The following interview/article originally appeared in the December 2005 issue of Metal Hammer magazine.

TRANSMISSION IS POSSIBLE

“I can pretty much write off 1994. I don’t know what the hell I was doing then. Anytime you’re under the influence of something, that’s the time when you make bad calls. But when something like that happens, you just have to live with it and move on. With regards to the specific moments I can kind of remember… I’d rather not put those in print!”

Clutch’s lyrical shamen Neil Fallon is keeping his cards close to his chest. With more years under his Clutch belt buckle than some of his contemporaries have had out of nappies, there’s plenty of scope to speculate why.

A reluctant rock star, or a guiding light, happy to show fledgling bands through the sandstorm of pressurised debauchery that passes for rock’n’roll. Fallon, it’s probably fair to say, has experienced both the lightest and the darkest sides of life with a band now considered a cult phenomenon.

“At this stage in the game, we’re not going to discover anything new by staying up until dawn drinking whiskey and beating each other up.” Fallon is in philosophical mood. “But when you’re young and on your first tour, there’s definitely a level of excitement which some people will express in bizarre ways. But now, we’re just here to perform and everything else is peripheral. I think young bands make the mistake of always wanting to be on stage, and when they stop playing? They feel there’s this great need to continue some kind of myth of what you’re
supposed to do when you’re in a rock band.

“We’ve been doing this for over 14 years now and there’s been plenty of overindulgent nights, which occasionally turned into overindulgent periods of time. But I guess that’s just par for the course. But as long as you can check yourself and not damage yourself or people around you… because rock’n’roll can be a fleeting thing and suddenly you discover you’ve made a giant mess of everything.”

Clutch are in Bristol, chilling in the back of the Clutchmobile – a rare window in a schedule stretched wafer thin. With the new album ‘Robot Hive/Exodus’, a DVD fast approaching and a high profile slot on the, criminally, US-only Sounds Of The Underground tour imminent, the Clutch machine is, as ever, in overdrive.

Sounds Of The Underground pitches Clutch into a frenzied bear pit of zeitgeist hardcore bands, black metal legends and NWOAHM chest beaters, so how in the name of sweet Jesus will the Maryland bluesmen survive such an adrenaline junkies’ wet dream? The same way they always have and it’s for the same reason why they’re playing this bill. Every fucker just loves Clutch.

“We’re joint headlining with Opeth and Lamb Of God playing above us, which I think is going to work to our advantage – because if you play too late in the game, the kids tend to get burnt out,” says Fallon. “But we’ve never done a festival circuit like this because we’ve always seemed like the square peg in the round hole. However you can’t always preach to your own choir, sometimes you have to jump in someone else’s arena to pick up new fans.

“I don’t really keep up to date with all the bands around to be quite honest. I do tend to get a rough gist of what’s going on. I tend to hear one great band coming through – but then they’re followed by two dozen carbon copies. But I guess that’s the way it has always been. “Before I judge a band, I wait to see if they can play or not,”says Fallon. “Records are great, but you can cheat on records. Fashion will always be there but I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about that. It’s always performance that impresses me, and everyone else in Clutch for that matter. “With our band, people either love it or hate it. It’s either one of the other. Nobody’s ever complacent about Clutch. But kids are basically kids and they’re quite impressionable – they see their friends getting into it and before you know it, they’re into it too.”

Be it misplaced modesty or majestic naivety, Clutch are kidding themselves if they think they are the Marmite of rock’n’roll. They are a cherished institution, and Clutch devotees can be counted right across the spectrum. Tours with Marilyn Manson, System Of A Down and Biohazard highlight not only their pulling power, but also the incredible diversity of their appeal.

This engaging Clutch diversity permeates every record and every gig, and the latest monolithic slab of blues-rock out of Clutch’s box, ‘Robot Hive/Exodus’, is no exception. For the first time in over 14 years, Clutch have added a new string to the old Hohner in the form of keyboard player Mick Schauer – enabling the band to delve even deeper into the Southern blues and gospel swamps. Tracks like ‘Gravel Road’ and ‘Gullah’ squeal with bluegrass meanderings and if there was ever any doubt about Clutch’s roadside rocking chair chops, a cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Who’s Been Talking?’ should seal the deal.

Despite the musical detours Clutch’s congregation stays tolerant and true. Though, as with every religion, there’s always a few zealots who just take it all a bit to far.

“There was this guy who got our signatures tattooed on his belly,” says Neil. “We were in North Carolina and this guy was like ‘sign my belly guys’ and we were saying, ‘We ain’t going anywhere near your belly.’ But this guy was so persistent that we ended up doing it. Then he said he was going straight out to get them tattooed on and we we’re thinking, ‘Yeah whatever, you’re drunk!’ Didn’t think any more about it, then six months later, we’re playing the same venue and he’s there with our names tattooed on his god-damn belly! But this was just before the ‘Pure Rock Fury’ album and I suspect he was disappointed with the album because we’ve never seen him since! If I think about the bands I was passionate about when I was 20 years old, I can’t even listen to them anymore. I definitely wouldn’t want a permanent reminder on my skin.” With the reckless nutter magnet working flat out, it was only a matter of time before other uncontrollables came knocking. Enter rodeo clown Bam Margera.

“Bam doesn’t live too terribly far from us and I think he’d come to see us play, probably with his brother Jess who plays drums in CKY who always comes to watch us,” explains Fallon. “We’re on really good terms with Jess so that’s how we got introduced to Bam. One thing led to another and he ended up directing the video for our single ‘Mob Goes Wild’, which was a great favour to us in a lot of ways because MTV won’t touch us with a 10 foot pole. So we had to go through the back door with Bam.

“I think he knew us well enough to realise we weren’t going to do what he does, so there was no chance of us down-hilling in shopping carts or anything like that. “But we had another treatment from another director which involved me standing on an armoured personnel carrier with an upside down American flag with a beret, dark glasses and a gun. Fuck off! Although sadly, that is the kind of video that would get played on Headbanger’s Ball. But I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

“The label initially wanted to do a treatment for the track ‘Mice And Gods’ off the new album. We agreed to a concept that referenced the lyrics, but then they changed the track choice to ‘Burning Beard’. They wanted to use the same treatment saying that the images and lyrics were interchangeable which I found really insulting. We spent a lot of time writing, recording and putting out this music and for someone to come back and say that they’ll just throw anything on it and it’ll be fine wasn’t great. But it’ll all work out - we’re in the process of reading new treatments.

“I guess if it was solely up to me, it would have to depend on the budget. When you’re doing something like this, you have to make your mind up whether you want to do something that’s artistically very cool or something that’s practical which is more likely to get played on Fuse and all the other stations. But the moments of genius occur when you manage to do both things at the same time. I’ve always been a huge fan of visually arresting videos like Spike Jonze so I always get quite
weary when I see those metal videos where it looks like the reel was pulled out of the dirt or a bucket of bleach. It’s very cliched.”

Despite having a pretty good head on their collective shoulders and a clear vision of where they are and are not prepared to be steered, are Clutch happy? Doing what they do over such a long period must mean the goalposts have changed over that time. On a sea of destruction, what really floats Clutch’s boat?

“What’s musically most enticing now is playing in new places. We still love coming to Europe and the UK because it’s all still so new to us. The United States is old hat. But we would love to go to South America, Asia and even places like Greece. We’re not out to be the next big thing, but it’s way more rewarding to go there in that capacity rather than going as tourists.”

Audioslave have the honour of being the first US band to play Cuba since the US blockaded the country 45 years ago and 70,000 people showed up. How does playing a place starved of rock for decades appeal to Clutch? “Well we did that last night,” says Fallon with a thoughtful scratch of his wise man’s beard. “We played Penzance.”

Clutch – transmission set to engage all corners of the planet.