Greg Dulli, frontman for The Afghan Whigs, has just released his first-ever solo record, Random Desire, via Royal Cream/BMG.
Under the Radar interview with Jacob Uitti
Was it liberating to do this so much on your own?
I don't know about liberating because I have done things on my own, but it was fun. Like, I had a good time. Christopher Thorn, the guy I was working with [on the record], he was engineering and producing and making suggestions and telling me I could sing something better. He was pushing me to do my best and I felt like I was in safe hands there. So, I honestly really enjoyed the process. I had a great time. I loved the music that I made. I felt like it was different enough to stand alone as my own. I had a blast.
There is this beautiful, spare piano on some of the album's standout songs, like "Slow Pan" and "It Falls Apart." How did that instrument become so prominent?
I started playing piano probably about 30 years ago and went from terrible to mediocre to rudimentary to not terrible. As my confidence in my piano player grew, I felt more comfortable using it as a writing tool. Mostly, that's what I use it for, to sketch something out. But in the case of "Slow Pan," "It Falls Apart," and "Scorpio," which is the other piano-led song, those were all—by default piano became the main instrument. Those songs sounded really good with it as the lead instrument. I feel like there's an intimacy with piano songs. I also love the byproduct of the percussive nature of piano. You're striking the key not unlike striking a drum or a string.
