Twilight Singers - When Hell becomes Paradise

Simply defining Greg Dulli as “the former singer of the Afghan Whigs” or “the singer of the Twilight Singers” or “one half of the Gutter Twins, with the other half being Mark Lanegan” feels reductive to me. Because there's a generation, mine, that was utterly floored in the thick of adolescence by a Congregation fresh off the press. And if you add that a couple of years later, to see the Afghan Whigs live, I went all the way to the Reading festival, where on the very same day I also happened to catch Therapy?, Rollins Band, Tindersticks, Soundgarden, Helmet and Stabbing Westward, you can well imagine the slight head-spin I felt a few minutes into my encounter with Dulli.

Interview scheduled for early morning. Greg's eyes are puffy and his voice is thick.

Greg, did you wake up just for me?!

No, no. I just have a cold. I'm awake! What do you want to ask me?

Let's start by talking right away about “Dynamite Steps“. I listened to this album with some friends and the shared impression was that you've finally freed yourself from a negative anger and are now channeling a more positive energy.

Inside me there are both positive and negative energies. I guess that at certain moments certain feelings take over, and at other moments those same feelings withdraw.

It's hard for me to tell you if I've changed, it's hard to be objective when talking about yourself.

I quit smoking (smiles) and that's helped me feel better. It's definitely helped me sing better. I also breathe better, when I don't have a cold! (smiles again)

I've started taking better care of myself. I've torn down some walls that, for many years, I'd put up to protect myself. So yes, there have been big emotional changes.

At this point I can't hold back: I set down the recorder and hug Greg. He smiles and thanks me.

“Last Night In Town” is a track that struck me in particular: it starts off gentle, then almost turns into dance music, and ends up being a rock song. Was it an easy song to write and produce?

It's a song that took time to write. At first it was a ballad, then I left it half-finished and set it aside because I didn't know how to continue. After a while I added a drum beat and came back to it.

When I started writing it, I really didn't know how to approach it, but I was drawn to it. I got close to it, pulled away and left it alone, came back to see it again... I treated this song the way I'd treat a girl I don't know how to act around (smiles).

Piano and strings show up on this record, instruments you hadn't made much use of before.

Yeah, but live I like to be right up front. I'll play piano on two or three songs, but Rick (Nelson, the violinist) is a fantastic pianist, definitely much better than me. I love just standing there and listening to him play.

Does the way you relate to a song change if the posture you take to play it changes?

Yes, the songs absolutely change depending on the posture I take.

Playing guitar sitting down helps concentration; playing guitar standing up gives me energy, so I prefer to play standing up (smiles); sitting down and playing piano is... the only way I'm able to play piano! (laughs)

I couldn't play piano standing up, I think it would feel strange to me. And anyway the only person who should play piano standing up is Jerry Lee Lewis.

"Dynamite Steps" was recorded in different cities.

That's true. I live between Los Angeles and New Orleans and I recorded in both cities. I also recorded in a studio in Joshua Tree that belongs to my friend David Catching. I'd gone to see him to spend a quiet weekend, to relax and focus.

How do you "organize" your trips into the studio? Do you think: "Now I'm going to New Orleans to record" or "I'm in Los Angeles and I could record", or do you find yourself somewhere and feel that it's the right moment to go into the studio?

It's up to the songs, not up to me: if the song decides to reveal itself in Joshua Tree, that's where I follow it.

I can remember pretty well where I start writing each song, but that's not necessarily the same place where I'll finish writing it. Writing a song is a process that takes more than a day, unless you're extremely lucky.

When I'm working on an album, the songs are like a family: they're brothers and sisters, and I could tell you which of them are male and which are female. They interact with each other, they argue. Sometimes they agree, other times they don't.

Got it. So it's not that you write a song and tell yourself: "Hmm, this song should be recorded... I don't know, in New York!", pack a bag and leave.

I'd like that, but if I thought that way, I'd end up thinking about recording in Bangkok... Or I'd decide that all the songs on the album should be recorded in Hawaii!

Getting back to being serious, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Joshua Tree are currently the places where I spend most of my time. The choice of these places is entirely down to logistics and geography.

"Powder Burns" is an album recorded in New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina hit (using electric generators, with the city under curfew). I imagine being there, in those conditions, must have had a big influence on the mood of the record.

Absolutely, yes!

When the hurricane hit, I was actually in Italy, at Manuel's place (Agnelli of Afterhours), and I followed the whole thing on television. I lived in New Orleans for fourteen years, and I watched this city, so alive and exciting, get put under curfew, with police patrols going up and down the streets... Those are images you'd expect to see in Iraq, in Kosovo, maybe even in Belfast...

I could feel Katrina's ghosts and shadows…

I get the impression that recording in New Orleans was a great act of love towards the city.

It was an act of love towards the city, and towards myself.

It was a time when we all became more reflective.

Did you write the album in New Orleans, or did you just record it there?

Not all of it. I write wherever I happen to be, and that year I spent a lot of time in Milan. So several tracks were written and recorded in Milan together with Tommaso Colliva, who also produced a track from "Dynamite Steps".

Some time ago, talking about the Twilight Singers, you said you didn't feel part of a band.

What I meant was that I didn't want to think of the Twilight Singers as a band, but as a collective, as a project that wasn't closed and rigid: I wanted to host different musicians so they could play different things.

On "Dynamite Steps", Scott Ford and Dave Rosser play on almost every track, so now we can start to be considered a real band. Dave and Scott are part of the Twilight Singers exactly as much as I am.

You've recently been touring an acoustic live set called "An Evening With Greg Dulli".

How did the need arise to present your past material (including some Gutter Twins and Afghan Whigs songs), present and future, in (almost) total solitude? (joined on stage by Dave Rosser on guitar and Rick Nelson on violin)

It's an experience I cared about, because I'd never had it before.

I realized I'd been making records for more than twenty years, and I felt it was the right time for a retrospective.

I also brought Rick along on tour, to see if the violin could blend well into the project, and since it worked, the violin is now a permanent instrument in the band.

I'd been working on "Dynamite Steps" for a long time, I'd been playing it live for more than a year, and in some way I wanted to bring it back on tour in a simpler, more intimate, more close-knit atmosphere. It's a tour I really enjoyed.

Did you ever think about releasing a live album?

We recorded the first date and the one in Baltimore, which was an interesting show because our drummer lives there, so he played too. We're actually mixing that show right now, so yes: a live album from the Baltimore date of the "A Night With Greg Dulli" tour will be coming out.

Did you catch any shows?

I was in Antwerp.

Antwerp was... an extraordinary show! Every date went well, but a few were special.

Ok, I only have time for one last question. ... Greg, do you really consider the Twilight Singers to be "Dulli's Inferno"? (The words "Dulli's Inferno" appeared in the tab description when accessing the band's official website. From his expression I can tell he has no idea what I'm talking about, but I stay silent, waiting for it to click. Then Greg bursts out laughing).

It was a joke between me and a friend of mine. We thought it was funny.

No one had ever asked me about it, you seem to be the only person who's noticed it! (laughs again)

Alright, so now that we've established that the Twilight Singers are "Dulli's Inferno," what can you tell me about "Dulli's Purgatorio" and "Dulli's Paradiso"?

Oh well, I guess those exist too... Actually, you know what I'll do? I'll go scheme and change it to "Dulli's Paradiso." Sounds like a great idea, thanks for suggesting it.

I don't know if this interview captures Greg's essence. Meanwhile, here I am with heart-shaped eyes, basking in the memory, staring at the new wording that now appears on the band's official website: "Dulli's Paradiso."

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