Clutch

Always a great live band, they'll be a far better bet close to Christmas than the local pantomime

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Maryland quartet Clutch have been around since 1991, releasing 13 albums along the way. Favouring a no-frills, riff-heavy approach, they meld funk, blues, alt. rock, hardcore punk and metal to create a sound that is recognisable as all their own. Live they are reliably hard-hitting and always compelling, putting substance before style. Frontman Neil Fallon previews five British shows before the end of the year, revolving around their 1995 second album, Clutch.

On this tour the band will be celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of their 1995 album Clutch.
Actually, there’s been some confusion around that. It’s been reported that we are doing Clutch on this run, but that’s not what we are planning to do. Having said that, we will be playing a lot of songs from that album. But as for playing it in sequence? Although other bands do it, we believe it works out better in theory than in practice. So expect us to lean heavily on Clutch, but not in original running order.

Clutch is widely regarded as the album that solidified the band’s direction. You’ve even called it a “Eureka moment”.
It was definitely an important record for us. For me, it’s an improvement on our first seven-inch [Pitchfork] EP [Passive Restraint] and album [