Neil Fallon of Clutch - more photos
photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer |
by Jeff Barringer - Staff Writer
Clutch
Hometown: Germantown, Maryland
http://www.pro-rock.com
Clutch Concert Photos
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
Stubb's BarBQ(Austin, Texas)
Also:
Graveyard,
The Sword
A sold out crowd greeted Clutch at their Austin appearance at Stubb's, but each band on the tour brought their own hardcore following so it was sometimes tough to tell who was the headliner.
Starting out with night was the band Graveyard from Sweden, a 4 piece stoner rock band that sounded straight out
of the Blue Cheer school of psychedelic metal. Huge overblown epic metal masterpieces with a distinct late 60's Cream/Yardbirds blues feel. The only thing missing was the crude 60's blacklight posters and lava lamps.
They didn't have much of a stage presence, not interacting with the crowd, or each other for that matter, intensely focusing on playing, but I don't think the crowd was there for a Van Halen style show. With only a short 4 song, 30 minute set, I was kind of disappointed when it ended and I know I wanted to hear more. I guess that is what they make headphones, mp3 players, and fractal programs for (Dude, those colors are neat...you got any cheetos?).
Graveyard at Stubb's - more photos
photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer |
Austin's own The Sword was the second act on the bill, and judging by the company they have been keeping of late are well on their way to being a major act. Touring as the opener for bands like Lamb Of God, Machine Head, and Metallica, having one of their songs on Guitar Hero II and actually charting on Billboards Top 200 list with this years release "Gods of the Earth", these guys are starting to build up those frequent rocker points and you probably won't catch them gigging down at the Red 7 anymore. Heck they won't even be back from their current North American arena tour until the end of January 09.
Also a stoner rock band with nordic influences these guys step it forward one metal generation to the 70's in sound. In fact they are known to cover a lot of the thundering metal of the 70's live. Tonight they played a Kiss song. The Sword's own songs were incredibly hard and crunchy, marrying some of the faster fingerwork of 80's thrash metal bands like Slayer and Metallica, with the 70's "thud" of a Sabbath. Made me want to buy a 74 Camaro crank up "War Pigs" and drive down IH-35 at 120 MPH with my hair alight.
The Sword at Stubb's - more photos
photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer |
The Sword was a little more animated onstage than Graveyard but both bands need to reach out more and interact with the audience. They seemed to be focusing so much on playing their music note perfect that they forgot we were out there. C'mon guys even Ozzy at least paces back and forth onstage. I suspect that when The Sword gets back home from their touring they will have picked up more than a few pointers from the road. It will be interesting to see how their next Austin show goes, and who it is with.
Clutch has no problems with anything as far as I can tell.
After many years touring this Maryland based blues metal band has built up a solid Austin following based on solid musicianship and on having a very unique sound. Fronted by Neil Fallon, Clutch has turned more blues than metal in recent years, and they have a sound that varies quite a bit depending on the song. If I was forced to describe their music via genre, I would call it experimental alternative southern blues metal. In real world terms they sound like Lynyrd Skynyrd with Rob Zombie doing the vocals and lyrics, and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers running
(or just screwing with) the sound board. Somewhere in there is a little bit of Bootsy Collins to ad some funk, and Pat Traverse popping up here and there to give it that authentic blues flavor. Tasty.
Clutch at Stubb's - more photos photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer
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