Clutch (band)
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Clutch is an American rock band from
Germantown, Maryland Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. With a population of 91,249 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous community in Maryland, after Baltimore and Columbia, Maryland, Col ...
. Since its formation in 1991, the band lineup has included Tim Sult (lead guitar), Dan Maines (bass), Jean-Paul Gaster (drums), and Neil Fallon (vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards). To date, Clutch has released thirteen studio albums, and several rarities and live albums. Since 2008, the band has been signed to their own record label, Weathermaker Music. Clutch is one of the pioneers of
stoner rock Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sl ...
.


History


Early years and breakthrough: 1991–2003

Clutch was formed in 1991 by bassist Dan Maines, drummer Jean-Paul Gaster, lead guitarist Tim Sult, and lead vocalist Roger Smalls (vocals) in
Germantown, Maryland Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. With a population of 91,249 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous community in Maryland, after Baltimore and Columbia, Maryland, Col ...
. Before settling on the name Clutch, the band used the early names Glut Trip and Moral Minority. Smalls soon departed and was replaced by Neil Fallon, a longtime schoolmate of the other members at Seneca Valley High School. The band's name was chosen due to the band's interest in cars at the time, and it being a one-syllable name like many bands at the time, including Prong, who the band were fans of. The band quickly gained notice through constant touring. The 12" single '' Passive Restraints'' on the Earache label was Clutch's first commercial release, garnering attention from other labels. Their debut LP, '' Transnational Speedway League'', was released through EastWest Records in 1993. It was followed by a self-titled album in May 1995 that gained Clutch mainstream exposure. However, shortly after its release, the band's A&R rep was fired from EastWest, resulting in all of the rep's acts, including Clutch, being dropped. The band moved to the larger Columbia label for the 1998 album '' The Elephant Riders''. They followed it in 1999 with a self-released groove-based album '' Jam Room''. The album '' Pure Rock Fury'' was released by
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
in 2001. The title track was initially released as the first single. The program director for North Carolina rock station WXQR (Rock 105), Brian Rickman, suggested that the label switch singles to another track from the album, "Careful with That Mic". Atlantic did so, and Clutch achieved a surprise hit single. The follow-up tracks, "Immortal" and "Open Up the Border", were also well received by American rock stations. In 2003 they issued '' Live at the Googolplex'' and the rarities record '' Slow Hole to China''.


Commercial and critical success: 2004–2011

The album '' Blast Tyrant'' was released in 2004, their first for DRT Entertainment. The band once again enjoyed more rock radio airplay and heavy rotation on the Music Choice cable service thanks to the single "The Mob Goes Wild". Its accompanying video was directed by
Bam Margera Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera ( ; born September 28, 1979) is an American former professional skateboarder, stunt performer, television personality, and filmmaker. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s as one of the stars of the MTV Reality tel ...
and featured Margera's '' Viva La Bam'' co-stars Ryan Dunn,
Brandon DiCamillo Brandon DiCamillo (born March 15, 1977) is an American former television personality. He was a founding member of the CKY crew and rose to fame through appearances in the CKY (video series), ''CKY'' video series and MTV's ''Jackass (franchise), ...
, and Don Vito. The video was filmed at Rex's in
West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,671 at the 2020 census. West ...
. The 2005 release '' Pitchfork & Lost Needles'' combined Clutch's 1991 ''Pitchfork'' 7-inch release with previously unreleased demos and early tracks. In 2005 the band saw their first lineup change since the early 1990s with the addition of organist Mick Schauer, who performed on the albums '' Robot Hive/Exodus'' (2005) and '' From Beale Street to Oblivion'' (2007). The later album was produced by Joe Barresi who has also produced for Kyuss,
Melvins Melvins (sometimes the Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Primarily a trio, they have also performed as a quartet, with eith ...
, Queens of the Stone Age, and
Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...
. The band's first live DVD, '' Full Fathom Five'', and accompanying CD, produced and directed by Agent Ogden, were released in September 2008. The band also released a remastered version of '' Slow Hole to China: Rare and Unreleased'' on April 28, 2009. The band's ninth studio album '' Strange Cousins from the West'', was released on July 14, 2009. Songs from the album were played live on tour prior to the album's recording. A two-disc DVD set ''Clutch Live at the 9:30'' was released on May 11, 2010, by the band's own label, Weathermaker Music. The set includes the entire December 28, 2009, show at Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 club, in which the band performed its entire 1995 self-titled LP. On May 10, 2011, Clutch reissued their 2004 album '' Blast Tyrant'' on Weathermaker Music. The new edition contained a bonus album known as ''Basket of Eggs'' that includes unreleased songs as well as acoustic versions of previous hits. In its first week of release ''Blast Tyrant'' sold close to three thousand copies nationally, landing it at No. 26 on the Billboard Hard Rock Top 100, more than seven years after the original version debuted at No. 15.


Recent releases: 2012–present

On June 10, 2012, the band released a new single, "Pigtown Blues", backed with an acoustic version of "Motherless Child" from '' Strange Cousins from the West''. On March 16, 2013, Clutch released their tenth album '' Earth Rocker'' which entered the
Billboard Top 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular Album, music albums and extended play, EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an recor ...
chart at No. 15 giving Clutch their highest chart position to date. It remained on the chart for a total of five weeks. The album also reached No. 4 on iTunes' overall Top 100 album charts and was No. 1 on their rock chart. ''Earthrocker'' won Album of the Year 2013 from British publication '' Metalhammer'', and was rated highly on many rock and metal magazines' and websites' end-of-the-year "top-tens". In an interview on January 7, 2015, with music and entertainment company 88 Miles West, Fallon stated that the band was heading to Dripping Springs, Texas, to record their upcoming eleventh album. Fallon states the venture to Texas was due to the relocation of record producer Machine, with whom they worked on ''Blast Tyrant'' and ''Earth Rocker'', and who recently opened a new studio there. He stated in the interview that "Septemberish, give or take a couple of months" is when they hope to release the new album. Their eleventh studio album, '' Psychic Warfare'', was released October 2, 2015. Fallon said the concept is influenced by
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
author Philip K. Dick. "His general philosophy and questions have always crept into my lyrics, because I share an interest in it", he added. "On ''Earth Rocker'', 'Crucial Velocity' was definitely a Philip Dick song for me. On this record, 'X-Ray Visions' certainly is." Gaster described the new material as more diverse than ever. In April 2018, Neil Fallon announced through the radio station The Eagle Rocks that the band's twelfth studio album would be titled '' Book of Bad Decisions''. The album was released on September 7, 2018. The album was recorded at Sputnik Sound Studio in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, with producer and engineer Vance Powell. Former keyboardist, Mick Schauer died of cancer on September 15, 2019, at age 46. In an August 2020 interview on the Detroit-based radio station WRIF, drummer Jean-Paul Gaster stated that Clutch would "probably" begin recording their thirteenth studio album in the winter. In an interview with ''Metal Kaoz'' in April 2021, Gaster offered an update on the new album, saying: "Over the last year, we've written a lot of songs for our new album, and we've done some streaming shows too, which was something we knew nothing about prior to the pandemic. But we educated ourselves quickly, and that kept us busy for a lot of last year as well. We've been writing now for our new album that we will record in the fall, and I think we're spending more time than ever in the studio, just trying out different ideas. And most of the ideas don't ever really make it to the end; we try 10 things and we keep one." Gaster also stated that their new album would likely not be released until early 2022. The resulting album, '' Sunrise on Slaughter Beach'', was released on September 16, 2022. On July 9, 2021, Clutch began a series of reissues known as the ''Clutch Collector's Series'' in which each member picks a Clutch album and reimagines it. So far, the series only has two instalments: a new reissue of 2004's ''Blast Tyrant'', released on July 9, curated by drummer Jean-Paul Gaster, and 2005's ''Robot Hive/Exodus,'' curated by bassist Dan Maines. As of April 2024, Clutch has begun writing new material for their fourteenth studio album. In August of 2024, Clutch rereleased their compilation album '' Slow Hole To China.''


Other projects

In the late 1990s, Clutch and its sibling project The Bakerton Group (an
instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...
jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational "jam session, jamming". Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to musical improvisation, improvise ove ...
composed of all four Clutch members) formed an independent record label, River Road Records, to release their own music. River Road does not sign any other artists. The Bakerton Group has released one three-track EP titled ''Space Guitars'' and two full-length albums titled '' The Bakerton Group'' and '' El Rojo'' respectively. Clutch/Bakerton Group now runs its own independent record label for its own releases, Weathermaker Music. The Company Band was started in 2007 by Neil Fallon, James A. Rota ( Fireball Ministry), Brad Davis (
Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu ( zh, t=傅滿洲/福滿洲, p=Fú Mǎnzhōu) is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character f ...
), Jess Margera ( CKY) and Dave Bone. Initially, the bass was played by Jason Diamond (Puny Human). Dunsmuir is a project featuring Neil Fallon, Dave Bone, Brad Davis and
Vinny Appice Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio (band), Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell (band), Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother ...
. They released a self-titled album in 2016.


Musical style

Clutch have been described as " hard rockers who blended elements of
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
,
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
, and
metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
with vocals inspired by
Faith No More Faith No More is an American Rock music, rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before September 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/rhythm guitarist ...
. The band has drawn comparisons to Coal Chamber and
Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...
.


Members

13-06-09 RaR Clutch Tim Sult 06.jpg, Tim Sult 13-06-09 RaR Clutch Dan Maines 04.jpg, Dan Maines 13-06-09 RaR Clutch Jean Paul Gaster 03.jpg, Jean-Paul Gaster 13-06-09 RaR Clutch Neil Fallon 11.jpg, Neil Fallon Current members * Tim Sult – lead guitar (1991–present) * Dan Maines – bass (1991–present) * Jean-Paul Gaster – drums, percussion (1991–present) * Neil Fallon – vocals, rhythm guitar, occasional harmonica, occasional keyboards (1991–present) Former members * Roger Smalls – vocals (1991) * Mick Schauer – keyboards (2005–2008; died 2019)


Discography

Studio albums * '' Transnational Speedway League'' (1993) * ''
Clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...
'' (1995) * '' The Elephant Riders'' (1998) * '' Jam Room'' (1999) * '' Pure Rock Fury'' (2001) * '' Blast Tyrant'' (2004) * '' Robot Hive/Exodus'' (2005) * '' From Beale Street to Oblivion'' (2007) * '' Strange Cousins from the West'' (2009) * '' Earth Rocker'' (2013) * '' Psychic Warfare'' (2015) * '' Book of Bad Decisions'' (2018) * '' Sunrise on Slaughter Beach'' (2022)


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clutch 1991 establishments in Maryland Rock music groups from Maryland American blues rock musical groups Hard rock musical groups from Maryland American alternative metal musical groups American funk metal musical groups Heavy metal musical groups from Maryland American stoner rock musical groups Atlantic Records artists Columbia Records artists Earache Records artists Musical groups established in 1991 Musical quartets from Maryland East West Records artists