European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 04, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Greg Dull of the afghan whigs sports a Captain s hat during a show in Stuttgart Germany that he borrowed from a Drunken fan. Sas a my tie a afghan whigs soul music for the 90s by Deedee Arrington Doke Deputy City editors. Success Means you can bypass a few of the whistle Stop gigs you played when nobody know your name. Take say Ljubljana Slovenia for example. It was insane " recalled Rick Mcgorum the afghan whigs Lead guitarist of his group s trip to Ljubljana a few years Back. It was pretty intense very depressing City. We were booked by a Guy whose name was Igor. He taught us treat  Mccollum and the three other whigs vocalist guitarist Greg Dull bassist Ohn Curtly and drummer Steve Earle Are on their fourth sprint across Europe and in their seventh year together As a band. This time their reputation precedes them in Europe via gentlemen terse Seething collection of musical vignettes set to a Joyless jazz Funk. The howl of isolated agony that underscores gentlemen s 11 songs is the rage of emotional impotence the inability to connect or empathize. It s depressing Mccollum acknowledged Good Nat redly during a recent Stop in Stuttgart Germany. The album did t Start off with a unified theme Mccollum said but a common thread linking the songs became apparent after maybe Halfway  then Mccollum said other songs followed. It s easier to get ideas when you have a Central theme. A concept album s almost a lot easier to work  onstage in Stuttgart at die Rohre club the Cincinnati Ohio band strayed from their gentlemen path but never quite abandoned their melancholy attitude. _ dishing out the supreme come see about me in a minor key inserting the oedipal passages of the doors the end into the whigs own turn on the wafer and plumbing the Depths of angry Heartbreak for another supreme classic my world is empty without you the whigs translated the older music into a soul music for the 90s songs for a ravaged less innocent soul but a searching soul nevertheless. Dully who s set to play John Lennon in a new film about the beatles Hamburg Days is the group s primary songwriter wit and showman. When he was t singing in Stuttgart he was talking and he ended up in an ongoing argument with a naut Cally hatted drunk in the audience Over the hat shut up be Nice and Don t give anyone any a i Dulli admonished the drunk at one Point after the drunk had climbed onstage and tried to deck him. Dully also poked fun at the downcast tone of the whigs music equipping so you re All wondering when the depressing stuffs Gonna Start Welt Here comes 5 a minutes of misery. Hope you enjoy it before linking up with Elektra records the whigs recorded for sub pop the Seattle Label that launched nirvana and the fabled sound of grunge. We never got labelled with the grunge thing Mccollum said. It sub pop was a great Label with the record company president actually liking the band. But it was just time to move on pretty  although the whigs lineup has stayed the same Over the band s 7/2 years members interpersonal relationships have sometimes been strained. One Low Point came during a european tour in 1991. The band members went their separate ways once they reached Amsterdam. It s gotten a lot better since then Mccollum said. It s like having three wives or three  sound Garden concert listings see pages 18 & 19 Chris Cornell and the band bring their Seattle sound to Europe this Spring. Commentary what s wrong with this pictured t do enl matter whether we like it or not or whether it s an affront to All things Good and just or even whether it s a sacrilege the three remaining beattes Are going to record again. At the risk of sounding alarmist i would like to make one Small observation this would be the worst thing that has Ever happened. What i mean is worse than the Chevy chaos to show. Don t they get it there Are no beatles. The beatles broke up As the 60s ended but they died forever in 1980 when Mark David Chapman blew a Hole in John Lennon s head. The three remaining beatles Are not the beatles. They re Paul Mccartney George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Paul has spent the intervening years smoking Ganja and writing silly Little love songs. George when not defending himself on plagiarism charges searches out other living legends to record with. Ringo Well in t being the Luckiest Man who Ever lived enough it started innocent fit enough. The bbl is putting together what May be the definitive beatles retrospective. The timing is right. It was 30 years ago the boys came to America in what would be the most significant Landing in these parts since Columbus. The three remaining beatles All agreed to cooperate. Now i would t mind hearing them do some old beattes stuff As they re expected to do. In fact whenever Paul s playing anywhere nearby i m there. I know the past is a different country but i Don t mind visiting occasionally. I just Don t want certain things the Constitution the White album tampered with.  --.= according to reports the beatles May release four to six compact discs Worth of stuff stored away at the Abbey Road studio. But they also plan to record hew music. If we can Trust legendary beatles producer George Martin it would be Only a song or two. I Hope we can limit the damage to that but there Are frightening rumours. One has it that they be asked Yoko Ono for tapes of John s from the late 70s so they can use his voice on the new music. This would be much worse than Frank Sinatra s phony baloney duets although i would pay to hear Frank and Paul team up on Why Don t we do it in the Road this is the beattes people. I can t emphasize that enough. This is different. Most of these Rock reunions Are painful in the Best of circumstances. Pete Townshend has to play behind Glass because he s blown his ears out. If you like the Beach boys never see them again. You la toss All your albums if you do. Of bad music is one thing. The beatles Are another. The beatles were not just a Rock group. The beatles were Well the beatles. You can t explain them exactly although it is fair to say they saved Rock and Roll. Then it was Over. People tried to get them Back together but John would t allow it turning Down As much As $50 million. He did t turn Down the Money because of a Tiff with Paul. He turned it Down because some things he knew could not or should not be replicated. I Don t believe in beatles reunions. Instant Karma s Gonna get them. Mike Buttwin the Baltimore Sun Friday february 4, 1994 the stars and stripes 15