After doing some research for a blog post including The Afghan Whigs, and their profound album Congregation, I uncovered some interesting tidbits of information about the band and the recording process.

Here we go with 5 Factoids About The Recording of Congregation:

1.) There were a lot of tense moments in the studio over the direction of the album, and this tension is what made the record sound so great, according to singer and songwriter, Greg Dulli. Dulli wrote and produced the majority of Congregation with audio engineer Ross Ian Stein. Dulli and Stein did not see eye to eye on the recording process. “I did not get along with Ross Stein,” says Dulli. “He was in my way. I never saw hide nor hair of that guy ever again.”

2.) Gregg Dulli was stranded in California until Nirvana had a huge hit with “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Well, kind of. The rest of the band went home after finishing up their parts, while Dulli stayed behind to finish his vocals and mix the album. During that time Sub Pop nearly went bankrupt, so the production process stalled, forcing Dulli to get a job to pay for studio time. Later in the year, Sub Pop would recover as they received royalties from the success of Nevermind, and Dulli was quoted as saying that while “stranded in L.A. … Nirvana saved the whole fuckin’ label.”

3.) Greg Dulli congratulated Kurt Cobain on his success, in person, at a show in California, and thanked Nivana for bailing out the Afghan Whigs and bringing Dulli home. “I went to Nirvana’s show at the Palace in L.A. and hugged Kurt and said, ‘Good one, bro. Congratulations. And thank you—now I can go home.'”

4.) “Miles Is Dead. Don’t Forget The Alcohol.” These are the words uttered by music executive David Katznelson on the day that Miles Davis passed away, and left as a voicemail on Dulli’s answering machine. Dulli was inspired to write a song that day and used “Milez Is Dead” as the title of the song, and “Don’t forget the alcohol,” as the chorus. Man, I love this story!

5.) Caroline Records ended up distributing Congregation and Sub Pop released two singles, “Turn On The Water,” and “Conjure Me,” from the album. Uptown Avondale, an EP of soul covers, would be the last release on Sub Pop, from The Afghan Whigs, before the band left to sign with Elektra Records.

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