Gemma Hayes has paid heartfelt tribute to Mark Linkous, a.k.a. Sparklehorse who tragically died over the weekend. Gemma and Mark had a reciprocal love of each other's music, and became close friends.
“There is such a huge black crater where Mark once stood," she tells Hot Press. "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 went to an Irish dancing contest in Dublin once and he cried for one little girl who lost out cos she messed up her steps. She was devastated, so was he. Mark loved wholly and completely. He loved with all his heart. He was shy, slightly awkward but had a fire in his belly. He was utterly beautiful. Within that beauty was a sadness, a pain he carried like a warrior. Mark has given us the gift of his rusty, aching, hopeful music, we should cherish it. I am forever grateful that I knew Mark. Goodnight my beautiful friend.”