Maryland rock veterans Clutch are heading back to tour Australia for Soundwave in 2014 and a series of headlining Sidewave dates in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. At the moment though, they’re in the middle of a US tour and frontman Neil Fallon found some time while in Illinois to chat with Music Feeds’ very own Mike Hohnen for the latest Music Feeds Podcast.
The band have been busy on the road promoting their impressive tenth studio release, Earth Rocker, and Fallon says the response has been great. “Fans have been really digging the record which we’ve been playing pretty much in its entirety every night,” he said. “We’ve never done anything like that before, but it’s been a lot of fun.”
Fallon explained the album’s success might stem from the time spent in the studio, where the band focussed on the live elements of each song. “There were albums in the past that we wrote songs in the studio that didn’t really transfer to the stage but this time around we did a sadistic level of pre-production,” he explained. “We played these songs over and over again which I think ultimately gives the album a live sound.”
Clutch’s upcoming trip to our fine shores will be their first since 2010 and Fallon says the band owe it to their southern hemisphere fans to play as much of the latest record as they can, plus some old favourites too. And while they’re old hats at the game by now, that doesn’t mean the nerves don’t kick in once and a while.
“People ask me ‘do you get nervous playing in front of 50 000 people?’ Often it’s the opposite,” said Fallon. “When there’s that many people the faces become almost like TV snow and they’re so far away. It’s not nearly as intimidating as three kids from Brisbane, two feet away from you, screaming in your face.”
You can listen to the full interview below, and check out our entire series of podcasts right here!
http://youtu.be/GDpymaEdtSE
