Greg Dulli
GREG Dulli is the driving force of The Afghan Whigs, whose early debt to Hüsker Dü was displaced by a love of ’60s soul and R&B that marked them out from the grunge pack. Having survived both a breakup and lengthy hiatus, as well as the death of guitarist Dave Rosser, the Whigs remain Dulli’s highest profile – and most successful – band, with nine albums to their credit (including How Do You Burn?, due in September), but it’s by no means his only project of substance. During their tussle with Elektra, Dulli formed The Twilight Singers, a changeable group of simpático players and friends. They racked up five studio albums, none of which pulled their leader’s focus away from emotional turmoil and existential angst. There was a different working relationship, if no less intense songs, in play with Dulli/Lanegan vehicle The Gutter Twins, who released just one album, but Dulli busted out of type with his surprise solo debut, Random Desire, an adventurous set whose liberating effect seems to have been carried forward to the new Whigs record. Through all this, Dulli’s prime motivation for recording remains the same: “Will I have a good time? Is this fulfilling? Do I want to take these songs out and play them for other people? It’s really that simple”. SHARON O’CONNELL
THE AFGHAN WHIGS
CONGREGATION
SUB POP, 1992
The Whigs’ third, its debt to ’60s soul, funk and R&B carving out a singular alt.rock profile
I would call it not only our breakthrough to a bigger public, but also a breakthrough for us as a group; I feel like that’s when we became The Afghan Whigs.] a fearlessness to just do what we wanted – not be afraid to play slow songs, for example. We were sort of guided a little bit by the label on Up In It [] and I feel we broke through and just stated our independence within the structure of the label with this record. I think was where I first started to experiment with cinematic structure – the person’s voice who opens is the person who gets sung about in the next album, . I think [] came from the interplay of the gigs we got to play, on a nightly basis. A lot of touring happened after ; we were able to tour Europe and play England for the first time. You start to hone your best instincts and then you start to trust them. And that’s when you become special. I think the recording budget [] was looked at as extravagant. It certainly was extravagant compared to what we got before that! But I felt like we had earned our place and were worth the investment. And clearly, the investment paid off.
