We haven’t really recovered from our sweet hangover named ‘Earth Rocker’ and CLUTCH release another record, ‘Psychic Warfare’. As stated in the title, through t...
Lithium Magazine conducted an interview with vocalist Neil Fallon of Maryland rockers CLUTCH on September 7 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You can now watch the chat below.
Asked about CLUTCH's plans for the coming months, Fallon said: "We've got this September run that's kind of anchored with these Riot Fests and a festival at the end of it in Baltimore. And then we'll take October, November and December off to finish up writing and pre-production [for our new studio album]. And then we'll do a run from Christmas to New Year's to mid-January out to Texas, where we plan to record it. And then we'll record in January and February and probably the beginning of March, take a little bit of time off, and [get] back out on the road."
Regarding whether CLUTCH feels the pressure to repeat the songwriting formula that it employed on 2013's "Earth Rocker", which sold 22,000 copies in its first week of release to debut at position No. 15 on The Billboard 200 chart, Fallon said: "I think the best thing is just following your gut. I think if we tried to make 'Earth Rocker 2', it would be D.O.A. [dead on arrival]. But then again, you don't wanna completely abandon it.
"We started writing [material for the next album] pretty quickly. So it does bear a lot of similarities to 'Earth Rocker', just because we're just coming off the heels of that. If we waited five years, I'm sure it would be a different story."
Fallon also spoke about the difficulty of coming up with fresh ideas without sounding like the band is rehashing previously used riffs and sounds. "We find ourselves, we'll play a riff and we'll say, 'We've heard that before' and discard it," he explained. "And that can be a good thing, and it pushes you to find something new. But at the same time, it's important to accept one's strengths. An example of that is a song on 'Earth Rocker', 'D.C. Sound Attack!', that opening riff. We played it and we said to ourselves, 'We've done this before. It sounds too much like CLUTCH.' And [producer] Machine said, 'Well, you are CLUTCH, so really, what's the issue?'"
Fan-filmed video footage of Maryland rockers CLUTCH performing a brand new song, "Sidewinder", on May 6 at the Liquid Room in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom can be seen below.
CLUTCH — Neil Fallon (vocals, rhythm guitar), Tim Sult (lead guitar), Dan Maines (bass,), Jean-Paul Gaster (drums and percussion) —launched an overseas tour on April 22 in Newcastle, U.K. at the O2 Academy, taking them through the European festival circuit through June 29. In July, they'll return to the U.S. for a handful of shows before joining JANE'S ADDICTION, RISE AGAINST, GOGOL BORDELLO and HALESTORM at the Shindig Festival in Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday, September 27.
CLUTCH has teamed with producer J. Robbins (THE SWORD, COLISEUM) to record the new song "Run, John Barleycorn, Run". The track was released on April 19 via Weathermaker Music as a special split seven-inch single with labelmates LIONIZE as part of Record Store Day.
On June 10, CLUTCH will release a triple deluxe version of their acclaimed "Earth Rocker" album via Weathermaker Music. Released in 2013, "Earth Rocker" was tagged by Rolling Stone on the "Top 20 Metal Albums" list and hailed by the magazine for its fusion of "seething admixtures of jam-band chops, careening blues-punk riffs" (December 2013). The "Earth Rocker" triple deluxe album package will include: 1) the full record and brand new songs "Night Hag" and "Scavengers", 2) "Earth Rocker Live", a CD audio version of the album performed live; and 3) on DVD "Live In Denver" recorded with seven cameras in 1080i on November 14 at the sold-out Ogden Theatre show in Denver, two videos shot, directed and edited by actress Aisha Tyler: "Gone Cold" (unreleased) and "Crucial Velocity".
Produced, engineered and mixed by Machine (KING CRIMSON, LAMB OF GOD), "Earth Rocker"'s triple deluxe cover artwork was created by longtime CLUTCH art director Nick Lakiotis.
CLUTCH's classic 2005 album, "Robot Hive/Exodus", will receive a collector’s edition double vinyl release on Tuesday, June 10. The beautiful double LP is remastered and comes in a re-designed gatefold package boasting some of CLUTCH's best tracks.
CLUTCH recently entered Magpie Cage Recording Studio in Baltimore, with producer J. Robbins (THE SWORD, COLISEUM) to record the song "Run, John Barleycorn, Run" for a split seven-inch single with LIONIZE, to be released as part of this year's Record Store Day on April 19.
