Clutch
To love CLUTCH is to feel a sense of ownership, membership, and belonging. Seneca Valley High School classmates Neil Fallon (vocals), Tim Sult (guitar), Dan Maines(bass), and Jean-Paul Gaster (drums) share an unshakeable musical and personal bond now three decades strong. Shaped by the same region which birthed Bad Brains, Minor Threat, and Rites Of Spring, CLUTCH crafts hyper-literate and libertine jams informed by hardcore fury and fuzzy, athletic, stoner rock. A worldwide cabal of fans and critics cherish the band’s dense and diverse catalog of underground classics, released through major labels, indies, and since 2009, Clutch’s own Weathermaker imprint. Sunrise On Slaughter Beach, the band’s thirteenth studio album, is a slamming summary of everything that makes the band great and another giant leap forwardinto career longevity. “There’s no question that Clutch etched themselves a name in the pantheon of great rock bands, ”Lambgoat wrote in 2004. Classic Rock Magazine counted 2013’s Earth Rocker and 2015’s Psychic Warfare among the 50 Best Rock Albums of the 2010s.
RollingStone described 2018’s Book of Bad Decisions as “bathed in the grit and liberal fuzz tone that have made their live shows legendary. ”Those live shows over the years include tours with Slayer, System Of A Do wn , and Marilyn Manson, and more recent co-headlining treks with Dropkick Murphys, Killswitch Engage, and Mastodon. Like Slayer or Iron Maiden, CLUTCH outlasted rock bands anchored to“hit songs” and the pressure of replicating them. The foursome from Germantown, Maryland, isn’t bound by trends. Across 13 studio albums and assorted releases since 1991, they’veearned a reputation as one of the best around.
Formed in late 2012 by vocalist Matt James and drummer Nathan Gillis in the small East Texas town of Palestine, Blacktop Mojo’s fiery blend of sludgy grooves, classic rock guitar riffs, and southern metal shredding falls somewhere between Soundgarden ,Lynyrd Skynyrd, and ZZ Top to form a sound deemed by some as "Texas Grunge". The music draws on a multitude of genres and styles to form a hodgepodge of dirty, heavy rock and roll mixed with sensual and at times even, carnal blues.
After their debut album “I Am” in 2014, The band spent a few years cutting their teeth in dive bars, dancehalls, and honky tonks around Texas. In 2017, during the recording of their sophomore record "Burn The Ships" the guys quit their day jobs, moving into a small house together in Palestine, TX. The house created an unbreakable fellowship between the band and a culture of constant creativity.
Since then, the band has kept a relentless touring and recording schedule, with multiple songs reaching the top 40 on both the Mediabase and Billboard Rock Charts, no small feat for an independent artist. The band continues to grow the old fashioned way by hitting the road, sweating it out on stage, and growing slowly, but surely, by word of mouth. “When you come see us,” says lead singer, Matt James, “You're seeing rock and roll the way it used to be. A group of people on stage playing their instruments right in front of your face. No laptops, no backing tracks. What you see is what you get.”
