Clutch frontman Neil Fallon says he’d rather take a risk with his music and fail than play it safe.
The band are currently on the road with Lamb Of God and Corrosion Of Conformity in support of their 11th studio album Psychic Warfare, which was released in October last year.
And asked why the band’s sound is always evolving, Fallon tells New Noise: “We certainly don’t go into any record saying that we want to reinvent the wheel. It’s important to be realistic. We consider ourselves students, I mean, I just got back from my guitar lesson 15 minutes ago and it’s important for me to always challenge myself.
“I can understand there are artists who see a success on the charts with a song and then try different versions of that song for the rest of their career – and that sounds very depressing.”
He continues: “I would rather take a risk and fail at it. There are fans that are more into our hardcore side and don’t care for the blues phase of this band. Then there are fans who got into our blues phase and don’t care for our older stuff. At the end of the day, it’s just music and we as artists want to define something new – we’re still trying to do that.”
Fallon adds that while a studio return is still some way off, he and guitarist Tim Sult, bassist Dan Mains and drummer Jean-Paul Gaster have been working together on new material.
The singer says: “We got together the other day and kicked around a song and we are already thinking about our next record.
“We’ll probably be going into the studio in about a year, so we want to be able to pick the best material. If you don’t play or sing for a while, I mean its like exercise. If you don’t go to the gym for six months and try to go back, you can’t seem to do anything. I think it’s the same with music – you gotta keep moving.”
Clutch 2016 tour dates
May 09: Portland State Theatre, ME
May 10: Boston House Of Blues, MA
May 12: St Louis The Pageant, MO
May 16: Binghampton Magic City Music Hall, NY
May 17: Huntington The Paramount, NY
May 19: Toronto TD Echo Beach, ON
May 23: Wichita The Cotillion, KS
May 24: Morrison Red Rocks Amphitheatre, CO
May 25: Salt Lake City The Complex, UT
May 27: Phoenix Comercia Theatre, AZ
May 28: Pomona Fox Theater, CA
May 29: Oakland Fox Theater, CA
May 31: Seattle WaMu Theater, WA
Jun 01: Vancouver Queen Elizabeth Theatre, BC
Jun 02: Penticton South Okanagan Events Centre, BC
Jun 04: Calgary Stampede Centre, AB
Jun 05: Edmonton Shaw Conference Centre, AB
Jun 06: Saskatoon Prairieland Exhibition Park Hall A
Jun 07: Winnipeg Burton Cumings Theatre, MB
Jun 09: Milwaukee Eagles Ballroom, WI
Jun 10: Fort Wayne Pierre’s Ent Center, IN
Jun 11: Manchester Bonnaroo Festival, TN
Jun 12: Inwood Shiley Acres, WV
Aug 05: Katowice Off Festival, Poland
Aug 06: Rendsburg Wacken Open Air, Germany
Aug 07: Bremen Modernes, Germany
Aug 09: Malmo KB, Sweden
Aug 10: Helsinki Circus, Finland
Aug 12: Saarbrucken Rocco Del Schlacko Festival, Germany
Aug 13: Rothenburg Taubertal Festival, Germany
Aug 14: Eschwege Open Flair Festival, Germany
Aug 16: Bochum Zeche, Germany
Aug 17: Luxembourg Den Atelier, Luxembourg
Aug 18: Hasselt Pukkelpop Festival, Belgium
Aug 19: Gampel Festival, Switzerland
Aug 21: Zagreb Tvorica Kulture, Croatia
Aug 22: Wiesen And There Come The Wolves Festival, Austria
Aug 24: Athens Gazi Music Hall, Greece
Aug 26: Paris Rock En Seine Festival, France
Nov 30: Amsterdam Melweg, Netherlands
Dec 02: Munster Skaters Palace, Germany
Dec 03: Munich Theaterfabrik, Germany
Dec 04: Stuttgart LKA Longhorn, Germany
Dec 06: Pratteln Z7, Switzerland
