Clutch (band)

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Clutch
Clutch at Rock am Ring 2013
Clutch at Rock am Ring 2013
General information
origin Germantown , Maryland ( USA )
Genre (s) Hardcore , stoner rock , blues rock
founding 1991
Website www.pro-rock.com
Founding members
Neil Fallon
Tim Sult
Dan Maines
Jean-Paul Gaster
Current occupation
singing
 Neil Fallon
guitar
 Tim Sult
Electric bass
 Dan Maines
Drums
 Jean-Paul Gaster
former members
Mick Schauer (2004 - approx. 2007)

Clutch was founded in Germantown , Maryland ( USA ) in the early 1990s . The name was inspired by the group Prong , whose name sounds short and sharp as in the comic language. When it comes to music, the band does not clearly commit itself; it started with hardcore , was later assigned to stoner rock and developed into blues rock by 2013 .

  • Neil Fallon

  • Tim Sult

  • Dan Maines

  • Jean-Paul Gaster

history

In 1991 Neil Fallon (vocals), Tim Sult (guitar), Dan Maines (bass) and Jean-Paul Gaster (drums), who knew each other from high school in Germantown , east coast state of Maryland , formed the band Clutch. The short-lived small label Inner Journey Records released an EP with four tracks, and Earache Records released another one with three tracks. On the Earache compilation Naive from July 1992, on which seven bands with two songs each were presented, Clutch was represented with one released on the EP and one unreleased. However, these two recordings were not widely used, as the cover image was modeled on an Evian bottle, against which the beverage manufacturer sued and obtained a sales ban. They appeared again in 2005 on the early work compilation Pitchfork & Lost Needles . In connection with lively performance activity, the compositions presented aroused the interest of some large companies, from which Eastwest was awarded the contract.

In 1993, the Transnational Speedway League was released: Anthems, Anecdotes and Undeniable Truths and Eastwest sent their newcomer on tour, including Corrosion of Conformity , Therapy? , Fu Manchu and Karma to Burn . The label then gave it to the sister company Elektra Records , where in 1995 the successor, simply called Clutch , appeared. After the first record, Tim Sult explained in 2007 that the material had been played so often that it had been constantly modified to avoid boredom: an intro was added here, a solo changed there, new song transitions were sometimes created and so on . These new sequences could then be accommodated in the second album. Despite sales of around 100,000 copies for each album, no label stuck to the band for long. Columbia Records released the next. It's called The Elephant Riders , referring to the curiosity that elephants were used in the American Civil War . The Republican Party has since used the elephant as a party emblem. Although Columbia had no promotional efforts, this album also sold respectably three years after the last. A year later Jam Room was available, this time it was Spitfire Records' turn.

Clutch has always seen itself as a live band and has been able to prove this with intensive tours and all categories of performance locations, from the bar to the arena. The musicians did not want to achieve the same sound that they loved so much from the stage on sound carriers. For the album Pure Rock Fury , which was completed in 2001 on behalf of ( Atlantic Records ), their own live snippets were used and incorporated, because they had again failed to produce their desired sound in the studio. The guest musicians were also new : Sixty Watt Shaman, The Obsessed singer Scott “Wino” Weinrich and above all Mountains Leslie West . West had come into contact with Clutch at an Iron Maiden concert in New York . He and Tim Sult came out as fans of each other. The result was a solo by West in the song Immortal .

After that there were the first live releases of the band, coinciding with extensive concert tours through the USA , Europe and Japan in association with, for example, the Deftones and System of a Down . In December 2004, Blast Tyrant was released - again on another label . The album, which comes up with acoustic guitar passages, was recorded mainly in the drummer's home studio in Maryland and partly in New Jersey . The first - and so far only - line-up change took place slowly, because the organist Mick Schauer was only part of the live line-up in 2004 and was only integrated into the band a little later and also took part in the two following albums. First up was the Robot Hive / Exodus , recorded in Woodstock. Apart from the bonus track edition, it ends in a bluesy way with a piece penned by Mississippi Fred McDowell and the cover version Who’s been Talking by Howlin 'Wolf .

In autumn 2006 the band went to the studio with producer Joe Barresi ( Kyuss , Queens of the Stone Age , Melvins , Tool ) to record From Beale Street to Oblivion . She found a recipe for how to sound “live”, namely to record every song in one piece, not in bits. Furthermore, to forego the over-engineering that today's digital productions bring with them. An old process, the so-called “ tape machine ”, was used for this. The work was in stores in March 2007. The refrain of the song Electric Worry was later used in the trailer of the survival horror game Left 4 Dead 2 .

The connection with the label DRT Entertainment lasted three albums, but then the band disgusted its commercialism . This was followed by the establishment of their own record company, which was called "Weathermaker Music". The media combination Full Fathom Five: Audio Field Recordings 2007-2008 (Live) was released there in 2008, with audio and visual samples from shows in New Jersey, Pittsburgh and Sydney , as well as all subsequent regular releases by Clutch and the psychedelic, which has been running alongside since the late 1990s -Instrumental Project The Bakerton Group. There were four years between the release dates of Strange Cousins ​​from the West (2009) and Earth Rocker (2013). The preparation time for Earth Rocker was unusually long, the musicians went into the studio fully prepared for this, in contrast to before, when they had developed melodies, texts and arrangements on the recording location. The album entered the Billboard charts at # 15 - the band's highest ranking to date.

style

Preliminary remark

Reviewers often have different feelings and associations when it comes to style information. In the case of Clutch, the fact that the band has been active for a long time and has in a sense gone through a development from album to album, interestingly without any major line-up changes, is even more difficult. John Bush from the Internet platform Allmusic began his artist biography with the general statement that Clutch combined elements of funk , Led Zeppelin and metal with Faith No More- inspired singing. Other journalists dealt differently with the various albums and times. If one compares all opinions, there is some consensus that the development of Clutch from a hardcore style (often called: Helmet (band) ) through a traditional rock phase and a stoner rock period to blues rock.

1991-1998

In the biography on laut.de it says that the debut captivates "with a slowly booming heaviness with riffs from the Helmet brand and a strangely rough vocals". Christian Kruse wrote for Metal Hammer that Clutch was initially a post-hardcore / noise band in the style of Helmet and The Jesus Lizard . On the guitar player , Darrin Fox interviewed guitarist Tim Sult, who said he was influenced by Black Flag and Minor Threat on the first album , but the emulation of idols in his younger years such as Jimmy Page , Ritchie Blackmore , Tony Iommi and Billy Gibbons , should be seen as a rock-solid training and basis for the punk phase. Laut.de characterizes album number two as "less oriented towards hardcore", "but more towards other models like Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin". The website cites Sult and Gaster, who have given these bands as well as the Doom bands The Obsessed and Wretched as a “source of inspiration”. Finally, the term stoner rock comes up, put into perspective by the band that rejects it. Wolf Kohl said in Metal Hammer that the music sounded like "Black Sab [bath] noodled through a funk meat grinder". In the same issue, Henning Richter outlined the style as a mixture of Corrosion of Conformity, Trouble , Fu Manchu and Captain Beefheart . The Elephant Riders is “suspiciously crazy” because “the ultra-heavy blasts drag themselves out of the boxes like hungry pachyderms. The Indian-like chants, leaden riffs and crazy lyrics are accompanied by a simple, pounding beat . And a melancholy / jazzy trombone joins two songs. "

1999-2002

Andreas Schöwe, also working for Metal Hammer , found what was heard live in 1999 as " Sleaze Rock with Hardcore Vocals". In Rock Hard , Thomas Kupfer wrote about this performance that he heard a “mixture of Alice-in-Chains harmonies and noisy tool influences”. In a concert held in Berlin, Andreas Kohl identified “ zappaesque improvisational orgies ” in a report for the Visions . Thorsten Zahn ( Metal Hammer ) concluded that the album Pure Rock Fury was bluesy hard rock. In the 2001 Metal Hammer interview , Neil Fallon said about the assigned term “Stoner Rock” : “We have already been thrown into this category because there is no better category. Of course, I haven't met a band yet that would have welcomed this classification. It degrades the value of your music. It's all about drugs, according to the motto: We smoke more pot than you do. "

2003-2006

The assessment of the live album Live at the Googolplex prompted Henning Richter to go into the beginnings of Clutch and the current stylistic development. Started as a hardcore band, ZZ top looseness, jazz carelessness and space rock excursions have also found their way. The next studio album ( Blast Tyrant ) is "imaginative heavy rock" according to Matthias Mineur. After associations in different directions, which also included old masters such as Led Zeppelin and Frank Zappa, he decided on the highest similarity rate with Audioslave and Queens of the Stone Age. Elmar Salmutter, another Metal Hammer author, found Clutch to be “stoner rock”, close to “ Monster Magnet in the Spine of God times”. This was contrasted with the opinion of Neil Fallon, who insisted on the natural, namely rock and blues. In his Robot Hive / Exodus review, Nils Klein saw a dilemma for the Visions in the variety of styles offered, which is also enriched by abrupt changes of direction and frequent endless improvisations. Comparisons with the Spiritual Beggars , Rage Against the Machine or Henry Rollins came to mind. He would have found a clear “stoner blues rock” more pleasant. In the Metal Hammer Matthias Mineur asked himself whether the style should be called retro rock, stoner rock or blues rock. In any case, Clutch is comparable to Queens of the Stone Age. Since criticism had been heard from different quarters, Sult stated: "[...] in order to really exert influence, real art must not please the masses."

2007-2014

In unclesally * s 2007, Martin Schmidt did not find it difficult to find the term "blues rock". Before the album From Beale Street to Oblivion , the comparisons with Helmet, Corrosion of Conformity and Queens of the Stone Age would have been quite right. Darrin Fox also noticed that ZZ Top suddenly leads the chain of associations on the 2007 album, which is why blues-rock attribution seems clear to him. Christof Leim remained stuck with the idea of mixing in the Metal Hammer by handling the genres of stoner rock, rock, swing and blues and imagining a band consisting of Fu Manchu and Pothead members playing Led Zeppelin classics as an orientation . He saw the retro idea as a connecting element. Frank Thiessies, who publishes in Metal Hammer , found traces of stoner rock in Strange Cousins ​​from the West , but classified the material as blues rock. He thought he heard an acoustic flash from Monster Magnet, Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd . But Clutch also mixes on the musical color palette “from Black Sabbath to Blackfoot ”. In the concert he then heard "filigree, sensitive and sometimes funky stoner sound". Christian Kruse also took note of the turn to the hard form of blues rock, but did not want to suppress the remains of stoner rock and post-grunge . Laut.de wrote about Earth Rocker that it was hard rock from the 1970s and blues alike. The musicians themselves, however, bring a new term into play: It is a down-to-earth rock'n'roll album.

Lyrics and style of singing

The lyrics, mostly written spontaneously by the singer Neil Fallon himself, are sung seriously and aggressively, at times humorous and astute. The band colleagues often do not know their origin and meaning. Fallon: “Often times my lines don't make sense, but when the words sound good, that's more important to me than logic. I use the technique of the stream of consciousness , let all my ideas flow out of me. It often takes me a couple of years to find out what the song means. ”In another interview he explained:“ How the fan interprets my lyrics is just as right or wrong as my own interpretation. ”Henning had“ pithy singing ” Richter's article mentioned. Nils Klein described him in more detail: “Front man Neil Fallon contributes the rest, who sings, yells and speaks through the […] songs with his distinctive, sonorous organ.” The stylistically undefined band Mastodon needed 2004 for the drunken instructions shouting Captain Ahab (from Moby-Dick ) performing the song Blood and Thunder found a suitable performer and found him in Fallon.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
The Elephant Riders
  US 104 05/02/1998 (1 week)
Pure Rock Fury
  US 135 03/31/2001 (1 week)
Blast Tyrant
  US 147 04/17/2004 (1 week)
Robot Hive / Exodus
  US 94 07/09/2005 (2 weeks)
From Beale Street to Oblivion
  US 52 04/14/2007 (3 weeks)
Strange Cousins ​​from the West
  UK 95 July 25, 2009 (1 week)
  US 38 08/01/2009 (4 weeks)
Earth rocker
  DE 71 03/29/2013 (1 week)
  UK 50 03/30/2013 (1 week)
  US 15th 04/06/2013 (5 weeks)
Psychic Warfare
  DE 46 09/10/2015 (1 week)
  AT 65 10/16/2015 (1 week)
  CH 46 10/11/2015 (1 week)
  UK 20th 15/10/2015 (2 weeks)
  US 11 October 24, 2015 (3 weeks)
Book of Bad Decisions
  DE 15th 14.09.2018 (2 weeks)
  AT 22nd 09/21/2018 (1 week)
  CH 20th 16.09.2018 (1 week)
  UK 13 09/20/2018 (1 week)
  US 16 09/22/2018 (2 weeks)

Studio albums

  • 1993: Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes and Undeniable Truths ( Eastwest )
  • 1995: Clutch ( Elektra Records )
  • 1998: The Elephant Riders ( Columbia Records )
  • 1999: Jam Room (Spitfire Records)
  • 2001: Pure Rock Fury ( Atlantic Records )
  • 2004: Blast Tyrant (DRT Entertainment)
  • 2005: Robot Hive / Exodus (RTE / DRT Entertainment)
  • 2007: From Beale Street to Oblivion (DRT Entertainment)
  • 2009: Strange Cousins ​​from the West (Weathermaker Music)
  • 2013: Earth Rocker (Weathermaker Music)
  • 2015: Psychic Warfare (Weathermaker Music)
  • 2018: Book of Bad Decisions (Weathermaker Music)

Live albums

  • 2002: Live at the Googolplex ( Megaforce Records )
  • 2004: Live in Flint, Michigan (double CD, Weathermaker Music)
  • 2007: Heard It All Before: Live at the HiFi Bar (New Found Frequency)
  • 2008: Live at the Corner Hotel (New Found Frequency)
  • 2008: Full Fathom Five: Audio Field Recordings 2007–2008 (Live) (Weathermaker Music)
  • 2014: Earth Rocker - Live! (Weathermaker Music)

Compilations

  • 2003: Slow Hole to China: Rare and Unreleased (Weathermaker Records)
  • 2005: Pitchfork & Lost Needles (Megaforce Records)
  • 2009: Slow Hole to China: Rare and Re-released (Weathermaker Music)
  • 2014: Summer Sound Attack (Weathermaker Music)
  • 2015: La Curandera (Weathermaker Music)

EPs

  • 1991: Pitchfork (Inner Journey Records)
  • 1992: Passive Restraints ( Earache Records )
  • 1997: Impetus (Earache Records)
  • 2001: Careful with That EP (Atlantic Records)
  • 2012: Pigtown Blues (Weathermaker Music)

Singles

  • 1995: Tight Like That
  • 1998: The Elephant Riders
  • 2001: Careful with That Mic ...
  • 2001: Immortal
  • 2002: Pure Rock Fury
  • 2004: The Mob Goes Wild
  • 2005: 10001110101
  • 2005: Mice and Gods
  • 2007: Electric Worry
  • 2009: 50,000 unstoppable watts
  • 2012: Pigtown Blues
  • 2013: Earth Rocker
  • 2013: Crucial Velocity

Video albums

  • 2008: Full Fathom Five: Video Field Recordings (2007-2008)
  • 2010: Clutch: Live at the 9:30
  • 2013: Clutch: Earth Rocker Live

Music videos

year song Director
1992 Wicker Hillary Johnson, Melissa Alonso
1993 A Shogun Named Marcus Dan Winters
1998 The Soapmakers Unknown
2002 Pure Rock Fury Stephen Smith
2004 The Mob Goes Wild Bam Margera
2005 Burning Beard Jeremy Hunt
2007 Electric Worry Stephen Smith
2009 50,000 unstoppable watts Jeremy Hunt
2013 Crucial Velocity Aisha Tyler
2015 X ray visions Dan Winters
2016 Gone Cold ???
2016 A Quick Death in Texas ???
2018 Gimme the Keys LV ???
2018 How To Shake Hands ???
2018 Hot bottom feeder ???
2018 In Walks Barbarella ???
2019 Ghoul Wrangler David Brodsky
2019 Evil David Brodsky
2019 Fortunate Son David Brodsky

Web links

Commons : Clutch  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Henning Richter: Clutch. Elephant! Clutch are the inventors of jumbo skirt . In: Metal Hammer . May 2001, p. 32 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f John Bush: Clutch. Artist Biography by John Bush. In: allmusic.com. Retrieved November 27, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Darrin Fox: Clutch's Tim Sult . In: Guitarplayer . September 2007, p. 34 ff .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Clutch. Laut.de biography. In: laut.de. Retrieved November 27, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Clutch. Discography. Compilations / soundtracks. In: pro-rock.com. Retrieved November 27, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Elephant and Donkey . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 1952 ( online ).
  7. ↑ Martin Schmidt: Ultra brutal blues rocker . In: Uncle Sally’s . No. 125 , 2007, pp. 62 .
  8. ↑ a b Christian Wissmuller: Clutch . In: Guitar Player . July 2001, Pickups, p. 55 .
  9. ↑ a b c Bio. Earth rocker. In: pro-rock.com. Retrieved November 27, 2014 .
  10. ^ A b Christian Kruse: Clutch. Do it yourself . In: Metal Hammer . August 2009, p. 42 .
  11. ↑ Wolf Kohl: Slayer + Clutch + System of a Down. New York: Irving Plaza . In: Metal Hammer . August 1998, Live Concert, p. 136 f .
  12. ↑ Henning Richter: Clutch. The Elephant Riders . In: Metal Hammer . August 1998, Reviews, p. 89 .
  13. ↑ Andreas Schöwe: Iron Maiden + Clutch. New York: Hammerstein Ballroom . In: Metal Hammer . September 1999, Live Concert, p. 146 f .
  14. ↑ Thomas Kupfer: The live premiere. Maiden's gonna get you - no matter how far! Iron Maiden, clutch. New York, Hammerstein Ballroom . In: Rock Hard . No. 148 , September 1999, p. 60 f .
  15. ↑ Andreas Kohl: brazenness vs. Bewildered. Clutch / Harmful, July 2000 - Berlin, Knaack . In: Visions . No. 90 , September 2000, p. 123 .
  16. ↑ Thorsten Zahn: Clutch. Pure Rock Fury . In: Metal Hammer . April 2001, p. 86 f .
  17. ↑ Henning Richter: Clutch. Live at the Googolplex . In: Metal Hammer . May 2003, p. 89 .
  18. ^ Matthias Mineur: Clutch. Blast Tyrant . In: Metal Hammer . January 2005, p. 92 .
  19. ↑ a b Elmar Salmutter: Clutch. Herbal rock . In: Metal Hammer . February 2005, p. 80 .
  20. ↑ a b Nils Klein: Clutch - Robot Hive / Exodus . In: Visions . No. 149 , August 2005, p. ? ( visions.de ).
  21. ^ Matthias Mineur: Clutch. Spring fever . In: Metal Hammer . September 2005, p. 93 .
  22. ↑ Martin Schmidt: Ultra brutal blues rocker . In: unclesally * s . No. 125 , 2007, pp. 62 .
  23. ↑ Christof Leim: Clutch. From Beale Street to Oblivion . In: Metal Hammer . April 2007, p. 99 .
  24. ↑ Frank Thiessies: Clutch. Strange Cousins ​​from the West . In: Metal Hammer . August 2009, p. 102 .
  25. ^ Frank Thiessies: Clutch + Kylesa + Kamcatka. Munich: Backstage. Visitors: approx. 300 . In: Metal Hammer . January 2010, Live, p. 131 .
  26. ^ Matt Hocking: Mastodon. Leviathan. In: drownedinsound.com. October 19, 2004, accessed November 27, 2014 .
  27. ↑ US DE UK
  28. ↑ a b c multimedia . In: pro-rock.com . Clutch. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  29. ^ Clutch> Music Videos> A Shogun Named Marcus . In: MTV . MTV Networks. February 28, 1997. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  30. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> The Mob Goes Wild . In: Blast Tyrant . OfficialClutch. May 12, 2016. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  31. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> Burning Beard . In: MTV . MTV Networks. August 1, 2005. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  32. ^ Clutch> Music Videos> Electric Worry . In: MTV . MTV Networks. April 3, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  33. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> 50,000 Unstoppable Watts . In: MTV . MTV Networks. July 10, 2009. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  34. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> Crucial Velocity . In: MTV . MTV Networks. August 28, 2013. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  35. ↑ Clutch Reveal 'X-Ray Visions' video, Fall 2015 Tour Dates . Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  36. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> Gone Cold . In: Earth Rocker . OfficialClutch. July 14, 2016. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  37. ^ Clutch> Music Videos> A Quick Death in Texas . In: Psychic Warfare . OfficialClutch. July 31, 2016. Accessed December 4, 2019.
  38. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> Gimme the Keys . In: Book of Bad Decisions . OfficialClutch. May 17, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  39. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> How To Shake Hands . In: Book of Bad Decisions . OfficialClutch. June 23, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  40. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> Hot Bottom Feeder . In: Book of Bad Decisions . OfficialClutch. July 27, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  41. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> In Walks Barbarella . In: Book of Bad Decisions . OfficialClutch. July 9, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  42. ^ Clutch> Music Videos> Ghoul Wrangler . In: Book of Bad Decisions . OfficialClutch. February 16, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  43. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> Evil . In: The Weathermaker Vault Series . OfficialClutch. June 9, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  44. ↑ Clutch> Music Videos> Fortunate Son . In: The Weathermaker Vault Series . OfficialClutch. November 28, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.