Mark Lanegan at Bowery Ballroom in 2010 (more by Caleb Heller)

The Mark Lanegan Band will return this February with their first album since 2004's Bubblegum. The new album, Blues Funeral, comes out in North America on February 7 via 4AD and a day earlier in the UK. The album was recorded with Alain Johannes, who also worked on Bubblegum and features guest appearances from Josh Homme, who he's collaborated with before, Greg Dulli, who he collaborated with in Gutter Twins, and Jack Irons, who drummed in Eleven with Johannes. Check out the album's opening track, "The Gravedigger's Song," along with the album's artwork and tracklist below. You can pre-order the album at the 4AD webstore.

The Mark Lanegan Band is touring the album in Europe from late February to early April, but before they do that, they've got a few North American shows scheduled, including one in NYC on the US album release date, February 7 at Bowery Ballroom with Sean Wheeler and Zander Schloss. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

All dates, stream, album art and tracklist below...

Continue reading "Mark Lanegan Band announces new album & tour dates (Bowery Ballroom on sale now)"

Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

On Sunday 27th May 2012 Alexandra Palace will host the first show in 13 years from Cincinnati's rock legends THE AFGHAN WHIGS. Formed in 1986, the bands career from then until 2001 saw them release six acclaimed albums highlighted by the classic Gentlemen LP in 1993. Fusing classic rock with grunge-era distortion and a heavy soul influence, Afghan Whigs were one of the most renowned live bands of their time and this long awaited reformation will no doubt be a very special event.

ATP are also pleased to confirm their return to Asbury Park, New Jersey USA where they will follow last year's debut in that city with a 2012 I'll Be Your Mirror event, the Saturday night of which will be headlined by The Afghan Whigs and curated by the Whigs' frontman Greg Dulli.

As you can see in the poster, tickets will go on sale in January. More of the lineup will also be announced at that time.

All Tomorrow's Parties' I'll Be Your Mirror UK, which just lost Guided By Voices, will host The Afghan Whigs and has moved further into the "unreal" category with additions of Wolves In The Throne Room, Yob, Dirty Three, Floor, Chavez, Balam Acab, The Oh Sees, Yuck, Archers of Loaf, Demdike Stare, and Siskiyou to appearances from Sleep, Melvins, Mogwai, Codeine and Mudhoney.

Full ATP I'll Be Your Mirror UK lineup is below.

Continue reading "Afghan Whigs reuniting, ATP returning to Asbury Park in 2012"

words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

That so many of the characters in Greg Dulli's songs are met by misfortune (often self-inflicted) and find themselves in questionable circumstances, it was fitting that he and his Twilight Singers rolled into New York City on a Friday the 13th. Though anyone expecting something to go wrong during their feverish 21-song set were left disappointed.

"It's my birthday... three days later," Dulli joked at one point, but the entire 90-minute set seemed like a party. Nobody was having more fun than Dulli, who with this year's Dynamite Steps has released as many records as a Twilight Singer/solo artist as he did fronting the Afghan Whigs.

Early on, before a punishing version of "Bonnie Brae" (made popular by its inclusion in the television show "Rescue Me"), he accepted flowers from a fan in the front row, stepped to the mic and said, "You sure know how to make a man feel like Neil Diamond."

His voice was expectedly and delightfully off-key and his band sounded great, especially drummer Greg Wieczorek, "the best drummer I've ever seen," said Dulli during his band introductions. Erik Kang of openers Margot & the Nuclear So and So's (more on them in a second) came out to play pedal steel and violin later in the set.

As thunderstorms, porn theaters and other ominous images appeared on the screen behind them, set highlights included "Teenage Wristband", the cover of Martin Topley-Bird's "Too Tough To Die" and "On the Corner", "The Beginning of the End" and "Get Lucky" all from Dynamite Steps.

"Ladies and gentleman, The Killer," Dulli proclaimed, as a photo of that song's protagonist, Jerry Lee Lewis, and 13-year-old wife (and first cousin once removed) Myra Gale Brown loomed on the screen. It was the first song of a three-song encore and "The Killer" grooved and wailed better than anything else they played that night. Dulli closed with a ramped up version of "Esta Noche" ("This is the motherfucking finish line") that ended in a refrain of Carl Carlton's "Everlasting Love."

Margot and the Nukes' opening slot for the Twilight Singers made a lot of sense considering that bandleader Richard Edwards' songs traffic in a milder, Dulli-esque world of bruised and mis-handled relationships, but armed with Rachel's review of a show from last fall, I approached their set with trepidation. Then something happened when I got to the venue - I didn't care about any of that stuff. Bands shed and add members all the time and you either stick with them or you don't and I was just excited to see a band that I've adored since The Dust of Retreat. Sure, like a lot of people I'm nostalgic for the old version of Margot and (having seen them four times previous) missed seeing some familiar faces who were germane to a pretty great live show. But the version that recorded last year's Buzzard needed to be taken for the band it is now.

Ultimately, where the earlier Margot was more a chamber pop collective - this retooled lineup is a solid, straightforward rock band. "If you want to stay/Shut up. If you want to go/Get lost," Edwards snarled on Margot's set opener, the excellent "Claws Off" And then later in the song, "get lost" becomes "get fucked." But there are some lovely melodies in the earlier material, which was showcased on the stripped down version of "Broadripple Is Burning" complete with audience members singing along. There's still plenty of common ground to be found in their live show for fans of both incarnations.

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The Twilight Singers and Margot are still on tour. A list of all upcoming TS dates, more pictures and the setlist from the Webster Hall show, and a video of the band playing Letterman in April too, below...

Continue reading "The Twilight singers played Webster Hall w/ Margot & the Nuclear So and So's (pics & setlist & a Letterman video too)"

Craig on stage with Shudder To Think... sort of (more by Justina Villanueva)

Craig Wedren will joining Greg Dulli on his upcoming solo tour, Wedren's first solo tour as a one-man show. Craig will have a tour-only LP on sale for the trip, and plans to have new LPs recorded in the coming "school year." Wedren has also been keeping busy as of late scoring shows like United States of Tara and Hung.

The NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on October 19th will have Craig opening, and is officially part of CMJ. Tickets are still on sale (for those that won't have a badge).

All dates, and a recent video, below...

Continue reading "Craig Wedren touring w/ Greg Dulli (Bowery show = CMJ)"

For the first time in his career, Greg Dulli will embark on a solo tour which will see him make stops in five different countries for a total of 29 shows. Beginning in New Orleans on October 8th, 'An Evening With Greg Dulli' will feature Greg along with long-time Twilight Singers guitarist Dave Rosser and multi-instrumentalist Rick Nelson (Polyphonic Spree) performing a stripped down set. Dulli will lead his band through a wide selection of songs encompassing his entire career...

...These shows will also mark the debut of several brand new songs from the forthcoming Twilight Singers album scheduled for release on Sub Pop Records in early 2011. The new Twilight Singers album will be the first release from the group in five years. [Sub Pop]

Continue reading "Greg Dulli going on solo tour (dates), releasing new Twilight Singers album (soon) "

Greg Dulli's Top Ten of 2009: (via)
1. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
2. Little Dragon - Machine Dreams
3. Tinariwen - Imidiwan: Companions
4. Wussy - Wussy
5. Various Artists - Gilles Peterson Presents Havana Cultura
6. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
7. Handsome Furs - Face Control
8. The Aliens - Luna
9. Dam-Funk - Toeachizown
10. Kid Cudi - Man On the Moon: The End of Day

photos by Ryan Muir

The Gutter Twins' new "All Misery/Flowers" video, and more photos from their March 1st Noise Pop performance at Bimbo's in San Francisco (better late than never), below....

Continue reading "the Gutter Twins - All Misery/Flowers (video), Noise Pop pics"

Campbell and Lanegan's follow-up to 2006's Ballad of the Broken Seas is called Sunday at Devil Dirt, and it will come out May 5 in the UK on V2/Cooperative Music. Like Ballad, the new album features Lanegan tackling lead vocals while Campbell handles the writing, production, and arrangements. [P4K]

Continue reading "Mark Lanegan - new album w/ Isobel Campbell, NYC tonight"

The Gutter Twins @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - Feb 14, 2008 (Caryn Rose)

My odd thought about tonight was that this show was just - grown up. I haven't seen the lyrics and haven't lived with the songs enough, but this is not about Are you here to make par-tay or even the themes of loss and, well, loss that have hung over acres of Twilight Singers material. Don't get me wrong, this is still a collaboration between Dulli and Lanegan and it's not rainbows and puppies and roses, and it's plenty fuckin dark. But it was just at another level, and maybe because Mark's ass is also on that line, but I have never seen the band this whip-smart and sharp and just totally together, like Greg can put up one hand and conduct the band and they turn on a dime. [jukeboxgraduate]

The Gutter Twins' February show at Bowery Ballroom is sold out, and tickets are on sale now for a March 19th show at Webster Hall. There's a song streaming at MySpace.

Screaming Trees + The Afghan Whigs =

– Sub Pop veterans Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan return to the label in its 20th year under the moniker The Gutter Twins for the March 4th, 2008 worldwide release of Saturnalia, their highly anticipated first album. In addition, the band has announced a handful of very special US and European show dates to preview the complex and carefully crafted songs in advance of the official record release.

“I couldn’t tell you what Saturnalia’s theme is, but there’s a seeking of transcendence that’s new.” Greg Dulli explains. “I have never written songs like this before” it’s a different temple I’m visiting.”

Continue reading "THE GUTTER TWINS (Mark Lanegan, Greg Dulli, Sub Pop) - 2008 Tour Dates (Noise Pop, NYC)"