Dylan Randolph Carlson (born March 12, 1968) is an American musician best known as the guitarist and founder of the drone metal/

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

group

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, and the main contributor to his solo project Drcarlsonalbion.

Early life and education

Carlson was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. His father worked for the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

, and as a result, moved quite frequently. Living in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, before coming back to live in Washington state.

Career

He had first become interested in being a rock musician at age 15, inspired by bands such as

Molly Hatchet Molly Hatchet is an American rock band formed by guitarist Dave Hlubek in Jacksonville, Florida in 1971. They experienced popularity and commercial success during the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s amongst southern rock and hard rock commun ...

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

, and

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

. He also cites the

Melvins Melvins (sometimes the Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Primarily a trio, they have also performed as a quartet, with eith ...

, and composers

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best k ...

and

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist music, minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his work became notab ...

as major influences on his music. It was in

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington. It had a population of 55,605 at the 2020 census, making it the state of Washington's 23rd-most populous city. Olympia is the county seat of Thurston County, and the central city ...

that he met

Slim Moon Matthew "Slim" Moon (born October 15, 1967) is an American musician and the founder of the American independent music label Kill Rock Stars (KRS). He also started its sister label, 5 Rue Christine. Slim ran KRS from 1991 to 2006, during which ...

, Greg Babior, Dave Harwell and Joe Preston, with whom he would later form Earth. During this time, he would often make "sonic collages" with his then-roommate

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establis ...

. From 1991 to 1996, Earth had an ever-changing lineup. Carlson attributes a lack of (full-length) studio album recordings from 1997 to 2005 to "legal and drug problems".

Personal life

Carlson was a good friend of

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

and, like Cobain, has struggled with

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

addiction, particularly so after Cobain's death. Dylan was the one who purchased the gun that ended Kurt's life, which he bought at Cobain's request six days before his death. He was actually with investigator Tom Grant when he searched Kurt's home, but they failed to search the greenhouse above the garage where his body was eventually discovered on April 8, 1994. In his biography of Cobain, ''

Heavier Than Heaven ''Heavier Than Heaven'' is a 2001 biography of musician Kurt Cobain, the frontman of the grunge band Nirvana. It was written by Charles R. Cross. For the book, Cross desired to create the definitive Cobain biography, and over four years condu ...

'', Charles R. Cross asserted that "

In Bloom "In Bloom" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It appears as the second track on the band's second album, ''Nevermind'', released by DGC Records in September 1991. The ''Nevermind'' version ...

" was a "thinly disguised portrait" of Carlson. He now lives in recovery of heroin addiction. He has survived a rare form of

hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. ...

and liver failure. Carlson was married to fellow

member, drummer

Adrienne Davies Adrienne Davies is the current drummer and percussionist of the post-rock band Earth. Davies is credited as drummer on several of Earth's albums. They range from '' Living in the Gleam of an Unsheathed Sword'' (2005) and for drums, percussion ...

for a time. Davies still remains in the band despite their split.

Solo discography

*''La Strenga and the Cunning Man in the Smoke'' (as Drcarlsonalbion) (2012) *''Gold'' (as Drcarlsonalbion) (2014) *''Falling with a 1000 Stars and other wonders from the House of Albion'' (with Coleman Grey) (2016) *''

Conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

'' (2018)

References

External links

*
Earth's MySpace pageExtensive Earth InterviewDylan's Interview with I Heart Noise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlson, Dylan 1968 births Living people Grunge musicians American indie rock musicians Sub Pop artists Musicians from Seattle American experimental guitarists American male guitarists American heavy metal guitarists American post-rock musicians Guitarists from Washington (state) 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Earth (American band) members