Twilight Singers' Greg Dulli Gets 'Spooky' and 'Bizarre' on 'Dynamite Steps'

Posted on Mar 1st 2011 11:00AM by Steve Baltin
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The Twilight Singers have primarily been a vehicle for Greg Dulli's songwriting, but for their latest album, 'Dynamite Steps,' the entire band was heavily involved in the creative process.

"The thing about the Twilight records were I always did them kind of piecemeal," the former Afghan Whigs frontman tells Spinner. "This record, they were in the room with me. It was me, Scott Ford, Dave Rosser, and the drummer, whoever the drummer was. There is, including myself, five drummers on the record." Also back in the fold is Jon Skibic, who played guitar on 'Blackberry Belle.'

The result is a record that feels like a hybrid of the best of the previous Twilight Singers albums, bringing in rock, atmosphere and soul. This time around, Dulli got that complete sound by filling in the pieces he thought were lacking. "The last three songs that made the record were 'Be Invited,' Waves' and 'Beginning of the End.' Those were the final three that made the cut," he says. "I reacted to what I needed. I needed another fast one, I needed another slow one and I needed the super weird one. 'Beginning of the End' to me is like a super bizarre song, in a good way. I really like the song, but I don't know where the f--- that came from."

After a five-year hiatus during which Dulli worked with Mark Lanegan on the Gutter Twins project and toured as a solo acoustic act, Dulli credits Ford for helping turn his focus back to Twilight Singers. "There's probably not a bigger Twilight Singers fan in the whole world than Scott Ford," Dulli says. "I give Scott a lot of credit for me finishing 'Blackberry Belle,' 'Powder Burns' and the last three records I've done. Scott has been extremely valuable in the finishing of all those records. He's such a positive force for this band in particular, and Dave Rosser as well."

The recording of the album found the group taking their camaraderie on the road for a very prolific trip to Joshua Tree. "Doing this record with them was a gas," he says. "We all went out to Joshua Tree together, the Joshua Tree experience, we were out there for a week and during that week almost half the record, five of the songs, were conceived in that week."

There are also several guests, including Lanegan, Ani DiFranco, Petra Haden and Joseph Arthur. "If you've played on a Twilight Singers record, you're a Twilight Singer forever. Petra has played on three, Ani's played on two, Mark's played on four, Joe Arthur's played on three. They're my friends and they're really talented," he says. "I'm lucky to know them as my friend, but I'm even luckier to have them as collaborators."

New to the fold this time though is Verve guitarist Nick McCabe, who Dulli never met in person. In fact, McCabe was brought in based on an interview. "I always loved the Verve and I read an interview with him where he talked about how he almost felt like he played the guitar as a keyboard player," Dulli says. "It was that statement he made in that interview that I knew sending it to him was the way. It's super spooky ambience, it's like being at sea in the fog and then the fog clears and you see the island."

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