The Afghan Whigs are celebrating a milestone anniversary this year, marking 40 years since the band started back in 1986 in Cincinnati.
Over the course of those 40 years, the alternative rock band has played several now-defunct clubs in Pittsburgh such as Club Laga and Graffiti. Frontman Greg Dulli even remembered the band’s first show here being at the Electric Banana. Their last four shows, however, have been at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale, and the Whigs will make it No. 5 on May 2 as part of the band’s 40th anniversary tour.
Dulli also recalled baseball road trips with friends to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates play at Three Rivers Stadium.
“It looked like Riverfront (in Cincinnati). It looked like Busch (in St. Louis) and Philly,” he said. “The concrete donut.”
In March, the Afghan Whigs put out a new song, “House of I” — their first new original music in four years — with an album coming later this year. Rehearsals for their first shows in two years started Friday, as the band is breaking in new drummer Bryan Lee Brown, with the tour starting Saturday in Woodstock, N.Y.
In a phone conversation last week from Los Angeles, Dulli spoke with TribLive about the 40th anniversary of the band, “House of I,” songwriting, Cincinnati’s famous chili and more. Find a transcript of the conversation, edited for clarity and length, below.
This tour is marking the 40th anniversary of the band, so is that anything you ever thought would be possible?
I mean, the 40th anniversary of me shocked me. So everything else is gravy. (laughs)
Last year you hit 60. Do all those milestones just run together? Are they just always surprising?
I’ll tell you something, you just fill it in. I was tripping about turning 30 half my life ago. I told my uncle that and he said, boy, you either turn 30 or you don’t. Once I had that perspective, I have been just fine. Because the days go by, and you either turn another birthday or you’re not here for that. So once I had that perspective, I’ve been just fine.
When you first started, did you think at all about bands that had been together that long? Was longevity ever a goal for the group?
I don’t even know if bands had been together that long by then. Let’s see, 20 years ago, the Stones were probably already 40 .. no. Let’s see when the Stones started. Let’s get some perspective here. Rolling Stones, 1962, so they were 24 when we started our band so a 40-year-old band did not even exist when we started.
So definitely not thinking this long term then.
No. No, you wouldn’t. We started in October of ‘86, so we were 21.
Yeah, I imagine a lot different perspective now compared to back then.
Sure, I mean, everything. Think about it, dude. I was reading something about when you were in school. Let’s say, let’s put us in fourth grade and you’re just waiting for the clock to turn 2:30 or whatever time you got out of school. And 2:30 never came. It was just like, it felt like it was taking 100 years to turn 2:30. Because you were only 9. And you had no (expletive) perspective whatsoever. You had nothing to compare it against. So, 21, you’re still young and dumb, you know what I mean? (laughs) And whatever is in front of you is experience, wisdom, mistakes, successes, broken hearts, triumph, all of the things of life are still in front of you. Not that they’re not now. I would hope I still have some triumph left.
You’ve also been working with bassist John Curley for that long. So what makes that partnership between you and him work?
He’s my best friend. We were in a band before the Whigs. So we have known each other since we were 19, I think. When you know someone that long and you’ve had that much life experience, like we went to Europe together for the first time, we went to Australia together for the first time, we went to South America together for the first time, we went around the world together, and when you have those experiences with someone, you don’t have to tell them what happened. They were there.
A new song, “House of I,” came out in March. What was the process like for creating it?
Had a drum beat that I liked, and the drummer laid it down. I listened to it for about five minutes, put a guitar on and started reacting to it and found those chords real quick. I’ve been writing songs the exact same way since I was a teenager. You get a riff you like, you find a melody that works, you listen in to the vowel sounds and syllables, and then you figure it out. That’s how I make all of my songs. I’ve never not made a song that way. I’ve never written the words first ever. I’ve always been part of the 10% what you say, 90% how you say it (mentality). So that’s my philosophy.
It sounds like it came together pretty quickly. Is it normally that quick?
No, absolutely not. I mean, (expletive) I wish it was, you know what I mean? But you’re a writer, you know. Sometimes it’s like, man, I’m (expletive) rolling. And then the other times, you cannot even buy a sentence.
Yeah, I feel that for sure.
That’s the same as me. I’ll tell you a story. When we were making the record “In Spades,” it came out in 2017, we were making it in 2016. We were all down in New Orleans. For one week, I came in with a new song every day, a brand new song every day. Sometimes I came up, I was humming it as I was walking to the studio. Out of those seven songs, five of those songs made the album. It’s a 10-song album, so there’s half the album. So it took me five days to do half the album, and it took us a year and a half to do the other half.
So you have to embrace those quick ones when they come then.
When the quick ones come, you’re like (expletive) yes! And when they don’t, you’re like, oh my god. There you go. But then again, earlier in my life, I’m like, oh. I got writer’s block and I would just wait for the muse to alight upon me. And you can’t do that. You got to keep on. You got to go in there and knock it around. You can’t just wait for something to show up. You got to make it show up.
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How does that compare to the upcoming new album. Is it done?
The record’s done. It’s coming out in August.
Did some of those songs take a while to finish? You mentioned the year and a half where some of them had been in the works (on “In Spades.”)
For sure. And not only that, I can tell you this sitting where we are right now, the oldest song on the record is eight years old and the youngest song on the record is two months old. The majority of the record was done in 2025. I could go through with you and I could tell you which ones happened lickety split. The one from eight years ago, I wrote that song in five minutes. Some of the other ones, it took me months to figure it out. So again, you take the fast ones when you get them, and you grind on the other ones and you make them happen. You make them happen or you ditch them and move on, and that happens as well. I’m sure you’ve wadded up a piece of paper before, back when we all used paper, but you know what I mean.
Some of these songs, you just have to set aside and maybe revisit them later with a fresh set of ears or eyes.
Yeah, maybe you have an idea now. I’ve come back to things. I have a bank of songs no one’s ever heard on my laptop. Sometimes I’ll take a cruise, and I’ll be like, ah, that’s pretty good. And you come back. Old doesn’t mean bad, and new doesn’t mean good. It’s the moment that you’re looking for. It’s the moment that it’s time for it or not time for it.
Is there anything that’s particularly inspiring you to make new music nowadays, like new bands or anything like that?
I listen to music all the time. There’s like four or five radio stations around the world that I listen to. I’ve got almost 10,000 Shazams. It’s hands down my most-used app. I can’t sit here and tell you like, oh, I like (blank), like I listened to all their stuff, but songs will really get me going or a piece of a song will really get me going. Or again, as I was saying, sometimes I’ll hear a song or I’ll Shazam a song, and that song’s from 1971. And I’m like, missed that one. But it’s killer. There’s some great bands out now, for sure.
You’ll have the new album, so how do you feel about the album experience? Do you feel like the album is more important than a single? Is that something you think about at all?
Because of my age and experience, albums will always be, I like making them, I like making a piece. But I could see burning singles and just doing that, too. I see why people do it, especially when they want to just get something out, they like something. The way it works now, if you like something, just stick it out there and see who else likes it.
You guys released two covers recently, so what’s the thought process like when it comes to choosing a cover?
My philosophy with cover songs is this: I have to wish that I wrote it, and then I have to act like I did. That’s my cover philosophy.
You’re a Cincinnati area native, so what’s your take on Skyline Chili?
I always liked it. Cincinnati chili, Skyline, Gold Star, either one. Some people are like, ‘Gold star is inferior.’ I’m like, like you (expletive) know. There’s also Empress and Camp Washington and there’s all kinds of other boutique chilis that are just as good or better than either one of those. So, but that said, I don’t eat meat anymore. But I will tell you that I do make Impossible Cincinnati chili at least four times a year, and it’s (expletive) killer. Those who do not like it, that’s your choice. But I love it, I love it, I love it. I love it with beans, I love it with cheese, I love it with onions, I like it on spaghetti or not on spaghetti. I’ll eat it any (expletive) way. So let me ask you this: What’s your thoughts about Primanti Brothers?
See, I like it. I know that people give it some crap as the stereotypical Pittsburgh sandwich, but I’m a fan.
Yeah, what I say about that is at least our two towns have unique food items and if you don’t have one, (expletive) off.
Right, I know some people have seen that Primanti’s sandwich and they’re like, what is that cole slaw doing on there? And they’ve scraped it off.
Yeah, what are the french fries doing on there? You know what I mean? But I’ll tell you what, they’re on there being (expletive) killer, and I’ll have one, too.
If you go
Who: The Afghan Whigs, Mercury Rev
When: 8 p.m. May 2
Where: Mr. Smalls Theatre, Millvale
Tickets: Starting at $53.52, ticketweb.com