know what to say, but tell you about the man I knew. He wore strange glasses and a hick trucker hat. He loved fixing up old machines like his Flickenger console, vintage cars and motorbikes. He loved distortion pedals and the Buzzcocks, that green moss you find like a carpet in forests, he loved mountains and his dogs. He smelled of cherries and cigarette smoke and I loved him completely.”
We wish Messrs. Crowton and Dass all the best with their endeavours.

Sad and Beautiful World Trailer from Alex Crowton on Vimeo.