Tickets On Sale This Sunday At 10AM

July 18, 2011 – SEATTLE, WA – Originally booked as a make up show for an earlier cancelled date, The Twilight Singers will turn the last night of their Dynamite Steps tour into a special event by performing their revered second album Blackberry Belle in its entirety. The show will take place on September 17th in San Francisco at Great American Music Hall. Tickets will go on sale on this Sunday, July 24th, at 10:00AM PST and can be purchased at the box office or online at: http://www.gamhtickets.com/. Special guests that evening will include Apollonia Kotero – who backs up frontman Greg Dulli on that record’s “Teenage Wristband” and “Fat City” – and longtime collaborator Mark Lanegan, who duets on the album’s epic closer, “Number Nine.”

Following the conclusion of the Blackberry Belle performance, the group will play a full second set showcasing songs from its entire career. As the final worldwide show in support of the critically acclaimed new album Dynamite Steps (Sub Pop) this will be a must see event for any Twilight Singers fan. “Blackberry Belle is the album where The Twilight Singers’ sound truly crystallized,” Dulli says. “It captures a distinct moment in time, featuring some of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.”

via The Twilight Singers

20/04/10 Utrecht – Helling
21/04/10 Eindhoven – Effennar
23/04/10 Bristol – Academy 2
24/04/10 Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
25/04/10 Manchester – Academy 3
26/04/10 Glasgow – Oran Mor
28/04/10 Belfast – Empire
29/04/10 Dublin – Academy 2
30/04/10 Galway – Roisin Dubh
02/05/10 Wolverhampton – Slade Rooms
03/05/10 Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
04/05/10 London – Garage
06/05/10 Brussels – Ancienne Belgique
07/05/10 Cologne – Luxor
08/05/10 Hamburg – Uebel & Gefaehrlich
09/05/10 Berlin – Lido
11/05/10 Munich – Backstage Halle
12/05/10 Vienna – Flex
13/05/10 Milan – Magazini Generalli
14/05/10 Rome – Circolo degli Artisti
16/05/10 Madrid – Joy Eslava
17/05/10 Barcelona – Bikini
19/05/10 Tel Aviv – Zappa Club

MARK Lanegan has one of the most in-demand voices in music. Since his band Screaming Trees disbanded in 2000, he has collaborated with Queens of the Stone Age, Creature with the Atom Brain, Bomb the Bass and Soulsavers. Belle and Sebastian singer Isobel Campbell, Melissa Auf der Maur and Martina Topley Bird are some of the female singers who have weaved their voices with his deep caramel baritone.

His most recent muse has been his old friend Greg Dulli from the Afghan Whigs. Lanegan has appeared on three albums with Dulli’s recent band, Twilight Singers, and Dulli returned the favour on two Lanegan albums.

The pair have formed their own band, the Gutter Twins (a low-rent take on Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ “Glimmer Twins”). In 2007, they released an album, Saturnalia, which they are currently playing in their show, An Acoustic Evening with Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan, alongside tracks from the Twilight Singers, Afghan Whigs, Screaming Trees and Mark Lanegan solo songbooks.

“It took quite a while because when we first started, we didn’t have plans to make a record,” Lanegan says of the Gutter Twins.

“We wrote a couple of songs here and there and then we decided to get serious and got the bulk of it done in a pretty short time. I enjoyed the process and we’re really good friends. I’m sure we’ll make another Gutter Twins record.”

The pair, whose relationship goes back to when they used to play Hank Williams songs in the kitchen of the house they shared in Los Angeles, have been known to burn the candle at both ends. But Dulli has said that the name refers more to how the two are perceived, rather than their current lifestyles.

“We’re pretty old guys, we take it pretty easy these days,” confirms Lanegan, 44.

It’s not as if Lanegan needed any help. Between 1990 and 2004, he released six brilliant solo albums. But he says he enjoys the challenge of collaborations and discovering how his voice can blend with others.

He says he receives “quite a few” requests from musicians wanting to work with him and he has declined many. So what does he look for?

“I’ve got to have an appreciation of what they do without me. Then I’ve got to see if there is a place for me in what they do, like a meeting point. If they’re cool people — that’s pretty high on the list. And it’s important to be challenged by someone’s point of view. I look to other people to be challenged.”

Lanegan’s next project is a second album and tour with Soulsavers, which will be followed by a third collaboration with British singer Campbell. Although it is easier to collaborate in the digital age, when you can email vocal parts, early recordings between Lanegan and Campbell suffered from the tyranny of distance.

But for their new album they will sing face-to-face in the studio, a la Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood, to improve the chemistry.

“Obviously, I prefer being in the same studio,” Lanegan says.

“It’s always nice when you have the real thing in front of you.

“Singing with her is one of the great joys of my music life.”

Not many people would have the nerve to leave a revered rock band like Queens of the Stone Age but that’s what Lanegan did. However, he is keen to work with them again.

“They’re great friends … I just went out and had lunch with Josh [Homme] a couple of weeks ago.”

And when will he get that wonderful solo career back on track? “That’s a good question,” he says. “I’ve been so busy with other things I haven’t really gotten into it yet but at some point I will.”

Summer’s Kiss: A Tribute to the Afghan Whigs Buy Now
4/5 Stars

Coming up alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Mudhoney, the Afghan Whigs stood apart as a rock band with an appreciation for soul and Motown. This tribute album features some big names alongside lesser known artists. Capturing the early, frenzied melodies from album Up in It, Sweden’s Sounds Like Violence do a rapturous version of Sammy. Mark Lanegan adds an even more sinister undertone to Tonight and Joseph Arthur is suitably hypnotic on the lonely Step into the Light. A mix of album tracks and singles are tackled, making it a treat for fans and a perfect introduction for the uninitiated.

In your face, Rob Thomas!

An Evening with Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan
July 1, 2009 – Bourbon Street Music Club, São Paolo, Brazil

Thanks to Andre for assembling and notating the setlist -

01 – Gutter Twins – The Body [from: Saturnalia (2008)]
02 – Gutter Twins – God’s Children [from: Saturnalia (2008)]
03 – Gutter Twins – The Stations [from: Saturnalia (2008)]
04 – Afghan Whigs – If I Were Going [from: Gentlemen (1993)]
05 – Screaming Trees – Sworn and Broken [from: Dust (1996)]
06 – Gutter Twins – Down The Line (Jose Gonzalez) [from: Adorata (2008)]
07 – Gutter Twins – We Have Met Before [from: Adorata (2008)]
08 – Mark Lanegan – Creeping Coastline of Lights [from: I'll Take Care
of You (1999)]
09 – Mark Lanegan – Resurrection Song [from: Field Songs (2001)]
10 – Twilight Singers – The Twilight Kid [from: Twilight As Sung By
The Twilight Singers (2000)]
11 – Twilight Singers – King Only [from: Twilight As Sung By The
Twilight Singers (2000)]
12 – Mark Lanegan – Sunrise [from: Whiskey For The Holy Ghost (1994)]
13 – Afghan Whigs – Summer’s Kiss [from: Black Love (1996)]
14 – Mark Lanegan – The River Rise [from: Whiskey For The Holy Ghost (1994)]
15 – Gutter Twins – Sunset Machine [from: London 01.19.09 (Bootleg) (2009)]
16 – Washington White – I am in the Heavenly Way [from: Goodbye,
Babylon (Disc 3) (2003)]
17 – Afghan Whigs – What Jail Is Like [from: Gentlemen (1993)]
18 – Screaming Trees – Dollar Bill [from: Sweet Oblivion (1992)]
19 – Nick Drake – Three Hours [from: Five Leaves Left (1969)]

Fan-shot video of “Dollar Bill” -

Rating: 7/10

Although they made five critically acclaimed and genre-defying albums, Cincinnati’s Afghan Whigs were another one of those bands that never received the widespread adoration they deserved.

Too soulful and cinematic to ride the coattails of grunge, Greg Dulli and his band eventually split up in 2001 leaving a collection of raw, sexy and sinister music behind, only for critics to retrospectively slot them into Top 100 lists. Now the website dedicated to the Whigs and their subsequent musical projects has put together this tribute compilation.

‘Gentlemen’ was their breakthrough album in 1993 but four of the 13 tracks here are taken from the final most soulful, swaggering record, ‘1965’. New York’s Mighty Fine bring a touch of Prince to their funky version of ‘Somethin’ Hot’, while Sonny Oaks find new dynamics in ‘Uptown Again’. But so much of Dulli’s devilish, cocksure personality was in the delivery of lines such as “I got the devil in me girl” or “I got a dick for a brain / and my brain is gonna sell my ass to you” that it’s hard to hear someone else sing it convincingly. Curiously, Susan Marshall’s honey-coated effort leaves you wishing there were more female interpretations of Dulli’s playboy words.

Dulli’s good friends and the two biggest names on the album – Mark Lanegan and Joseph Arthur – do justice to their respective songs. Arthur delivers a sublime version of the woozy ‘Step Into The Light’, while Lanegan uses his sinister persona to full effect on the ominous ‘Tonight’. Growling “Come outside and play with me,” he mischievously ends the song ad-libbing: “Scared you, didn’t I?”

Revisiting the ‘Whigs deep, potent melodies is a tough but pleasurable task for any band and hopefully the renewed interest will inspire others to imbue their rock with a little more danger and a little more soul.

Words: Lianne Steinberg

Ours main man Jimmy Gnecco has announced he’ll be opening for Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan in July on a quick tour of Europe. Like Dulli and Lanegan, Gnecco will be performing acoustically. “This will be my first trip to Europe and I am thrilled to have the chance to come and play for all the European fans,” writes Gnecco in the band’s newsletter.

Following his solo dates in Europe, Gnecco will be rejoining Ours. The band will be touring with Blue October and Switchfoot in August.

Jimmy Gnecco Acoustic w/ Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan

* 7/12 Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL
* 7/13 Doornroosje – Nijmegen, NL
* 7/15 Savoy Theatre – Düsseldorf, DE
* 7/16 Stage Club – Hamburg, DE
* 7/17 Vega – Copenhagen, DK
* 7/19 Royal Festival Hall – London, UK

Mark Lanegan Covers Afghan Whigs – Stereogum

Stereogum covered the Afghan Whigs tribute today. They’ve also embedded an exclusive stream of Mark Lanegan’s cover of “Tonight.”

Lanegan does a properly slow, soulful, kind of blue take of one of his Gutter Twin’s classic Congregation songs “Tonight.” His go at the 1992 come-on’s from the forthcoming Summer’s Kiss: A Tribute To The Afghan Whigs, which includes a baker’s dozen of Whigs takes via Joseph Arthur, My Jerusalem, Zykos, etc. The idea for it started in the summer of 2006 when the Afghan Whigs fan site Summerkiss put out an open call for covers of Whigs songs and folks responded. You can hear snippets of the selected 13 (of nearly 100 submitted) at the Summerkiss label’s website, but first you can hear Lanegan in his smokey entirety here. (By the by, does Sam Holden’s photo for the tribute’s cover look at all familiar, gentlemen?)

The production duo Soulsavers have announced their third album – and yet another team-up with Mark Lanegan, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and members of Spiritualized. Richard Hawley, Faith No More’s Mike Patton, and Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers will also appear on the group’s forthcoming record, titled Broken.

Summer’s Kiss: A Tribute to the Afghan Whigs will be released on June 23, 2009. The compilation album features contributions from Mark Lanegan, Joseph Arthur, Matthew Ryan, My Jerusalem and more. View the full tracklisting and hear excerpts at Summerskiss Records.