Yeah, I know. Snicker snicker. If I believed in fun, the title of this box set would tickle me pink. In any case, Clutch originally announced their humongous 18LP The Obelisk box set would be out for Record Store Day in April. They had a bunch of tour dates to coincide. Well, neither the tour dates nor the box set nor anyone’s anything happened as scheduled. The box set is happening this weekend. The tour? Well, we’ll just see about that. Don’t forget to wear your mask to your favorite participating record store.

Speaking of. I made the trek to one of New Jersey’s premier indie spots the other day. It was early in the day and I took The Pecan since he says the words “record store” I think because he knows he’ll get a positive response for doing so. Whatever. I looked around at CDs I don’t have room for and LPs that were cool looking but that I also don’t have room for and are more expensive and it was just kind of a bummer. I didn’t end up getting anything. It was cool to go with the kid and all, but I felt like I was kind of missing out. Time was I’d go drop $150 easy at this place without looking back. Now I just suck I guess.

But this’d be a reason to go back:

CLUTCH’S LP BOX SET “THE OBELISK” IS FINALLY HERE

After many delays due to the ongoing pandemic The Obelisk is finally scheduled to hit stores on Saturday, Oct. 24th for the third drop of Record Store Day. The box set is comprised of all of Clutch’s Weathermaker Music vinyl releases. There are six double LP’s, three 12″ LPs, and three 12″ picture discs all together in a beautifully designed box set. In addition, the box contains a turntable mat and a square, artist signed lithograph. The rigid box has a magnetic closure and the silver foil is stamped on black Sierra cloth. This is a unique collector’s item and only 2,000 boxes were made for worldwide sales.

Says Neil Fallon: “In 2008 Clutch launched Weathermaker Music. Starting our own record label has proven to be one of the better decisions we made and The Obelisk box set is evidence. The Obelisk is comprised of all the Clutch vinyl LPs released on Weathermaker Music. It has been a long time coming, but we think it has been worth the wait.”

You can finally find this LP box set at participating Record Store Day retailers everywhere around the country on Saturday, October 24th.”

The individual 12” vinyl releases are Full Fathom Five (2xLP), Live at The Googolplex (Picture Disc), Jam Room (Picture Disc). Pitchfork & Lost Needles (Picture Disc), La Curandera, Strange Cousins From The West (2xLP),Blast Tyrant (2xLP), Robot Hive/Exodus (2xLP), From Beale Street To Oblivion (2xLP) Earth Rocker, Psychic Warfare, and Book Of bad Decisions (2xLP).

CLUTCH:
Neil Fallon – Vocals/Guitar
Tim Sult – Guitar
Dan Maines – Bass
Jean-Paul Gaster – Drums/Percussion

www.facebook.com/clutchband
www.instagram.com/clutchofficial
www.pro-rock.com
www.youtube.com/user/officialclutch

Clutch, Live somewhere in 2020

Look, I’m not even going to pretend to flatter myself here in thinking either I or this site would ever be on this band’s radar whatsoever. Clutch might’ve known who I was when I worked in print media due to the fact that basically I stalked them and their poor publicist, but I cut a different profile these days — literally and figuratively — so yeah. It’s a cute coincidence.

The reference Clutch are obviously making in titling their 12-album/18LP box set The Obelisk comes from their 1995 self-titled second album, the line from the song “Escape from the Prison Planet” that goes, “Rebuild the remnants of the obelisk, one mile from the pyramids” (which actually isn’t where I got the name of this site from, but again, that’s not relevant and neither am I; see above). And certainly that’s what they’re doing here. They’re rebuilding the remnants. Putting 12 albums in the same place definitely counts. I guess that’s everything they’ve done through Weathermaker at any point — I’m not sure as to what is actually going to be in this thing, whether it’s all their studio albums, or some of those minus the major-label stuff that Weathermaker never reissued, but with live recordings, or maybe something new like a comp of the Weathermaker Singles Series or what. I have no idea. None. Don’t ask.

All I know is it’s out April 18 for Record Store Day 2020 as part of an ongoing tradition Clutch have, and that someone sent me the link to a preorder page through Season of Mist in Europe. Apparently Europe is getting 200 of them. No clue as to how many North America might end up with, but I wouldn’t think it’ll be nearly enough.

Clutch US dates for April and May — they’ll also be in South America in April — and they’re in Australia this month and UK/Europe later in the summer. You know how they do. I reformatted everything listed on their site, so here’s that, along with the info for The Obelisk, which I cut and pasted right off the Season of Mist page.

Here it is [UPDATE MARCH 6: New details came down the PR wire. I’ve included them here in place of the info from the preorder page]:

Clutch – The Obelisk

“The Obelisk” is a box set that is comprised of all of Clutch’s Weathermaker Music vinyl releases. There are six double LP’s, three 12″ LPs, and three 12″ picture discs all together in a beautifully designed box set. In addition, the box contains a turntable mat and a square, artist signed lithograph. The rigid box has a magnetic closure and the silver foil is stamped on black Sierra cloth. This is a unique collector’s item and only 1,000 boxes were made for worldwide sales.

The individual 12” vinyl releases are Full Fathom Five (2xLP), Live At The Googolplex (Picture Disc), Jam Room (Picture Disc). Pitchfork & Lost Needles (Picture Disc), La Curandera, Strange Cousins From The West (2xLP),Blast Tyrant (2xLP), Robot Hive/Exodus (2xLP), From Beale Street To Oblivion (2xLP) Earth Rocker, Psychic Warfare, and Book Of bad Decisions (2xLP).

Clutch Live 2020:
Fri, MAR 20 Download Festival 2020 Melbourne Ascot Vale, Australia
Sat, MAR 21 Download Festival 2020 Sydney Sydney, Australia
Sat, APR 4 Big Surf Tempe, AZ
Sun, APR 5 Palms Casino Resort Las Vegas, NV
Tue, APR 7 Mission Ballroom Denver, CO
Wed, APR 8 Silverstein Eye Centers Arena Independence, MO
Fri, APR 10 Irving Music Factory Irving, TX
Sat, APR 11 Ford Park Entertainment Complex Beaumont, TX
Mon, APR 13 Nashville Municipal Auditorium Nashville, TN
Tue, APR 14 Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum Knoxville, TN
Wed, APR 15 Coca-Cola Roxy Atlanta, GA
Thu, APR 16 Blind Tiger Greensboro, NC
Sun, APR 26 Fabrique Club São Paulo, Brazil
Tue, APR 28 UNICLUB Abasto, Argentina
Thu, APR 30 Club Chocolate Recoleta, Chile
Sat, MAY 2 Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Mexico, Mexico
Tue, MAY 5 Covelli Centre Youngstown, OH
Wed, MAY 6 Schottenstein Center Columbus, OH
Thu, MAY 7 The Machine Shop Flint, MI
Fri, MAY 8 The Machine Shop Flint, MI
Sat, MAY 9 The Rave / Eagles Club Milwaukee, WI
Sun, MAY 10 DeltaPlex Arena & Conference Center Grand Rapids, MI
Tue, MAY 12 UMBC Event Center Baltimore, MD
Wed, MAY 13 The Rooftop at Pier 17 New York City, NY
Fri, JUL 17 Ramblin’ Man Fair Maidstone, United Kingdom
Sat, JUL 18 Ramblin’ Man Fair Maidstone, United Kingdom
Sun, JUL 19 Ramblin’ Man Fair Maidstone, United Kingdom
Tue, JUL 21 Limelight Belfast, United Kingdom
Wed, JUL 22 The Academy Dublin 1, Ireland
Thu, JUL 23 O2 Academy Glasgow Glasgow, United Kingdom
Mon, JUL 27 ARTmania Festival Sibiu, Romania
Tue, JUL 28 MetalDays Tolmin, Slovenia
Thu, JUL 30 Kostrzy?skie Centrum Kultury Kostrzyn Nad Odr?, Poland
Sat, AUG 1 Gijon Gijón, Spain
Mon, AUG 3 Hard Club Porto, Portugal
Tue, AUG 4 CINETEATRO CAPITÓLIO Lisbon, Portugal
Wed, AUG 5 Open Flair Festival Eschwege, Germany
Thu, AUG 6 Rocco del Schlacko 2020 Püttlingen, Germany
Thu, AUG 6 Eiswiese Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber, Germany
Fri, AUG 7 Into The Grave Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Sat, AUG 8 Rocco Del Schlakko Saarbrücken, Germany
Sun, AUG 9 Taubertal Festival Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber, Germany
Tue, AUG 11 Sziget Festival Budapest, Hungary
Fri, AUG 14 Summer Breeze Open Air Dinkelsbühl, Germany
Sun, AUG 16 Kulturbolaget Malmö, Sweden
Tue, AUG 18 Gröna Lund Stockholm, Sweden
Wed, AUG 19 Sentrum Scene Oslo, Norway
Thu, AUG 20 Liseberg Göteborg, Sweden
Tue, SEP 22 Pukkelpop Festival Hasselt, Belgium

CLUTCH:
Neil Fallon – Vocals/Guitar
Tim Sult – Guitar
Dan Maines – Bass
Jean-Paul Gaster – Drums/Percussion

www.facebook.com/clutchband
www.instagram.com/clutchofficial
www.pro-rock.com
www.youtube.com/user/officialclutch

Clutch, “Evil” Live at Download Fest, UK, June 2019