TWILIGHT SINGERS INTERVIEW | GREG DULLI
Posted by mommaty on
September 29, 2009
So I find myself sitting on a toilet in an East Village bar called DBA (the watering hole of my husband's single days). I look around for some toilet paper and low and behold - what do I see? Poetry all over the walls written by hundreds of women during their powder room romps. As I'm reading away, one thing just pops out. DULLI YOU SEXY MOTHERFUCKER! and DULLI RULES! I laugh mainly because I agree and I had just talked to him a few weeks before for this article.
When I get back out to meet my friends, guess what's playing in the background? Right after hearing all of Radiohead's new Kid A, on comes the entirety of TWILIGHT as played by the TWILIGHT SINGERS (a.k.a. Dulli's side project). I go up to the bartender and say, "You've got a real Afghan Whigs following here huh?" And he says, "You better believe it." I tell him about my interview. He gives me a free drink. I love this job.
The album starts with one of the most beautiful songs of the year: the twilite kid. Dulli's breathy voice really gets to shine here and the emotions he's able to explore through it really touch the listener.
All of Dulli's work with the Afghan Whigs have been very emotional and sexy, but there is definitely something that smells of things like unrequited love, passionate nights (check out the orgasmic moans in track #3 called Clyde), yearning and loneliness in these songs. It's a mature album from a maturing Dulli. Twilight is clearly a labor of love. And from talking to Greg, he confirmed that in his thirties, he's slowing down a bit, with less womanizing and getting into trouble. I suspect the drinking is down too. Somehow, I think the music is going into a better direction, perhaps because of this.
It seems that Greg is looking to be saved. It seems that love is the only thing that can do this. Maybe I'm reading into the album too much, but Greg is looking for redemption through this emotional spewing... possibly trying to purge the lonely demons he's been heralding for too long. Is Dr. Freud in the house?
save me save me either way i wanna be your baby
The brooding melodies are triumphant in that they truly utilize Dulli's talent at crooning, seranading, and making everyone feel warm and fuzzy inside. Many of the climactic highs of the songs feel something like mental breakthroughs and some even make you want to dance. This is a beautiful album which only gets better and better the more you listen to it. Barry White's got some competition here..
We'll miss the hedonistic, drunken partyboy, but somehow, he seems even sexier now. As a man. Would you ever have believed it? I think Greg's all grown up!
-Ty Wenzel
Q&A
T. How did Twilight come about? And are the Whigs still together? There are rumors floating around...
GD. We're recording a new album. Twilight Singers came about by me writing material that wasn't rock material. And basically you know... I decided to have a musical affair with other people.
T. You have such a breathy voice. Do you do any affectation to it to sound that way?
GD. I put it through a sensualizer.
T. hmmm...and what would that sensualizer be? <wink wink>
GD. Use your imagination, Darlin'.
T. I will... <I'm afraid to tell him what I'm imagining, so I move on...sweating profusely> You're music is getting very mellow with Twilight. Do you think you're mellowing? I was listening to '65 and it's more angry and edgy. What am I picking up on?
GD. To try to force yourself to be an angry young man is kinda sad. I know better than anyone. But, for me I'm becoming a better player. When I was young I just wanted to scream and make a loud a noise as I could.
T. Does that mean the intense partying is over? Now that your in your thirties... Are you settling down? Getting into maybe a relationship?
GD. Ummm... not in a relationship. <I hear a collective sigh of relief from every woman I know> And, if someone throws a good party, I'll be sure to be there. If you're asking if the drinking, partying, and womanizing is passed, it probably has most likely. It has been for quite some time now.
T. Brutal love songs are your signature. Did you need a bad relationship as a muse? Did you ever sabotage a relationship for material?
GD. No. That's twisted behavior. Relationships are hard enough, to try and throw a wrench in one? I've only been in two in my whole life. They didn't end particularly well. I had a distrust of relationships from an early age, watching my parents. It colors your world view, you know. If you see two unhappy people living together every day, why would you want to be in a rush to get into something like that? I never have, you know. But, I've been in love two times in my life and they were wonderful experiences. I certainly didn't need to sabotage them, they hit the iceberg on their own.
T. You're showing such a tender side of yourself with Twilight. It was nice after knowing the "wild and crazy" Dulli through the Whigs for so long.
D. I've been giving glimpses of it for years. But this is the most obvious I've made it for that persona to come though.
T. What do you think about rock and roll right now... the charts are full of boy bands and crap.
D. They wouldn't even call that rock and roll I don't think. It goes through cycles like anything does. I mean... imagine all the potential boy bands waiting for the "grunge" thing to end. Grunge went away and there they were. Things move in cycles. N' Sync and Backstreet Boys are overexposing themselves to the point of... the backlash will be wicked and swift. They're riding high right now and ride away. The people will speak.
T. I'm hoping bands like the Whigs and Guided by Voices will top the charts some day. I just partied with GBV for two days, in fact.
GD. (laughing hysterically) You did? I love them! The only one I know now in the band is Bob.
T. I'm in love with Bob now.
GD. And Budweiser too.
T. Did you get the box set yet? <Suitcase>
GD. I don't have the box set but I got Do The Collapse. I thought that was great. He's a force the likes I've never seen before. I'm from just 40 miles down the road from Bob Pollard. We were born 40 miles apart.
T. He's such a genius and such a normal person too.
GD. And a great basketball player too.
T. And baseball too!
GD. He is an enigma. I love him. I think he's enormously talented and anything good that happens to Bob Pollard makes me smile. Tell him I said hi and that I love him.
T. Is huge rock star status something important to you?
GD. Obviously it's not important to me because I've never had it! (laughs)
T. If it was handed to you on a silver platter, would you take it?
GD. With all the invasions of privacy, no way. I'd take the cash though. (laughs)
T. That's what Bob said! Do you guys do anything else for money?
GD. We don't have to but, John Curley owns his own internet company. Rick co-owns a landscaping company in Minneapolis. I write all the songs so I get publishing, but we can all live on the music.
T. You are a big fan of Motown. Do you like Rap? Has it been a letdown?
GD. Ty, in my opinion there are two kinds of music. Good music and Bad music. That's the way I look at it. There's great hip hop music. There's very few I can listen to the whole album, for that they would have to be like Jurassic Five or D'Angelo and Badu all the way. Every once in a while... one of my favorite now is Transcendental Blues. You stick it on and you'll listen to the whole thing. The first song in particular. Like I have since I was 10 years old, I go out and find what's gonna turn me on.
T. What influences your lyrics?
GD. I'm influenced by everyday life. More than anything I'm influenced by conversations. Sometimes to the point of plagiarizing the very line that they say to me. <laughs> I've been working on a song recently and I started to sing this line and I'm like where have I heard this before? Am I stealing this line? I realize I'm stealing it from my friend Mike who told me a story two weeks ago!
T. Sweet Son of a Bitch? Tell me...
GD. Tell you what?
T. Were you having sex with her?
GD. I never said that! I'm not going to say that now? It's a recording and I was the engineer of the recording. I'm not saying I wasn't in the room when people were having sex; I'm just saying I wasn't one of the people having the sex. I was there.
T. I was told that therapy has been a part of your life.
GD. I went to therapy briefly. It helped me in a difficult part of my life.
T. I was told you had dealt with depression. Had that influenced you?
GD. Up until the point that I did get myself fixed I'm sure it was influencing me subconsciously.
T. Did music come out of that experience?
GD. Congregation, Gentleman and Black Love. <laugh> There you go.
T. You're notorious too. Getting into trouble...
GD. I've been a good boy.
T. I read for 1965, you said this was lust without the guilt. Was that true for you?
GD. There was guilt period in my life. I think 1965 the first record I had no sad relationships to sing about, no sad mental states to sing from. I was in a celebratory time.
T. What kind of time is it now.
GD. Good! Right now is a kind of experimental time. I record every day. Something. Not even songs, just sounds. I feel like a kid again. Discovering music again.
T. What do you think of the internet?
GD. I am not against computers, but outside of playing computer golf, I don't really use one. All my friends do and when I check my e-mail every six months people are like "what the fuck". I couldn't find my computer. It's probably under all my clothes.
T. What would you like to say to your fans?
GD. I would say Thank You for liking what I do and supporting us, and buying our records and coming to see us. You don't only do this for yourself. You do to put yourself first, but once you put it out and make it available it becomes everyone's so I would say thank you!
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