RC: Yes indeed, Rock Circus TV has come to The World, formerly
Rosebud, to chill with Neil frontman from Clutch. Now if you know
me you heard Pure Rock Fury like all year last year, good
stuff, blasting from my system in my car. I'm sorry I haven't had
a chance to check out Blast Tyrant yet unfortunately, or
fortunately for you, there selling quick in Pittsburgh cause I
couldn't get a copy today.
Neil: Well that's a good thing, I'm not gonna complain. We'll hook you
up by the end of the evening though.
RC: Oh that's my man Neil, Mr. Falon, yes indeed. But one question I
wanted to ask you, you're voice is a powerhouse, for thirteen
years you've been doing this and you've probably got asked this
quite a few times, how do you keep your voice in shape? What's
the big secret man?
Neil: Umhh, well, it does go every once in a while. It's a matter of
resting up when you can. I've tried about every trick in the book
and I think drinking plenty of water and sometimes keeping your
mouth shut after the show, which is a real hard thing for me to
do.
RC: After a few shots and what not.
Neil: Yeah and tongue gets loose and next thing you know you wake up
with a soar throat, but for the most part sing from the gut and
not the back of the throat. That's how I do it.
RC: Every once in a while it probably does go, like you said.
Neil: Sometimes
RC: The cold?
Neil: Playing in garbage night clubs with smoke and having a bad diet
and then you over exert yourself one night, and you sleep in a
hotel room that's filled with mildew and you wake up and you're
talkin like you gargled with glass. But I guess that just goes
with the territory, maybe I'll be speaking through a little
speaker box when I'm sixty.
RC: Do you generally get things done, you've been doing this for
thirteen years to all you new heads who are new to this type of
scene, I want you to check it out. When you go into the studio
are you pretty quick about that? Does that usually go boom boom
boom, or is it a question of I wanna try this, I wanna try that?
Neil: It really depends, the last record Blast Tyrant took some
time.
RC: I mean your lyrics pack such a punch I imagine you wanna
compensate them properly with your vocal atunement.
Neil: Yeah, some songs are really easy to write, we can do it just
sitting down for an hour, others are a real bear and they take
months. Like I said each ones different and each records
different in that same respect. Some records take weeks, some
take months, some have only taken days.
RC: That's cool when it comes together quick. You're music is
getting more intricate, in "The Mob Goes Wild" video I hear a
little more funk going on within the sound. A little more
syncopated beats or what not, a little something different.
Neil: yeah the thing, Blast Tyrant for the most part moves
quicker than any of our other records. It's got a faster tempo
and the songs are much more efficient, they don't noodle
around on any parts, they move forward very quickly. It's hard
for me to comment on it cause I'm so close to it and we just
did it so recently. It's hard for me to be objective about it,
it's gonna take me a couple years to listen to it again.
RC: Really, is that how it is with most of the albums, like
Elephant Rider and what not, when you look back and listen
to those things?
Neil: I listen to them every couple of years. Listening to the
record is like staring in the mirror, you know?
RC: Does it stir up old ghosts from those times, and about what you
were writing about at the time?
Neil: A little bit. If it was a recording that was fun to make
usually it's more enjoyable to listen to. Yeah, I guess it
does.
RC: How are things going with you? Are you single or married, do
you have kids?
Neil: Yeah married, in August it'll be five years.
RC: Five years, kids?
Neil: No, not at the moment.
RC: No young protes around. Are you gonna kick out that boy and
have Clutch Two later down the line? (laughter)
Congragulations on your marriage by the way.
Neil: Thank you.
RC: Now you hooked up with DRT Entertainment, which is promoting
the new album, I don't wanna pry or nothing but your last
release was on Atlantic and it seemed to be somewhat of a
success from what new rock radio played "Careful With That
Mic" and all that. I was wondering where did it steer from
where you departed from Atlantic, did you feel they weren't
doing enough for the band?
Neil: Well one man's treasure is another man's trash I guess. It's
all relative, selling 200,000 records is good for us, for a
major label that's considered mediocre at best. They make
their money selling multi-platinum records. And when that
didn't occur with Clutch, which I don't ever think it will
not that I'm being pesimistic I'm just being honest, when
they realized that that wasn't the case we parted ways with
them. And it worked out in our best interest as well because
we could put our own record on River Road Records in the
meantime, and then we signed at DRT for this record and it's
a much more honest deal. It's not a traditional...
RC: More of a creative artistic type?
Neil: It's just more money.
RC: There you go, it's America. Well you need it, you got the
wife and the air conditioning, and the gas bill.
Neil: Same as everybody else.
RC: Now with a jam like "Spacegrass", do you ever get sick of
playing it? Does a song like that play you out, cause you've
done it you probably couldn't even count, and I've seen you
play it live so many times as well, but it's a joy every
time. Or do you connect with it when you see new fans
getting in to the music?
Neil: Well I think it's important, yeah you can get tired of
playing a song over and over again, and that's usually when
I start making mistakes cause that's when I start
daydreaming cause I'm not paying attention to it. And
that's usually when we'll put a song to bed for a while and
then bring it back. But like you said it's important to
remember that there's someone there who's never heard the
band before and this is their first impression. Maybe they
just turned eighteen last week and they can finally get in
to the night club or what have you, and you only have one
chance to make that first impression. And at the end of the
day it's only four minutes out of your life, so it's no big.
RC: Well to counter his pessimism about the future of what rock
is I really see that there is a resurgance in the
underground, and you guys have carried a heavy part of the
underground for thirteen years now. You've sold out many
shows that I've been at with no radio play, some college
and what not, but that's pretty good loyalship of fans and
this is what has kept you going and the band going for so
many years now.
Neil: Yeah, for us it's always been the live show. There has
been some radio play on colleges, but I think that lends
itself to longevity when you're a band that's based on
your live performance. You have a much better chance of
lasting a longer period of time. Because if you have a hit
song the people on the radio, really the people on the
radio they're fans of the song not really the band, and
when they don't produce another song to follow that up
then that bubble bursts.
RC: That's that sophomore plague or whatever, you know what I
mean? Well really you have your whole lifetime to write
that first album and then you go to write the second one
and you're like uhhh..., unless you wrote some really good
stuff on the road.
Neil: Yeah.
RC: You've had no shortage of material, that's for damn sure.
Neil: We got some very creative minds in the band and it's like
anything that last for thirteen years, there's ups and
downs and lefts and rights. But at the end of the day you
just gotta keep truckin'.
RC: Now the video that we're gonna play "The Mob Goes Wild," it
was a pretty crazy video. It looks like it was a fun video
to shoot, did you guys have a good time with it? Did you
help with the input of the direction or what not?
Neil: No, all I did was show up, lip-sync the song four or five
times, and I left, and then I watched the cut you know six
days later. Despite the final product video shoots are
really actually very boring, there's a lot of...
RC: monotony
Neil: Yeah, guys moving cables around, and change this gel and
that gel.
RC: Kind of like this interview.
(laughter)
Neil: It was easy, we've only done one other before. Video
shoots can be very disagreeable when the director wants
you to ham up to the camera, and we're not like that.
RC: Well a good director should see that you're just real and
that's all that matters man, and embelish on that. This
one turned out good, it's good to have a video to play
with your new recording and your new set, which is out
and around now so check it out where you can. I'ld like
to thank Mr. Neil Falon, big fan!
For More Info on Clutch go to www.pro-rock.com
Click Here To Look At Pictures From Interview
|
|
|
Contents / Gigz's Bio / Barbie's Bio / Zoa's Bio / Beth's Bio / Playlists
Interviews / News & Contacts / Photos / Mission / Reviews / > Message Board / Links