Neil Fallon -- words
Tim Sult -- guitar
Dan Maines -- bass
Jean Paul Gaster -- drums
While on the road, the members of Clutch -- who originally hail from Germantown, Maryland -- eat Kentucky Fried
Chicken every Sunday night (or nearly every Sunday night - there are towns, believe it or not, that have no KFC!)
We-the-band (Neil, Tim, Dan, and Jean Paul) are very serious about these weekly meals. On those not-so-rare
occasions when a promoter or club owner gives us grief about our KFC, we send in our tour manager, who can be a verypersuasive man.
I don't know the exact number, but I would guess that Clutch has performed at least five hundred times. We formed the band directly after graduating from
high school in Germantown. We played our first show in 1991. Many of the shows we've played have been opening slots for bands such as Marilyn Manson,
Pantera, Bad Religion, and Prong, just to name a few.
While in Europe with Sepultura, we had the opportunity to try English KFC. Would you believe that English KFC is the same as American KFC? My only
complaint is that the English (and the rest of Europe, for that matter) refuse to put more than two tiny bits of shaved ice in their soft drinks. I can respect
cultural differences, but warm Coke just plain sucks,
I suppose that if I sat down and really applied myself I could calculate all the KFC Clutch has eaten and come up with some wacky figure like "40 chickens,
300 potatoes, and five hundred ears of corn, per man for the past six years that the band has been together." I have neither the patience nor the skill for that,
though.
Usually there are a few hours between dinner and set time. Some of us like to have a quick nap then, not only because potatoes are a heavy food and make
us sleepy, but because many of our shows are quite late, and we need as much energy as we can muster for the gig.
Our sets are very demanding, but not in the sense that we leap up and down and do loop-de-loops all over the place. Rather, our sets are musically
demanding, and what they demand is spirit.
On a good night the music comes alive before we even know it. The performance turns from us playing the music to the music playing us. Sometimes all our
effort is channeled into controlling what we've created. On the best nights it is as if we are tethering a great and fabulous deep and heartfelt desire to be the
creators of an event never before seen nor heard, to be both the source and the subject of a completely new "thing."
There are occasions when all our efforts are channeled toward getting the spirit out. After performing night after night, it is easy to become too comfortable in
the music. When it all becomes too easy, apathy can set in. This is why we must rely upon rearrangement and improvisation. Though this increases the
chances of error, the errors are outweighed by the uniqueness of the moment.
Each of our albums -- Transnational Speedwav League (I 993, EastWest Records) and Clutch (I 995, Elektra Records) -- is a snapshot of our development as
musicians and expresses what we've learned since the previous release, our first being a 7" single entitled "Pitchfork." Our album sales (more than I 00,000
for each release) are fueled mainly by our many national tours. Our Columbia Records'debut THE ELEPHANTRiDERs was produced by Jack Douglas (John
Lennon, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Patti Smith) and mixed by Jason Corsaro (Soundgarden, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Mot6rhead, Iggy Pop).
Having moved to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, it was inevitable that we would have history play a role in THE ELEPHANT RIDERS, our latest album. It is not
a specifically thematic album, but many of the songs look to the past as a context for storytelling. The song, "Elephant Riders," entertains the idea of
elephants being used by artnies during the United States Civil War. There is no factual basis for this other than the names of the places mentioned in the
song. We chose to name the album THE ELEPHANT RIDERs because it is such a surreal image.
I think it is safe to say that Clutch is a reluctant studio band. We know that as soon as we record a song it will be only a matter of weeks before we want it
changed. Our listeners know this and perhaps this explains why so many live bootlegs are traded.
We have never performed for anyone other than ourselves. Of course, the more people who come to our shows and buy our albums, the happier we are, but
when it comes down to it, we are only trying to impress each other. We operate as if each show is a secret assembly of free and accepting ear drums. With
the exception of the occasional freeloader who digs into our catering, we enjoy the company and always look forward to bigger and better happenings.
