Introducing: Jerusalem
JERUSALEM is a new band featuring Gutter Twins/Twilight Singers touring members Jeff Klein, Dave Rosser and Cully Symington along with Rick G Nelson III and Ashley Dzerigian.
You can hear 3 song clips over at their Myspace page.
SCOTT FORD RADIO: Thursdays @ 1PM PST
Scott Ford is back home and ready to dish on all things Gutter Twins, as well as play some music. You can get all the sordid details about his radio show at the link below:
SCOTT FORD RADIO: Thursday’s @ 1PM PST
Gentlemen Book Signings
Author Bob Gendron will be speaking and signing copies of his book on The Afghan Whigs’ Gentlemen at Hideout in Chicago on Tuesday and at Shake It Records in Cincinnati next Saturday. Links below for more info.
Vollman on Dulli
Musician Tom Vollman on how Greg Dulli’s work help influence his new album The Betty Violet.
I’ve always been a big fan of Greg Dulli’s work — The Afghan Whigs were a hometown favorite, growing up in Cincinnati. When they folded and Dulli began his Twilight Singers project, I was really intrigued by the notion that a series of songs could have one life when performed by a full band and quite another when played solo.
More at: OnMilwaukee.com
Afterhours in Kerrang!
A 4K review of Afterhours’ recent NYC show appeared in the June 28 issue of Kerrang! The review includes Afghan Whigs, Dulli and Lanegan references for good measure.
Click the image to enlarge and read the clip.
Tel Aviv Setlists
The Gutter Twins just concluded two nights in Tel Aviv, Israel. The setlists showcase the diverse nature of the band’s current repertoire. If you were looking for a reason see the band live when they return to the states, look no further.
As a side note, I’ve had “Flow Like a River” stuck in my head for days. What a great song.
Night One 9/3
The Stations
God’s Children
Bonnie Brae
Idle Hands
Seven Stories
Change Has Come
Hard Time Killing Floor
Bete Noire
I Was In Love W/You
Down The Line
St. James Infirmary
Belles
Each to Each
Front Street
____________
Live With Me
Feathers
Hit The City
King Only
Meth Blues
Number Nine
Night Two 9/4
Idle Hands
Seven Stories
God’s Children
Deep Hit
Circle the Fringes
Hard Time Killing Floor
Bete Noire
Flow Like A River
We Two Parted
The Stations
Spanish Doors
Each to Each
Front Street
__________
Papillon
River Rise
I’m Ready
Wedding Dress
Bonnie Brae
No Easy Action
Number Nine
Adorata - Pitchfork
Pitchforkmedia.com
Score: 5.3
Over the course of his career, whether in the Afghan Whigs or Twilight Singers, Greg Dulli has covered acts as diverse as the Supremes, TLC, Fleetwood Mac, Björk, and John Coltrane with often striking results. At the very least, such earnest, even revelatory stunts revealed a craftsman’s grasp of context, the notion that even the tried and true can be taken in a new direction by a different voice. Indeed, Dulli’s honed his personality as the premier alpha letch to such perfection that he’s able to twist whatever material he’s singing to suit his needs. Were his schedule lax enough to allow such an indulgence, he’d make one hell of a wedding singer.
Given Dulli’s track record, it’s no shock that the Gutter Twins would get around to recording some covers of their own. At the least, Dulli and partner/complement Mark Lanegan have just a single album’s worth of material to their collective name, so an eight-song EP of mostly cover tracks (plus a couple of previously unreleased originals) injects some new blood into a project. Another impetus for Adorata was the passing of Eleven/Queens of the Stone Age singer/organist Natasha Shneider, who died of cancer earlier this year. Portions of the EP’s proceeds will go to her memorial fund.
Frankly, getting Shneider’s name out there, not to mention covering Eleven’s “Flow Like a River”, could make more of an impact than whatever money is raised by the internet-only sales of this solid EP. “Flow Like a River”, from Eleven’s 2003 disc Howling Book, is a perfect fit for the Gutter Twins, who don’t reinvent the song so much as give it a little kick. The same could be said of some of the other cover choices on Adorata– Vetiver’s “Belles”, for example, is pushed slightly out of psych-folk mode, but the version here sticks pretty close to the spirit of the original.
Swedish songwriter José Gonzáles, however, gets the full treatment with his “Down the Line”, which is given a set of cojones courtesy tough drums and some pounding piano, transforming this track into a veritable anthem. Elsewhere Primal Scream’s “Deep Hit of Morning Sun” is given a funky facelift that streamlines the hallucinogenic cyber-punk “Venus in Furs”-isms of the original to suit Dulli and Lanegan’s collective M.O.
The traditional “St. James Infirmary”, which Lanegan recently recorded with Isobel Campbell, is reprised here, with Dulli as duet partner and Lanegan’s baritone once again perfect for the mournful blues of this death ballad. He’s great on Scott Walker’s “Duchess”, too, another track that the Gutter Twins leave largely alone, wisely recognizing it as a song you don’t mess around with. While no one would ever accuse the enigmatic Walker of excessive sunniness, there’s an airiness and openness to this reading at refreshing odds with the Twins’ more typical claustrophobic sound.
Which brings us to the band’s new tracks, which should surprise no one by reverting back to the expected darkness and intensity. It’s called playing to your strengths, which the slow-burn “Spanish Doors” and the particularly Whigs-y “We Have Met Before” (both led by Lanegan) do well. Or well enough, since flipped on their head those same strengths could be seen as limiting weaknesses. Certainly no one expects smiley face music from these guys, but it’d be nice to know such a side exists in more than just fleeting glimpses. As the pair gets more and more comfortable with the idea of being a band rather than a one-off, maybe we’ll start to get more of the risks this EP only hints at. Until then, Adorata simply keeps the fire stoked and the scent of brimstone swirling as the group’s smoke-obscured future comes into focus.
- Joshua Klein, September 4, 2008
Adorata Available Now
The new digital EP from The Gutter Twins, Adorata is now available in the iTunes music store. Click the link below to open iTunes.
The tracklisting is:
“Belles,” (Vetiver), ” Down The Line” (Jose Gonzales), “Deep Hit Of Morning Sun,” (Primal Scream), “Flow Like A River,” (Eleven), “St. James Infirmary,” (Traditional) “Duchess,” (Scott Walker), and two previously unreleased original Gutter Twins songs “Spanish Doors,” and “We Have Met Before.”
A portion of the proceeds from the release of Adorata will go to the Natasha Shneider Memorial Fund (www.natashashneider.org). Shneider, a long-time friend of the band, was the lead singer for Eleven and a member of Queens of the Stone Age.
Greg Dulli Comes Full Circle
Greg Dulli Comes Full Circle With Gutter Twins and His Return to Sub Pop - Spinner.com
by Steve Baltin
Filed under: Spinner Interview
Greg Dulli has experienced indie hero worship before — most famously when the Afghan Whigs’ brilliant 1993 release ‘Gentlemen’ garnered the band both remarkable reviews and a major cult audience. But now 15 years older, Dulli is savoring the success of his current project, the Gutter Twins. A partnership with fellow indie stalwart Mark Lanegan, the album brought Dulli back to play on ‘David Letterman’ for the first time in a dozen years and earned the pair a spot at this summer’s Lollapalooza.
The always outspoken and entertaining Dulli spoke with Spinner about working with Lanegan, returning to Sub Pop (his first home), upcoming projects, celebrity in the Internet age, and why classic-rock icons Lindsey Buckingham and Don Henley are lucky they didn’t earn fame today.
How has working with another person accustomed to being a frontman affected you?
It’s not as hard as you might think. Mark toured with the Twilight Singers, he did a hundred shows with us, so it wasn’t like I didn’t know how to do that. And, actually, we both discussed how it’s a little easier when you’re sharing the singing. You can breathe better, you don’t get worn out as fast; all in all, it’s a pretty positive experience. I’m sure that we’ll both go back to doing our own thing and then we’ll both come back to doing this again. In the best possible world, it’s something we can do at a whim and probably for the rest of our lives.
Does the success of the project change your approach at all?
Our plan was to do this and then go back and do our own thing, and that is what we’ll do. But will we come back and do another Gutter Twins record? Sure. I don’t know when that will be. It may be 2012 or 2015 or 2020, but I know that we both want to do our own records next. And he’s doing another Soul Savers record. Mark’s much more busy than I am as far as with bands. He has, like, five; I only have two.
But you always have stuff going on.
Yeah, I’m building a studio in my house right now in California and I’m going to make a Twilight record there. So that’s my next project: to finish the studio — and I’m working on an instrumental record with Mathias Schneeberger.
For someone like you who always has a variety of projects going on, how liberating is it to have all these different avenues of releasing your music?
It’s very liberating. I recorded a live record in Seattle last year of this acoustic show that I did and I’m gonna put that out online in a couple of months. So the ability to get things right to people as soon as you do them is incredibly liberating and I think it’s been done rather creatively and successfully by some people.
Who are those people who have done it well in your eyes?
I think the two best cases I know are the Radiohead and the Saul Williams record, and to varying degrees of success. On one end, you have an extremely known quantity. On the other hand, you had Saul Williams, who’s great and had the backing of Trent Reznor, who is certainly no shrinking violet himself. I’m guessing that Trent Reznor put out a bunch of records online, too, in a similar kind of plan. They have incredibly dedicated and large fan bases, and bypassing traditional distribution is a smart move for people like that. For people who aren’t as well known, or not known at all, you’re going to meet with varying degrees of success. I would probably place myself somewhere in between those two extremes as always.
Well, let’s talk then for a second about the success of this project. When you and Mark appeared on ‘Letterman,’ it was the first time you’d been in more than a decade, right?
It was the first time in 12 years.
With that, given you started this record as just a fun project with a friend, how gratifying has the level of interest been?
Anytime you do a record you’d like it to be listened to by as many people as possible. There’s a lot of stuff out there. I’m still incredibly grateful for my position in life — that I get to make records with who I want to make them with and go play shows with the people that I want to play with. And it breaks down to that simple fact, certainly. I get to do what I wanted to do when I was a kid and I get to do it for a living. And it’s opened up other doors for me that have allowed me to do other things in my life to fulfill myself. So we can talk about all kinds of things, but I just want to put that out there, that every day I wake up I’m f—ing psyched to be me.
When did you know you wanted to do this?
It’s probably the first time I wrote a song and I first wrote a song when I was 12. It was terrible, but it was fun and I couldn’t wait to learn how to play instruments after that. But yeah it’s all I ever wanted to do and I knew it.
Tell me about this live album.
I played a benefit show in Seattle. It’s the only time I’ve done it [played acoustic] and they wanted me to do it alone and I was like, “No f—ing way, dude.” At first I was gonna bring Petra Haden up to play violin with me; she ended up coming. Then I added Jeff Klein on the second guitar, then I added a cellist once I got up there. And then I added Shawn Smith, so I ended up having a full band by the time I got up there. But we all did play acoustic instruments. There’s mostly Twilight stuff, a Gutter Twins song, an Afghan Whigs song, and there are a couple of covers.
You played Lolla recently. Do you hang out or take off?
Dude, I’m playing f—ing 10 festivals this summer. I don’t hang out. Maybe if there are a couple of bands playing in the vicinity of when I’m playing, that’s who I’ll check out.
I was talking with Lindsey Buckingham and Don Henley, who come from an era right before yours, about success in the Internet age. I’d be curious to get your thoughts on what artists today face.
I’ll tell you this first of all: If Don Henley and Lindsey Buckingham would’ve come up in the f—ing Internet age, they’d both be in jail right now. That is a fact and they both know what I’m talking about. As far as what’s going on now, the persistence of paparazzi and media people, if I was a big celebrity I would walk around with a can of mace and a can of spray paint in either hand, and if you didn’t get one you’d get the other or you’d get both. Mother f—ers up in my s—, taking my picture, following me around, taking pictures of my family — that’s insane.
Care to elaborate on the Henley and Buckingham comment?
You know what I mean. Everybody knows what I mean. Google “Don Henley,” dude, and go past the first five pages. Lindsey Buckingham, watch the f—ing Fleetwood Mac ‘Behind the Music.’ It’s fantastic. Let it be known that I love Fleetwood Mac.
I wasn’t a big Eagles fan, but Henley is actually a cool guy at this point.
I’m sure John Mayer’s a nice guy, and I’m not a fan of his.
I had this exact conversation with Poe recently, and she feels the same way about him.
I’m sure he is a nice person, I have no doubt about that, but his music is abominable. I’ve never heard a good one. He’s great when he’s playing guitar on ‘Dave Chappelle’ and playing ‘Less Love’ and s— like that — that’s fantastic. But I’m not going to go sit in an amphitheater and watch it.
What are you digging lately?
I really love that new CSS record, man. That’s what I’m listening to right now. It’s exciting. That’s my jam right now. I think that No Age record is good. I’m really kind of out of it right now. I like that song ‘Rich Girls,’ by the Virgins. But I think that came out a while ago. I do think it’s extremely catchy.
You’ve done a lot of recording of late in New Orleans. What will having your studio in L.A. bring to the process?
I’ll probably still record some stuff in New Orleans, ’cause I always do. But I have wanted my own real studio for a while, and the time has come. And I want to be able to work on it all day long and not have to go anywhere and not change my clothes.
How’d the Sub Pop 20th anniversary go?
Like high school reunion, bro.
When you re-signed with Sub Pop, was it a feeling of coming full circle?
There can’t not be. It was my first label, it is my current label. So with lots of water under the bridge, it couldn’t have worked out better; they’re my friends, they care about me as a person, I think. And they’ve been really, really supportive and done the best job they could, which is all you can ask of anyone. The one band that I made sure I saw was the Fluid, and they were phenomenal. I saw their entire set, I hung out with them all after their gig. And then I had to split to go back and get ready to sound-check back in town. And then Tad Doyle was our support at the ShoBox gig; Tad is one of my favorite human beings, period, let alone in rock ‘n’ roll. And I would say hanging out with Tad and the Fluid were the highlights of my weekend.
Going back 20 years, did you ever imagine Sub Pop would have this history?
As far as forward thinking goes, I don’t even know what I’m gonna do in an hour, so I don’t think that far ahead.
The Gutter Twins: Adorata The iTunes-exclusive EP of covers and two original songs from The Gutter Twins
Gentlemen The new book on the classic Afghan Whigs album written by Bob Gendron on the 33 1/3 imprint
Order Book at Amazon.com
The Gutter Twins: Saturnalia The long awaited debut from Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan
Order CD at Amazon.com
