Built on a Weak Spot

Last weekend I was at a get together with some friends and it was probably one of the most fun things I’d done in an awhile. However, at one point I remember standing close to the sliding glass/screen door that led out to the balcony where a bunch of people were standing. I overheard them mention something about the band Clutch and I quickly popped my head outside like the nerd that I am and questioned “what about Clutch?” Then, all I remember from that point was their response having something to do with them being boring sounding as they were driving/walking past the venue they were playing at that night. I was disappointed to hear this obviously. But then they conceded that they had never heard the band actually. I then went on to defend Clutch in some way I am sure. I doubt I defended them very well considering I’d probably had a couple drinks at that point. But I do remember saying that I was going to do a post on Clutch and let them revel in their greatness. So it’s Friday, and I don’t have anything else to post yet, and I want to live up to my promise to these unfortunate souls that have never partaken in listening to this wonderful band. I know some of you read the blog, so here it is…

First and foremost, one of my fellow friends in the blogosphere Hank Shteamer who runs the amazing Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches blog did a wonderful post on the band earlier this year in January. I would highly recommend reading his post on the band at some point as well.

I can’t exactly remember when it was that I discovered Clutch. I know it was whenever I saw the video for their single “A Shogun Named Marcus” on MTV many years ago when Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes, and Undeniable Truths was coming out. I was instantly hooked, not only by the song but by the bands then hick tobacco spittin’ vibe, which was greatly portrayed or mocked throughout the album and in the video for “Marcus”. Living in a small town myself, I think it probably appealed to me due to my everyday surroundings. It just seemed cool and it rocked in such an awesome care free way. Yeah, I wasn’t cool enough to be into the band whenever they were putting out their earliest material like the Passive Restraints EP or the Pitchfork 7’’. I however found myself quickly trying to track the material down.

Now back then, and by that I mean around 1993 or ’94, Clutch was almost a completely different band. Their sound was much more post-hardcore sounding with slow driving chunky guitar riffs that were often attached to Neil Fallon’s guttural vocals, which also eventually changed over time. When they released Transnational Speedway League I remember getting it and being pretty blown away by the whole thing. All the way from the insane lyrical content to it being full of top notch riffs and overall making me want to tear things to pieces. Yes, all 125 pounds or so of me back then. Regardless it was one of those albums that came at the absolute right time for me when I was younger and to this day I am still rocking it. You just honestly can’t beat some of the lyrics and riffs on it.

“Well I rolled Jesse Helms like a cigarette
And smoked him higher than the highest of the minarets
Jesse James couldn’t even handle it
Started looking at me like I was Sanskrit”

A couple years passed and Clutch released their second album, which was simply titled Clutch. Upon hearing that disc I couldn’t figure out what had happened. What had happened to the Clutch I had heard on their previous album? This sounded like a completely different band. Instead of the plodding riffs that had been a staple on all their previous releases they had taken up a very spacey, almost jam band element to their sound. For someone that had gotten into Clutch due their previous recordings this was definitely something really hard to comprehend at first, but the more I eventually listened to it the cooler it became. They lyrics especially were quite redeeming. It really didn’t take long to fall in love with their new sound, but sadly for Clutch the change probably sealed their fate with their current label and they were eventually dropped. The self-titled album is still probably one of, if not, my favorite Clutch album. Songs like “Animal Farm”, “Escape from the Prison Planet”, and the mega spaced out “Spacegrass”. The album also ends with the insanely awesome complete jam fueled “Tim Sult vs. The Greys”. It’s just a ridiculously solid album, that’s about all I can say.

I’m always a bit torn as to which Clutch sound I most prefer, and as of this writing I still probably can’t tell any of you which one I am partial to. After the self-titled album, Clutch basically stuck with this sound and over the years has tinkered and continually added to it. Fallon’s lyrics eventually morphed into a story telling sort of method where the content of the songs were of these mythical proportions. Their third album Elephant Riders, which was released on Columbia in 1998, was very much in this vein. It continued with the jam aesthetic and probably upped it by a thousand notches. It was basically like the self-titled but on steroids and I completely ate it up. However as one might suspect the sound didn’t really catch on with enough people and the band again found themselves without a label. This would be a pretty common theme for them throughout the 90’s and early 00’s until they eventually found a home on DRT, which have released their last three records.

After they released Elephant Riders I somehow lost track of the band. Without a record label, I wasn’t even sure if they were still around. Then they made an appearance in 1999 by self-releasing a record called Jam Room and would eventually find a place on the Atlantic Records roster for 2001’s Pure Rock Fury, which ultimately continued to see the bands sound evolve more into a rock behemoth. With another solid album under their belts they eventually left Atlantic Records and eventually found their home with DRT.

In 2004 they released Blast Tyrant through DRT, which to me was the album that really catapulted them into that hierarchy of bands that can do absolutely no wrong. Blast Tyrant was such a swift kick in the ass upon first listening. Clutch felt more alive than ever and their sound had found the perfect mixture between balls out rock n’ roll and the psychedelic 70’s jam sound that they had quietly been working with throughout the last decade. Blast Tyrant is what I feel Clutch is all about; they really managed to capture the essence of the band on it so well. From that point on Clutch has released two more albums, 2005’s Robot Hive/Exodus and 2007’s From Beale Street to Oblivion, both available though DRT.

One thing that has made me appreciate Clutch so much over the years is that they are a band that has continued to exist completely on their own terms, despite being yanked around time after time by various labels. Even with all the ups and downs throughout the bands existence they have managed to sustain a large enough cult following that will surely inspire the band to continue making music into the foreseeable future. And how did they get this fan base you ask? Well, by simply forging on and making the music they fucking want and at the same time it being mighty damn good music too. Clutch is simply one of the greatest rock bands to exist in the past 15 or so years in my eyes. There is no question.

As much as I would like to post every single Clutch song I love, that would be way too many songs for me to post in one night, so I am limiting it to my absolute favorites. Here you go folks and to those of you that were standing on the balcony that night speaking poorly of Clutch.

Pitchfork:
Clutch – Juggernaut [MP3]

Passive Restraints EP:
Clutch – Impetus [MP3]

Transnational Speedway League:
Clutch – Walking in the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks [MP3]

Clutch:
Clutch – Escape from the Prison Planet [MP3]
Clutch – Animal Farm [MP3]

Impetus EP:
Clutch – Pile Driver [MP3]

Elephant Riders:
Clutch – The Soapmakers [MP3]

Blast Tyrant:
Clutch – Mercury [MP3]

Every single one of Clutch’s releases is still available through Amazon. Go pick some of them up if you already haven’t. You’ve been missing out, that’s for sure.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 25th, 2007 at 6:41 am and is filed under jam-rock, post-hardcore, psych-rock. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.