Clutch is a musical group from the area of Maryland and West Virginia in the United States. They have been playing together since the early 1990s, producing records at a rate of approximately one per year.
Though each of Clutch's albums is marked by its own distinct and cohesive sound, the band's musical style may be said to have migrated from hardcore punk to hard rock over the course of their career. Clutch's lyrics, at first angry and serious in tone, had by the time of 1993's Transnational Speedway League become characterized by intelligence, wordplay, and often humor (although comedy is not usually the focus). Their songs make frequent reference to history, mythology, and popular culture—for example, "I Have the Body of John Wilkes Booth", from their self-titled album, tells the story of a fisherman who discovers the corpse of Lincoln's assassin in the Susquehanna River, and Jam Room's "Release the Kraken" inserts a hero called "Useless the Younger" into the Greek myth.
Despite having signed with major record labels in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Clutch has not pushed for mainstream popularity, and their songs rarely receive airtime on commercial radio or music television. Instead they have accumulated a devoted cult following. This following has been cultivated by an ambitious touring schedule as Clutch has often performed more than 100 shows per year since their formation.
Clutch fans sometimes refer to themselves as gearheads, likely in reference to the fact that a clutch is an engine component.
In the late 1990s, Clutch and its sibling project The Bakerton Group (an instrumental blues band composed of Clutch members Maines, Sult, and Gaster) formed an independent record label, River Road Records, to release their own music. River Road does not sign any other artists.
Members
Discography
- Pitchfork (7") (Inner Journey Records, 1991)
- Passive Restraints (EP) (Earache Records, 1992)
- Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes, and Undeniable Truths (Eastwest Records, 1993)
- Clutch (Eastwest Records, 1995)
- Impetus (Earache Records, 1997)
- The Elephant Riders (Columbia Records, 1998)
- Pitchfork (CD) (Inner Journey Records & River Road Records, 1999)
- Jam Room (River Road Records, 1999)
- Pure Rock Fury (Atlantic Records, 2001)
- Live at the Googolplex (River Road Records, 2002)
- Slow Hole to China: Rare and Unreleased (River Road Records, 2003)
- Blast Tyrant (Rte / Drt, 2004)
External links
