The Gutter Twins | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Los Angeles, United States |
Genres | Alternative rock |
Years active | 2003–2011 |
Labels | Sub Pop |
Past members | Greg Dulli Mark Lanegan (deceased) Dave Rosser (deceased) Scott Ford Jeff Klein Cully Symington |
Website | www |
The Gutter Twins was a musical collaboration between rock musicians Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. [1] Dulli and Lanegan had regularly contributed to each other's projects since 2000, most notably in Dulli's Twilight Singers; of the duo's origins, Dulli said "I think Mark told a journalist we were doing it, and then the journalist called me, and I didn't know we were doing it." On Christmas Day 2003, Dulli and Lanegan began work on the collaboration. [2] Their name is a punning homage to the Glimmer Twins, the pseudonym used by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for work producing recordings by the Rolling Stones. [3]
In July 2007, the music website Pitchfork Media announced that the duo, "two of the alt-rock era's greatest frontmen," had signed to Seattle label Sub Pop. [4] Soon thereafter, Sub Pop reported a March 4, 2008 release date for their debut album Saturnalia . [5]
The Gutter Twins appeared with their backup band on the Late Show with David Letterman on March 20, 2008, and toured the album throughout the USA and Europe during the year. Critical response to the album was consistently positive; Blast magazine called it "an audial descent into the dark emotions that often lurk beneath the surface" and that "the haunting 'God’s Children' sounds like it was penned by U2’s long-lost cousin from Seattle" [6] and Uncut said "with Lanegan at his stentorian best and Dulli in full confessional mode, Saturnalia is a feast, certainly – but one where the dishes are served delightfully raw." [7]
In September 2008, the Gutter Twins released the EP Adorata through iTunes. It features two original songs and cover versions of songs by José González, Primal Scream, Scott Walker, Vetiver, and Eleven. A portion of Adorata’s proceeds will go to the Natasha Shneider Memorial Fund. Shneider was a friend of the band and the late lead singer of Eleven.
In January 2009, the Gutter Twins toured as a duet, backed by guitarist Dave Rosser (who also sings lead vocals on "Tennessee Waltz"). The set list includes songs for both their albums, acoustic versions of some tracks from their previous bands and a few covers. They usually segue "God's Children" into Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", jokingly acknowledging the obvious melodic similarities between their own song and Dylan's. "Stations" is also occasionally started with a short quote from the intro of "Stairway to Heaven", which Dulli states is his favorite song of all time.
In February 2022, it was announced that Lanegan had died, at the age of 57. [8]
The Afghan Whigs are an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio. They were active from 1986 to 2001 and have since reformed as a band. The group – with core members Greg Dulli, Rick McCollum, and John Curley (bass) – rose up around the grunge movement, evolving from a garage band in the vein of the Replacements to incorporate more R&B and soul influences into their sound and image. After releasing their first album independently in 1988, the band signed to the Seattle-based label Sub Pop. They released their major-label debut and fourth album, Gentlemen, in 1993. Pitchfork described them as "one of the few alt-bands to flourish on a major label" in the 1990s.
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Congregation is the third studio album by American alternative rock band The Afghan Whigs, released on January 31, 1992, by Sub Pop. After touring for two years in support of their 1990 album Up in It, the band received a $15,000 advance from Sub Pop to record a follow-up album. It was primarily recorded at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville and Buzz's Kitchen in Los Angeles during July to August 1991. The band's frontman Greg Dulli produced the album entirely with audio engineer Ross Ian Stein. The album's production and release were hindered by Sub Pop's financial difficulties, which were eventually resolved by the massive commercial success of Nirvana's 1991 album Nevermind.
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Mark William Lanegan was an American singer, songwriter, and poet. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the Stone Age and The Gutter Twins. He released 12 solo studio albums, as well as three collaboration albums with Isobel Campbell and two with Duke Garwood. He was known for his baritone voice, which was described as being "as scratchy as a three-day beard yet as supple and pliable as moccasin leather" and has been compared to Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Nick Cave.
The Twilight Singers are an American indie rock band. The group was formed in 1997 by Greg Dulli as a side project during a hiatus from his group The Afghan Whigs. After the Afghan Whigs disbanded, Dulli used The Twilight Singers as his own artistic vehicle and has now released five studio albums backed by worldwide tours.
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Benjamin Mumphrey is an American record producer, audio engineer, and musician.
Mark Pickerel is an American musician best known as the original drummer for the alternative rock band Screaming Trees. He is also an active session musician and has released several solo albums as a singer/guitarist.
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The discography of Mark Lanegan consists of eleven studio albums and two EPs as a solo artist, and many other releases from collaborations with other artists.
Saturnalia is the only studio album by The Gutter Twins, a collaboration between Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. The album, which was started as far back as 2003, was released on March 4, 2008. Prior to the album's release, the duo began posting songs on their official MySpace page. Joseph Arthur sings backing vocals on "Idle Hands." The song was also the first single, released April 14, 2008.
Adorata is the only EP by The Gutter Twins, released initially as an iTunes exclusive on September 2, 2008. Within a couple of weeks, Adorata was released in DRM-free, 320kbit/s MP3, a superior audio quality in comparison to iTunes, through the Sub Pop Records website. The EP was mostly recorded during sessions for their first album, Saturnalia. This is the band's last album before the band's dissolution in 2011.
Jeffrey Lawrence Klein is an American singer-songwriter of the band My Jerusalem from Newburgh, New York, who plays keyboards and guitar. He has released three solo albums and another three albums with My Jerusalem. Jeff Klein has risen to acclaim after the release of his album 'Everybody Loves A Winner' which gave him the necessary critical acclaim in the beginning and provided him with an international reach towards some few parts of every continent.
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Greg Dulli is an American musician from Hamilton, Ohio. Debuting as a member of the rock band the Afghan Whigs in 1986, Dulli has been a member of the Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins, and in 2020 released his debut solo album, Random Desire. Dulli is known as the voice of John Lennon in the 1994 film Backbeat, and has produced music for musicians such as Afterhours, and is known as a regular collaborator of Mark Lanegan and Joseph Arthur.
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