This is the third Clutch interview to be posted on this site in the two years it’s been active (here’s one with guitarist Tim Sult and one with drummer Jean-Paul Gaster). Coupled with the talk I had with bassist Dan Maines about the last album from jammy Clutch offshoot The Bakerton Group, and the Q&A that follows with vocalist Neil Fallon will mean that all four members of the band have been featured on The Obelisk one way or another. Total coverage.

While I wish I could say the occasion serving as impetus for ringing up Fallon was the impending new Clutch album — which is about due but still won’t be ready to go for some time from the sound of things — instead it’s a tour. Now, Clutch touring is no more “news” than are the crabcakes in the band’s native Maryland except in the particulars of where and when the crowd needs to show up, but when you hit the road alongside gen-you-wine legends Motörhead for a massive US run that you’ve in fact delayed writing your next record to undertake, well, I think that’s worth chatting about. I know if I was touring with Motörhead, I’d want to talk about it.

I found the same to somewhat be the case with Fallon, who is notoriously terse in interviews. He’s not impolite, not a dick by any stretch, but hardly one to sit and pontificate on the band’s history and future. It stands to reason that with the massive work ethic Clutch have displayed over their years on the road, writing and recording, and launching their own Weathermaker Music label on which their former DRT Records catalog — Blast Tyrant, Robot Hive/Exodus and From Beale Street to Oblivion — is in the process of being reissued and which put out their last offering (2009’s Strange Cousins from the West), Fallon would be more about the doing than the talking.

Nonetheless, from the road in Minneapolis, the singer took some time out to talk about reinterpreting older tracks acoustically for inclusion as bonus material on the impending Blast Tyrant reissue, progress writing new songs, playing with Motörhead and tour openers Valient Thorr, his growth as a vocalist, and more. It’s not a long conversation by the standard of some of what gets posted around here, but it’s always great to check in and find out what Clutch are up to next.

Unabridged Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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Geezer Butler‘s got something to say about it. This came in just now on the PR wire:

Responding to ongoing rumors surrounding a possible Black Sabbath reunion, Geezer Butler has issued the following statement:

“I would like to make it clear, because of mounting speculation and rumours, that there will be definitely no reunion of all four original members of Black Sabbath, whether to record an album or to tour.”

So, uh, yeah. Take that. In other Sabbath-related news, Geezer wrote the lyrics, Iommi is god, Bill Ward played better fills than John Bonham and Ozzy has pissed away all his credibility. The end.

Born Again reunion! Do it now!

Happier times:

Of course, it could be any kind of engine revving up at the beginning of Deptford, New Jersey rockers Boss 302’s self-titled full-length, but even knowing next to nothing about automobile mechanics, if I had to put money down, I’d wager it’s the Ford Mustang V8 the band is named after. Call me crazy. The trio, who released Boss 302 toward the end of 2010 on Toil Records, get down with 10 tracks/37 minutes of ‘90s style heavy rock. The songs that follow said muscle car flexing are straightforward structurally, unpretentious and asking little of the listener beyond, perhaps, that the production be taken with a grain of salt. Bassist Larry Lerro (great name) handles most of the vocals, with backing/tradeoff work from guitarist John Modugno – who also takes the occasional front role, as on “Never Again” – and drums from Mike Lerro. I’ve been looking at the album more as an extended demo than a complete LP release, and on that level, it will most definitely give listeners an idea of where Boss 302 are coming from.

One could question whether the complete 10 tracks are needed to do that, but Boss 302 are capable songwriters and even with that many cuts on it the record doesn’t get redundant, so as far as I’m concerned, the more the merrier. They claim Kyuss as a central influence, but listening to Modugno’s start-stop riffing on “Sold Our Souls,” “Nothing” and even more so “Sparrow” (one of the album’s high points), I hear more Helmet than anything else — Lerro’s heavily-reverbed vocals helping the case with rhythmic cadence and a kind of mid-period Page Hamilton-style inherent melody, perhaps met with a bit of Goatsnake’s Pete Stahl. The interplay between Lerro and Modugno is well balanced throughout Boss 302, adding arrangement depth to a song like “Falls Apart,” the opening riff of which was reminiscent enough of Queens of the Stone Age’s “Go with the Flow” to launch me on a three-day (so far) Songs for the Deaf bender. The moodier “No Overdose” (Boss 302’s longest song at 5:19) might be the most desert-style rock atmospherically, but Lerro’s drumming is insistent in a manner definitively East Coast, the kick drum providing a glimpse of the heaviness to come when the band kicks back in with one of Modugno’s several accomplished solos.

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Recent kickass additions to the Small Stone roster, Backwoods Payback and Lo-Pan — no strangers to playing shows together — have announced a tour that will take both bands down to SXSW in Austin, Texas, next month. If you’ve yet to catch either band live, do so. End of argument.

The PR wire has dates:

Pennsylvania stoner/doom rockers Backwoods Payback are pleased to announced a 17-date US tour next month with labelmates Lo-Pan. The loudness will begin March 9 in Baltimore, Maryland, and will include two appearances as part of this year’s SXSW music conference in Austin, Texas. The band will be touring in support of their Small Stone Recordings debut, set for release later this spring

Comments guitarist/vocalist Mike Cummings of the new record and upcoming dates: “The new, as yet untitled, record is dark and ugly, but smooth in all the right places. I think live is where these songs are going to hit the hardest. We’ve been doing this for long enough that each stop on a tour isn’t just a show anymore. It’s a full-blown party; a gathering of friends old and new. This tour should be no different, save for the fact that now we are flying the Small Stone flag, and are stoked to be doing so!”

Backwoods Payback Tour 2011
w/ Lo-Pan
03/09 Golden West Café Baltimore, MD
03/10 Krug’s Place Frederick, MD
03/11 Slim’s Raleigh, NC
03/12 Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge Atlanta, GA
03/13 The Nick Birmingham, AL
03/14 Siberia New Orleans, LA
03/15 The Ten Eleven San Antonio, TX
03/17 The Conservatory Oklahoma City, OK w/ Tombs, Castevet
03/18 Headhunter’s (back patio) Austin, TX [SXSW date]
03/20 Headhunter’s Austin, TX [SXSW date]
03/20 Rudyard’s Houston, TX
03/21 The Hi Tone Memphis, TN
03/22 Fubar St. Louis, MO
03/23 The Melody Inn Indianapolis, IN
03/24 Reggie’s Chicago, IL
03/25 Corktown Tavern Detroit, MI
03/26 South Park Tavern Dayton, OH
03/27 Smiling Moose Pittsburgh, PA

There are hints of rock-era Entombed to be heard on “Malverde,” the first track on Red Fang’s Relapse Records debut, Murder the Mountains. The four-piece, who hail from the exalted grounds of Portland, Oregon, meld heavier-end stoner guitar-focus with Melvins crunch on that track and elsewhere on the album, the dueling vocals of guitarist Bryan Giles (mostly growling) and bassist Aaron Beam (mostly clean) providing variety over material that ranges musically from newer-school heavy progressive melodicism to all-out riff-metal abandon. Red Fang’s last album, a 2009 self-titled released on Sargent House, earned much acclaim for its heavy sounds and the comical video the band made for the track “Prehistoric Dog,” and with high-profile touring in the works alongside names like Saint Vitus and Megadeth for 2011, Red Fang is a safe bet for a band who’s going to come out of this year much bigger than they went into it. Fortunately for those who, like myself, are sticklers for this kind of thing, the Chris Funk-produced and Vance Powell-mixed Murder the Mountains has the chops to earn the band every bit of the acclaim/hype they get.

Aside from virtually guaranteeing Red Fang cred in the hipster circuit, what attaching names like Funk (who produced The Decemberists) and the mightily-bearded Powell (who won a Grammy for engineering The Raconteurs’ album) to Murder the Mountains does is give the band more of a reach than they’d have if they worked with someone strictly limited to the heavier end of the spectrum. The difference between a lot of heavy rock and indie is mostly in the thickness of the guitars and bass and the presence of the drums in the mix. John Sherman’s drums show up here sounding natural and more than accounted for mix-wise, both Giles’ and fellow guitarist David Sullivan are given suitable heft tonally, and Beam’s bass tone on songs like “Number Thirteen” and the immediately accessible “Wires” makes for some of Murder the Mountains’ best listening. Little flourishes like the feedback off the snare on “Malverde” are interesting turns, and Red Fang are by no means suffering from not being “heavy enough,” whatever standard might be used to measure that.

The aforementioned “Wires” is one of several very catchy cuts – the crunchier “Into the Eye” and closer “Human Herd” also come to mind – that show ample growth in Red Fang’s songwriting since the self-titled (which wasn’t short of memorable tracks either), and there are a couple moments like that toward the end of “Throw Up” or the non-chorus of the opener where everything seems to take a back seat to “hey, check out this fucking awesome riff we came up with,” which is a nice touch to “Throw Up” especially, fading in, the whole band coming back, etc. Sherman’s drums are plodding but still active, finding a brief solo to open the shorter “Painted Parade.” Red Fang work in a number of modes on Murder the Mountains – perhaps speaking to multiple contributors in the writing or at very least a general open-mindedness – and the straightforward crush that comes forward on “Painted Parade” is most welcome, Beam’s vocals seeming to bridge a gap there where one might expect Giles to take the lead spot.

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No sense in delaying this one, the headline pretty much says it all. The Last Rites, the new album from doom legends Pentagram, is due out April 12 on Metal Blade.

The PR wire speaks:

Pentagram, who has been churning out widely admired hard rock/doom metal for over four decades, has just revealed the tracklisting and artwork to their highly anticipated full-length album, Last Rites. Last Rites, out on April 12 via Metal Blade Records, contains 11 new tracks of behemoth tunes that fans have been clamoring for since the last Liebling/Griffin masterpiece was released in 1994 (Be Forewarned).

Last Rites tracklisting:
1. Treat Me Right
2. Call the Man
3. Into the Ground
4. 8
5. Everything’s Turning to Night
6. Windmills and Chimes
7. American Dream
8. Walk in Blue Light
9. Horseman
10. Death in 1st Person
11. Nothing Left

Cover art for Last Rites was handled by Mo Moussa (website here) who is best known for his work with Marvel & DC Comics. Mo Moussa‘s other credentials include New Line Cinema, Nickelodeon as well as the four major TV networks. A Philly native and a huge fan of underground music, his work also graces the covers of several of his favorite local bands including Total Fucking Destruction.

Just about a month away from playing their first show ever March 18 at the Face Bar in Reading, gruff UK stoner metal trio XII Boar (website here) have an attack to their recently-released first demo that doesn’t forget either side of the genre designation. The guitar solo Tommy Hardrocks elicits on “Beg, Borrow, Steal” reminds of Pepper Keenan, but the furious chug of finale track “Skol” comes right out of the heavy metal playbook — and that’s just fine. Toss in a little High on Fire and you’re good to go.

Hardrocks handles vocals (shouts mostly) with backup from bassist Adam Thomas, while Dave Wilbraham holds down the drums — exceptionally so on “Sludge” — and all of XII Boar (whose name is not to be confused with either the defunct outfit 12 Eyes or Red XIII from Final Fantasy VII) seems to have a firm grasp on the sound they’re going for. It’s relatively straightforward, but for a band who’ve been together just about a year, and don’t have a single show under their belt as of this writing, they’ve more or less got it on lockdown.

Definitely worth keeping on the radar, as you can hear with the Soundcloud player below:

For nearly seven years, my measuring stick for Small Stone debuts has been the first, self-titled Sasquatch album, and each new band that’s come along on the label (there have been plenty) since then, I’ve said, “Well, okay, but is it as good as the Sasquatch?” Listening to Lo-Pan’s Salvador – which, admittedly, is their third album following a self-titled and the excellent Sasquanaut which Small Stone re-released late last year – I might have to revise my comparison point. I was fortunate enough to hear rough mixes of Salvador back in December, and even as rough as those tracks were compared to the finished product I’m reviewing now, it was clear that the Columbus, Ohio, band, the label, and anyone who would seek it out to listen, had something formidable on their hands. I don’t want to get lost in hyperbole or overestimate the appeal of the record, but Lo-Pan’s Salvador has all the makings of a classic in the genre.

The single-guitar four-piece present 11 tracks in just under 46 minutes, and nearly each one of them is perfectly memorable (I’m not counting “Intro,” though even the riff to that is catchy), varied in its approach and masterfully written. The guitars of Brian Fristoe are unrepentantly fuzzed out, and his riffs are heavy rock of the highest order, and Jeff Martin’s soulful, wonderfully melodic and inventive vocals cut through the thickness just right, followed by Skot Thompson’s running bass and the center-stage drums of J. Bartz. Having seen them live on more than one occasion, Lo-Pan is one of those bands where each element involved in the making of the songs just works so well, and on Salvador, not only are those elements working, but they’re working together. You can listen to any part of any song on this record and say, “That’s killer,” or you can listen to how the parts interact with each other and say the same thing. It comes down to this: if you’re not coming out of Salvador glad to have heard it, it’s your own fault.

Lo-Pan open uptempo with the duo of “El Dorado” and “Bleeding Out,” the two cuts together totaling a little over six minutes. “El Dorado” is the snap in your face to wake you up, and with “Bleeding Out,” the pattern is established; thick riffs, infectious choruses, soaring, confident vocals, tap-worthy snare. Both tracks stuff a surprising amount of groove into faster, hurried packages, which undercuts any rushed feeling that might otherwise take away from the material, and the five-minute “Seed” – the first of several Salvador high points; which is saying something considering the bar set here – brings the pace more to ground. Bartz underscores the verses with seamless tom runs while Martin’s vocals set up the chorus, and it seems almost like the song is split in two, as around the three-minute mark, Fristoe moves up a few frets and shows some excellent finger-work (Thompson not missing a beat in the process and giving one of the album’s best bass performances holding down the rhythm to complement a guitar solo). At 3:09, Bartz cuts to half-time on the drums, and it’s one of those “shiver up the spine” moments. Not to be missed.

“Bird of Prey” fades in on a quiet interlude – a moment to catch your breath listening. At 6:34, it’s shorter only than the closer, “Solo,” and a good show of diversity from Lo-Pan, who have up till this point showed only their latter two gears. Of course there’s a build, and the song gets more active than its subdued intro, but there’s still a change in vibe to something darker and more contemplative that “Bird of Prey” signifies, and I think what’s best about it is that it’s still essentially a rock song. The band is working within their stated framework and still managing to evoke a different atmosphere. They didn’t have to rely on any sonic tricks or radical changes; they just wrote a song in another mood. Doesn’t sound like much of a shift, but it’s really hard to do. Fristoe takes another ripping solo toward the end, and I like that when he does, he’s not backed by a second rhythm guitar track that wouldn’t be there in a live situation. Salvador is unquestionably a clean-sounding production – Benny Grotto at Mad Oak being Small Stone’s go-to man at this point – but there was clearly an emphasis on maintaining a natural, live feel as well, and that comes across just about anywhere you want to hear it.

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