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When Clutch is engaged, there is no repetition
By John Benson
To suggest hard-rock act Clutch is a jam band is borderline crazy. However, genre aside, the Maryland-based outfit does possess a similar mindset when it comes to performing live.
For decades, the group described as “the quintessential American rock band” has actively approached the concept of a setlist as a living, breathing creature. That’s why drummer Jean-Paul Gaster said fans attending Clutch’s Saturday gig at the Cleveland Agora shouldn’t expect any New Year’s Eve surprises.
“We’re going to make it as special as we can by changing the setlist up, depending on what the mood is,” said Gaster, calling from Maryland. “You pay attention to the room, think about the crowd. The main thing is that it’s not something that becomes canned.
“We don’t like to play the same setlist over and over again, say the same stuff in between songs. It gets boring. That’s not rock ’n’ roll. We try to inject as much creative energy as we can and sometimes just a minute-long segue of improvisation can set the tone off that night to make it a completely unique thing. After all, that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Audiences attending the upcoming Cleveland gig could be hearing plenty of material from Clutch’s latest effort, “Psychic Warfare,” which last year debuted at No. 11 on Billboard’s Top 200 as well as No. 1 in both the rock and hard-rock charts.
Gaster said the band found itself in a good groove with both “Psychic Warfare” and its predecessor, 2013’s “Earth Rocker.” In fact, he feels the albums are connected in spirit.
“When we started writing for ‘Earth Rocker,’ the idea was to make really just a straight-up rock record, one that had good energy from the very beginning to the end,” Gaster said. “In a lot of ways, too, it was a reaction to some of the other stuff that we saw going on around us.
“We toured with Motorhead and Thin Lizzy shortly before recording that record. Both of those bands’ influences are pretty obvious. We had a great experience with ‘Earth Rocker,’ So in a lot of ways, I think ‘Psychic Warfare’ is an extension of that.’”
Even though the two albums were written back to back, Gaster feels “Psychic Warfare” is a little deeper of a record with wide ranging tempos and vibes. More importantly, the drummer stressed Clutch didn’t repeat itself.
When it comes to Clutch, there’s very little redundancy. There’s also no time for nostalgia, which is not always the case in the world of rock music. Take, for instance, bands celebrating milestones by releasing deluxe editions of important albums or going on a greatest-hits tour.
That’s not Clutch. Instead, the band recently passed its 25th anniversary with absolutely zero fanfare, choosing to look ahead with the pedal to the metal.
“That’s what we do, man,” Gaster said. “We play rock ’n’ roll, we try not to stop. We’re desperately trying to stay away from real jobs.”