Clutch

Pretty rockin band. Saw 'em at Slim's last night. Good space for a show. Was packed up. Possibly sold out. Easily worth my $20. These guys, ummm, fucked it up. In a good way, of course.

William Elliott Whitmore opened up - dude with a banjo. He was pretty good - reminded me of Marc Broussard.

Found this pseudo-review of one of Clutch's previous albums:

Clutch: "The Mob Goes Wild"
Your love for Clutch's distinct brand of clever metal will depend on your tolerance for Neil Fallon's alternately inscrutable, satirical and arch lyrics. I, for one, think the guy's a wordsmith in the tradition of Frank Zappa, Mark Mothersbaugh or De La Soul-- sometimes the words tell a story, sometimes they make a point, and sometimes they just exist to twist the tongue. Here, over some heavy boogie riffage, Fallon takes on-- no, really-- terrorism ("The beast you see got fifty eyes"), post-9/11 paranoia ("Play it cool, the hand's been dealt"), and the war in Iraq ("Save the victory speeches for later"). At least, that's the way I see it. Not that this is a "message" song; most of the lyrics are typically abstract and hidden beneath Clutch's trademark pounding groove. But with its scathingly cynical chorus, it's not hard to see the song as their high-concept "War Pigs": "21 guns, box made of pine, letter from the government sealed and signed/ Delivered Federal Express on your mother's doorstep." But Fallon's hardly the kind of guy to simply criticize without offering up any answers of his own. His advice for those who can't bear the current fucked up political climate in the U.S.? "Everybody move to Canada and smoke lots of pot." [Christopher Weber; May 12th, 2004]

I like the political bent to their tunes. Seems like some of their fans might be a bit scary - white supremecist stuff. Not too sure about that, but I got that impression after cruising their website and Googling a bit.

They're about to do a USO tour, which I thought was interesting. Clutch's political message isn't completely overwhelming, so maybe that helps them stay popular in the military. Or maybe right about now most of our military is pissed off at our politicians. In any case, it's probably easy enough to miss the political message of the music altogether because the music kicks so much ass.

The lead singer had a heck of a stage presence. He looks like a radical Marxist, and acts pretty much like he could be clinically insane. Good stuff.