TWILIGHT SINGERS

The Greg Dulli interview | by Neil Rhodes


It was a little intimidating, interviewing the frontman for one of rock n roll’s greatest outfits. Greg Dulli’s career is nothing if not amazing. Fronting the Afghan Whigs for some 15 years, and now fronting the aptly named Twilight Singers, Dulli has worked tirelessley to create some really great rock n roll. That sentence falls short of how truly wonderful his career has been, but it is hard to put words on things that can only be experienced. Needless to say, I hold this man in high regard. But his ease of manner set me to rest and we flowed with this interview tao-like and easy.


NR: Hi, Mr. Dulli. How are you?
GD: Fine. I have been doing so many interviews with different magazines. I got so bored, I started lying to entertain myself. I told this woman from Italy that I had multiple personalities and that my parents had me exorcised when I was a child. Let me just say that I think that it is so cool that you are in Jacksonville. I love Lynyrd Skynyrd. When I was in high school, I was in this band. We wanted to call ourselves The Allen Collins Band. We actually got a phone book and called him to ask his permission. He said no, but gave us the name we used, Hell and Highwater. They actually kicked me out of the band and the guy they got to replace me looked almost exactly like Ronnie van Zandt. I am a disciple of Ronnie van Zandt.


NR: Well, hopefully soon I will moving to Chicago and then on to New York.
GD: Good luck. I hate New York. New York is like jacking coke. It’s fun for a little while, but then you’re out of money and the fun stops. You know what I really hate about [New York]? You can see the most beautiful woman you have ever seen, the one you know you will marry…then, a block later you will forget all about her when you see a woman even more beautiful than the first one…but good luck.


NR: Well, I bet they are all kicking themselves in the butt now. You’ve had some real success.
GD: Yeah, but those guys weren’t really into it. I wish them well, though. That was high school.


NR: How did you come by the name "Twilight Singers"?
GD: Twilight is a powerful word for two reasons. One, it’s a nether region. In a balanced world, there is a scale. Twilight is the balance. Any way you wanna take it: loose, tight, shoobie-doobie. [Laughs] It’s ghostly. Secondly, there’s this town called Twilight. It’s outside Charleston in the hills. I drove through it one night and on a piece of notebook paper, I saw a sign that said, "Tonight: The Twilight Singers". I just thought how beautiful that sounds…


NR: And how did you come by the new album’s title, Blackberry Belle?
GD: It came from Number Nine, the last song on the album. [Sweet talkin’fly on the wall/Blackberry Belle of the ball] It’s a conversation between a man and the person he had to settle with. [It’s like Mark] Lanegan (formerly of Screaming Trees) was Gilmore and I was Waters. Blackberry Belle is the motherfucking devil. [laughs]


NR: There are quite a few artists appearing in one form or another both on the first record and on this one. Was there anyone with whom you wanted to record, but were unable to for some reason?
GD: I got everyone I wanted on Blackberry Belle. Cyril Neville (of the Neville Brothers) was supposed to play and one time we thought he was outside the door, but New Orleans people are...I would like to record with Prince, but between him telling me to put out the cigarettes and me sayin’ "What the fuck’s up with Jehova’s Witness?"…I wanna Jam with Jimmy Page.


NR: Did you set about making this record with the intent to make it so beautiful it broke someone’s heart?
GD: If you’re saying that about it, that’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. I think it’s vicarious catharsis. When I was writing Gentleman, I did it just to keep my mind off [things]. And the record I played the whole time I was writing it was "Blood On the Tracks" [Bob Dylan] But your definition is correct, what you take away from it.


NR: Do you feel as at home with your new project as you did with the Whigs?
GD: Yes. #1 because I stepped away & did other things and I’ve been doing this since I was a teen. You have to wait out the blocks. Sometimes I write three songs in a week and others I couldn’t write "Once upon a time" if you put a gun in my mouth. There are people who are just genius with lyrics. Andre 3000 [Outkast] is channeling some serious Saturn. "Shake it like a Polaroid picture." Who else writes shit like that? You know, the chord progression for "Hey Ya" is the same as "66" from the last Whigs record.


NR: Is the songwriting process the same?
GD: Well, I build the house and then I bring in the interior decorators. Hold on…
[goes to other line, then returns]
That’s my next interview.


NR: Well, one quick one. What scares you?
GD: Hopelessness.


NR: Thanks for your time, I didn’t get to ask you everything…
GD: Make it up. Thanks a lot. Later.


I just didn’t have the cajones to presume to answer for Dulli. The man is otherworldly.
He is seriously on some other script. Andre 3000 ain’t the only one channelling Saturn…

http://www.thetwilightsingers.com/