CLUTCH Frontman: 'We've Never Been Afraid Of Opening Up For A Variety Of Different Bands'

Aedan Siebert of The Metal Forge recently conducted an interview with CLUTCH frontman Neil Fallon. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

On the new album's ("From Beale Street to Oblivion") maturity and its musical direction:

"We've never gone into a record saying: ‘We want to make a record that sounds like this or that', you know we just kind of follow our instincts, and I think if anything maybe we were reacting to 'Robot Hive' because it was kind of quirky in some parts and had some unconventional songs, and we wanted to write something a little more stripped down."

On working with producer Joe Barresi:

"He's a really cool guy and we got along with him really well. I think he was kind of ideal for the job because he's got a really strong engineering background and was really skilled at capturing sound on tape."

On how songs come together:

"The music happens first. Ideally, the music evokes a mood and the lyrics will be able to focus on that. Every song is different, some are written very easily and others — it's like pulling blood from a stone."

On touring with MOTÖRHEAD:

"Um, it was great you know. To be able to tour with a band that's been around for 30 years — I remember hearing MOTÖRHEAD when I was 13 years old. It was great to see them play — they're playing just as hard as ever, and playing unadulterated rock and roll. They're all great people too."

On why their listeners are so widespread.

"We've never been afraid of opening up for a variety of different bands. And I think a lot of people that come to see us came because of word of mouth. There's never been any marketing plan behind the band to get a certain kind of fan. It just whoever enjoys the music, enjoys the music. And we're here to entertain."

On CLUTCH's setlist system:

"We do the same thing every night, regardless of where we are. We go through alphabetical order, like Dan will make a set list one night, then Jean-Paul and then myself and then Tim for the fourth night and then we kind of repeat it that way. It changes for us and the audience and it doesn't get stale."

Read the entire interview at www.themetalforge.com.