Fans of Greg Dulli will be excited to know that The Afghan Whigs are getting set to release their first album in over a decade and a half. Recorded in L.A., New Orleans, Cincinnati, and Joshua Tree, Do to the Beast is set to come out April 15th via Sub Pop, and it features original member John Curley on bass, current core members like guitarists Dave Rosser and Jon Skibic, multi-instrumentalist Rick Nelson, and drummer Cully Symington, as well as a host of guest appearances from former collaborators like Van Hunt, Usher’s musical director Johnny “Natural” Najera, Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys), Dave Catching (QOTSA, Eagles of Death Metal), and Ben Daughtrey (Squirrel Bait), to name just a few. In talking about the new record, Dulli explains:
“These new songs are very visual to me. They come from the neighborhoods of my mind. It’s like Rashomon, with the story told from different points of memory.”
The album’s first track “Algiers” is a great example with it’s spaghetti-western sonics and cinematic interludes, and the track has received a very cool video treatment from director Philip Harder, and the folks at Kiss & Kill Films. Featuring a taciturn Mr. Dulli in the back of a vintage stretch limo, it seems here that he has been driven backwards in time to the old West where he’s made to suffer the harsh vicissitudes of frontier justice. The Afghan Whigs will play some select US dates this coming April thru May, and you can check those out below…
The Afghan Whigs Live April-May 2014:
THU, Apr 10 Pappy & Harriets Pioneertown Pioneertown , CA
MON, Apr 14 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR
TUE, Apr 15 Showbox (@ the Market) Seattle, WA
THU, Apr 17 Slims San Francisco, CA
THU, May 15 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY
FRI, May 16 Paradise (MA) Boston, MA
SAT, May 17 Ottobar Baltimore, MD
