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John Curley is a bass player, music producer, audio engineer, photojournalist and educator based in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a founding member of the recently reformed Afghan Whigs (1986-2001; 2012-present) and founder/co-owner of Ultrasuede, a full-service recording studio based in the Camp Washington neighborhood of Cincinnati.

Early Years, The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Afghan Whigs (1965-2001)

Curley was born March 15, 1965, in Trenton, New Jersey, and raised in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, until 1974, at which time his family moved to Washington D.C. He also spent a year in Delaware during the latter part of high school, when his father, a journalist, was temporarily reassigned.

During his formative years Curley developed an interest in “using machines to be creative,” as he told Bob Gendron in the album-focused Afghan Whigs biography Gentlemen, part of the 33 1/3 series.

The interest manifested itself in the twin pursuits of music and photography, both sparked by his first exposure to the Who’s Quadrophenia, which not only features John Entwistle’s lead-bass work, but also Ethan A. Russell’s photojournalistic-style book of imagery.

“[Entwistle’s performance on the album] was like hearing bass for the first time,” he told Gendron. Curley subsequently purchased a Kay brand SG-style bass, signed up for lessons and started the process of learning the instrument and developing his own signature style.

Other primary influences include the Beatles’ Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, the Attractions’ Bruce Thomas, Earth, Wind & Fire’s Verdine White, Motown’s James Jamerson, Yes’ Chris Squire and Violent Femmes’ Brian Ritchie.

Curley’s skill with a camera developed in parallel with his playing and eventually led him to Cincinnati, where he reported for The Cincinnati Enquirer, from 1984 to 1993. He won several awards while working for the paper, including one in the “Spot News” category from the Ohio New Photographers Association (ONPA), in 1985.

In 1986, Curley, vocalist-guitarist Greg Dulli and guitarist Rick McCollum founded the Afghan Whigs, and went on to record and tour behind a string of critically acclaimed albums. The Whigs remained active until 2001, at which time the members dissolved the band to pursue individual interests.

Curley married his wife, Michelle, in 1993. The couple has two children.

Ultrasuede Studio, Music Production and Audio Engineering (1986-present)

During his early years with the Whigs, Curley delved into audio recording. His efforts evolved from demoing songs on a four-track to capturing bands on progressively more sophisticated gear, in a variety of temporary spaces throughout Cincinnati. He dubbed the floating studio Ultrasuede, borrowing the name from the label the Whigs launched to release the band’s 1986 debut, Big Top Halloween.

Curley’s early production successes include the Motown and R&B covers EP Uptown Avondale (Sub Pop, 1992), and album tracks such as Congregation’s “Miles Iz Ded” and Gentlemen’s “If I Were Going.” Cincinnati magazine named “Miles Iz Ded” one of the 50 best songs recorded in Cincinnati.

In 1993, Curley found a permanent space for the studio in the former home of Queen City Audio, a ’70s-vintage recording facility, mastering suite and pressing plant based in the Camp Washington neighborhood of Cincinnati.

Taking an audio vérité approach to recording, Curley has produced and/or engineered critically acclaimed releases by numerous acts including Wussy, Greenhornes, White Stripes, Ronnie Spector, Patti Smith, Ass Ponys, Throneberry, Buffalo Killers, Thee Shams, Pearlene and the Heartless Bastards.

The Afghan Whigs Reunion (2012-present)

Curley, Dulli and McCollum reunited in 2012, initially to perform at All Tomorrow’s Parties festivals held in London and New York, the latter curated by Dulli. The group subsequently embarked on a world tour, which has thus far included performances at major European, American and Australian music festivals, a largely sold-out tour of theatres throughout the U.S., and television appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“The Whigs were a live band above all else,” said Curley in an official band bio. “Playing shows was always our favorite part about being in the band. I missed playing the songs we wrote that meant so much to people—and to us.”

Whether live or in the studio, Curley’s bass typically serves as the connective tissue between the group’s more unrestrained elements. “In the Gentlemen-era Afghan Whigs, I felt like I was riding runaway mustangs,” he told [sic] magazine. “Rick and Greg played so furiously I tried to find bass parts that would help hold it all together.”

Since its reformation, the group has released two new recordings, a stripped-down version of Marie “Queenie” Lyons’ “See And Don’t See” and a full band arrangement of Frank Ocean’s “Love Crimes,” both produced by Dulli. Curley engineered the basic tracks for the former song at Ultrasuede, and shot the cover art at Dulli’s home in New Orleans.

Curley has jokingly described his role in the group’s dynamic as Star Trek’s Spock to Dulli’s Captain Kirk. “Kirk is impulsive, mercurial and passionate. Spock is unemotional, logical and quiet,” he told [sic]. “Obviously these are caricatures. Greg has a firm grasp of logic. I can be quite moody.”

Additional Groups and Collaborations (1986-present)

Curley first played with Dulli and McCollum in the Cincinnati-based group the Black Republicans, circa 1985.

In 1993, he started the folk collective Len’s Lounge with Cincinnati-based singer-songwriter Jeff Roberson.

In 2001, Curley began collaborating with New York-based singer-songwriter Todd Almond. He has co-produced three of Almond’s solo albums, contributing bass to the two most recent.

In 2004, Curley formed his first post-Whigs group, Staggering Statistics, with singer-guitarist Austin Brown. Joined by future Wussy drummer Joe Klug and former Throneberry guitarist Sam Womelsdorf, the band recorded two EPs and two full-length albums. In 2007, he co-produced and played bass on singer-songwriter Robert Cherry’s solo album Paint No Devils. He currently records and plays bass with Cherry in Plastic Ants and Clean Heat.

He also records and plays bass with the Cincinnati-based quartet Fists Of Love.

Gear

Curley currently alternates between a 1981 and a 1976 Rickenbacker Jetglo 4001 bass guitar. Live, he plays through a Mesa Boogie Big Block 750 head and a single Mesa Boogie cabinet with four 10-inch speakers and one 15-inch speaker. For recording he favors a Little Labs IBP DI and a vintage 1965 Ampeg B-15 flip-top amp, mixing the clean sound of the DI with the dirtier sound of the mic’d amp. He uses effects sparingly, but his pedal board includes an Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi fuzz pedal, an Electro Harmonix Micro Pog octave pedal and an Electro Harmonix Small Stone phase shifter.

Community Development and Educational Programs (2008-present)

In 2008, Curley joined a planning committee dedicated to resurrecting Cincinnati’s King Studios—one of rock ’n’ roll’s historical epicenters—as an arts education center and learning laboratory in cooperation with Xavier University.

"[King] is an amazing story of collaboration and integration that began before Stax [in Memphis], which usually gets the credit for that. It was one of the first integrated work places in the country," he told Soapbox Cincinnati.

In addition to hosting periodic recording workshops at Ultrasuede, he also works as an instructor at the Music Resource Center, a recording and performing arts center for teens based in the East Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati.

Miscellany

In addition to news reporting, Curley has also photographed musicians over the years, including promotional photos for Cincinnati-based bands like the Greenhornes, The Hiders and Buffalo Killers. This work was the subject of a group photo exhibit at the 2010 Midpoint Music Festival.

An avid skier, Curley once slalomed the length of Straight Street—a main thoroughfare in the Clifton neighborhood of Cincinnati—during the blizzard of 1996. Ann Powers chronicled the event in a Spin magazine feature on the Whigs.

Curley shot the image that adorns the back cover of the Whigs’ Up In It. The photo captures a young African-American woman in the Over The Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, standing in front of a building tagged with a popular suggestion and leaning against a stereo speaker salvaged from a fire.

Curley recorded the distinctive flanging sound that opens the Afghan Whigs’ Gentlemen by suspending a microphone from a car crossing the Ohio River via the historic Roebling Bridge. The mic captured the pitched whine of the car’s tires on the bridge’s grated-metal surface.

While making the field recording, Curley and Dulli listened to a demo cassette of the album’s opening track, “If I Were Going,” adjusting the car’s speed to ensure the tires’ whine matched the song’s key.

Curley recorded the violin-like squeals that open Black Love by ambient miking the railroad tracks across from the Camp Washington location of Ultrasuede Studio and recording the sound of a train’s steel wheels on the metal tracks.

He once performed as John Entwistle in a one-off Who tribute band called The Whom. Growing up, Curley spent every summer from 1971 to 1981 on the Jersey Shore with his family. He worked his first job on the boardwalk of Seaside Heights, home of the MTV reality show Jersey Shore.

Curley has joined the Violent Femmes onstage on several occasions, including the band’s performance at Lollapalooza in 2006.

He recorded astronaut Neil Armstrong’s voiceover for the documentary Kitty Hawk: The Wright Brothers’ Journey of Invention.

Curley comes from a family of award-winning journalists. His father, John Curley, was head of Gannett News Services, during which time it won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. He was also the first editor of USA Today.

Curley’s uncle, Thomas, will retire as the President of the Associated Press in fall 2012. Prior to taking the helm at the AP, Thomas was the publisher of USA Today.

'''Select Discography The Afghan Whigs'''

Up in It (Sub Pop, 1990) Congregation (Sub Pop, 1992) Uptown Avondale EP (Sub Pop, 1992) Gentlemen (Elektra, 1993) Black Love (Elektra, 1996) 1965 (Columbia, 1998) Unbreakable (Rhino, 2007) “See and Don’t See” (online release, 2012) “Love Crimes” (online release, 2012)

Select Production Credits

The Afghan Whigs, “See and Don’t See (online release, 2012): recording engineer Wussy, Strawberry (Shake-It, 2012): co-producer, recording engineer Magnolia Mountain, Town And Country (Sleep Cat, 2012): co-producer, recording engineer Barrence Whitfield & The Savages, Savage Kings (Shake-It USA, Munster Europe, 2011): co-producer, recording engineer The Greenhornes, **** (Third Man, 2011): co-producer, recording engineer The Hiders, Four Letter Town (self-released, 2010): recording and mix engineer Todd Almond, Mexico City (self-released, 2008): co-producer and recording engineer Staggering Statistics, I’m Thinking About Changing (self-released, 2007): co-producer, recording engineer Buffalo Killers, Buffalo Killers (Alive, 2006): co-producer, engineer The White Stripes, Walking With a Ghost EP (Third Man, 2005): recording and mix engineer on two songs Ass Ponys, The Known Universe (A&M, 1994): co-producer, recording engineer The Afghan Whigs, Uptown Avondale EP (Sub Pop, 1992): recording and mix engineer