quote:Pitchfork: Afghan Whigs Reunite Friday, September 8th, 2006
Pitchfork: Afghan Whigs Reunite
Your attention, please. Now turn off the light. The Afghan Whigs are back! Understand, do you understand?
It was announced today that Greg Dulli will reunite with the beloved (and, OK, pretty strongly hated, too) 80s/90s alt-rock band that made his decadent, quasi-misogynistic leerings famous. Dulli, bassist John Curley, guitarist Rick McCollum, and drummer Michael Horrigan plan to gather in the band’s former homebase of Cincinnati, Ohio in two weeks to work on their first new songs since their final album, 1998’s 1965. (Check the vintage promo photo up there!) Although it’s not the “classic” Gentlemen-era lineup, hey, we’ll take what we can get.
After four days of rehearsal, the band will head to Ardent Recording Studios in Memphis, Tennessee to record with Jeff Powell, who worked with the band on Gentlemen, Black Love, and 1965. The new material is slated to be included on an Afghan Whigs retrospective collection entitled Unbreakable, due out in March or April on Rhino. As of right now, only two songs are scheduled to be recorded, but hopefully the sessions will result in more.
However, Dulli hasn’t abandoned his current band, the Twilight Singers, as they are set to kick off their second American tour of the year on October 24 at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. (They’ll play Los Angeles’ House of Blues the next night, October 25; the full tour itinerary will be announced next week. The Twilight Singers will also head to the UK and Europe this winter.) Dulli drinking buddy Mark Lanegan will join the band for the entire tour.
To put it mildly, I am pretty ****ing stoked.
In celebration of this fantastic news, I’d like to direct your attention towards the totally batshit insane video for the Afghan Whigs song “Conjure Me”, from 1992’s Sub Pop release Congregation. (Speaking of batshit insane, peep the album cover.) Watch in awe as Dulli sings almost the entire song with a topless chick straddling him. I don’t know whether to laugh or get really pissed.