Ass to the Iron, Nose to the Grindstone

Whether a big name in the rock game or not, a strong work ethic is perhaps the most important thing a band can have. Adversity is the name of this game, and when it comes to keeping it real, anything less than an unwavering dedication to hard work just isn’t enough. For Clutch, hard work is the only thing that has kept them consistently on the road and in the game. This Maryland quartet - Neil Fallon (vocals), Tim Sult (guitar), Dan Maines (bass) and Jean-Paul Gaster (drums) - has been releasing albums for the better part of the last decade, building both an artistic connection and fan base that has kept them going. And they’ve gone through a lot together - a couple of different major label deals, time as a working unsigned band and growth as musicians and as individuals.

Still touring on their last release, Pure Rock Fury (Atlantic Records), Clutch’s work ethic is as strong as ever, and now, after ten years at this game, they’re starting to reach a point where it’s all starting to come together…of course, it’s always come together one way or another. At the outset of Clutch’s current tour, frontman Neil Fallon took some time out to catch up with the Synthesis and explained a bit about what’s behind this hard-working group.

You just started on this new tour. Did you have any thoughts of postponement or cancellation after the terrorist attacks in New York and DC?
It was kind of a tough decision. I think if things had accelerated in a bad way, we would have cancelled the tour. There are two sides to it, though. You gotta ask yourself if people are not in the mood to come see a rock show, or do they want to forget about life for a while? I think that’s the case - they need to just vent their frustrations and cut loose for a little bit.

You guys are still touring on Pure Rock Fury, which has been out for a while now.
It came out this past March, but we started touring on it before the record came out, back in November 2000, so we’re getting close to a year now. The next single is being released imminently, within the next couple of weeks, and we’ll see how much life is in that. If it pops off we’ll keep on going on the road, if not we’ll kinda re-evaluate. Personally, I’m ready to make another record. A lot of that material [on Pure Rock Fury] is even older than a year. I feel like I have to make an effort to keep it fresh.

Is that how you felt going into previous albums?
Well, each one’s been different. The first record we did, we had no idea what we were doing. The self-titled one was pretty spontaneous - I think that and Jam Room were my favorite records to make ‘cause they were really off the cuff. Elephant Riders was a real pain in the ass to make, and Pure Rock Fury was to some degree as well, but not as bad as Elephant Riders. We did that one twice. We did it once at our house and it was sounding fantastic and then Atlantic pulled the plug on it, so we went to Columbia, and we actually had to re-record the album, for all intents and purposes. I think record labels - and there are exceptions, of course - can’t understand how a record can be good if it only cost 40 thousand dollars to make. So we nipped that problem in the bud and recorded in Manhattan, which took out most of the budget. I think that was our most produced record, probably the slickest record we’ve made. You gotta try everything once, but I don’t think we’re going to go that route again. Pure Rock Fury was kind of nerve-wracking to make because we started that record as an unsigned band, and we were accruing a lot of debt and hoping that someone would come along and basically bail us out. It’s not good to work under those conditions because you just want to get into the studio and get out. Fortunately, we did get bailed out, and got the album out. Hopefully, next time, we’ll be afforded the opportunity to make a record just the way every other rock band makes a record.

It sounds like the studio hasn’t been a constant positive, like you’re a more of a live band.
That’s what keeps us going artistically, I think because that’s the most real thing. People always say ‘oh you’re much better live than you are on CD,’ and while I’d like the recorded stuff to match up [to the live performance], I’d rather have it that way than the other way around. It’s also been our bread and butter. You know, we’re not making money off of our records, we’re not making money off of publishing. We make money off our shows and selling T-shirts at the shows. So it’s not something that we feel we have to do to make money, it’s just fortunate that at this stage in the game that we can go out on tour and come home with a little bit of money in our pockets. That’s the ideal situation, and that’s all we’ve ever asked for.

For someone not in the know, what’s a Clutch live show like?
It’s pretty stripped down. We try to do a different set every night - mostly rearrangements, including songs we didn’t do the night before. Some of the songs don’t lend themselves to changing but we like to do a little improv too, but not a lot - you know, a little of that goes a long way. For us, I think less is more. Our guitars are just plugged straight into the heads, we don’t rely on a lot of embellishments as far as effects and stuff - though it is there to a small degree. We usually play for an hour and a half, and try to throw in some dynamics. I think we used to just play as loud and as fast as we could from beginning to end, and sort of painted ourselves into a corner, creatively speaking. Sometimes you gotta mellow out to make the harder parts sound harder, to give reference. And it’s actually more difficult to play quieter; the mistakes stick out so much more.

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