Clutch, the hard rock band out of Maryland, has been playing for over twenty-five years and has amassed a devoted following for its consistently amazing live performances; skull-cracking fusion of metal, blues, and funk; and lyrics that come straight from the unhinged fever dreams of Philip K. Dick. Made up of singer Neil Fallon, guitarist Tim Sult, drummer Jean-Paul Gaster, and bassist Dan Maines, Clutch is one of rock and roll’s most hardworking and unique bands.

Two months ago we reviewed Clutch’s newest album, The Book of Bad Decisions, and are now fortunate enough to follow that up with an interview with Tim Sult, the band’s guitarist. Tim hopped on the phone with Into the Void music writer Jordan Ranft last month before soundcheck in Philadelphia to answer questions about the band, being a family man, and the virtues of tour buses.

Jordan Ranft: So let’s go from the start. Clutch started out in Maryland in the early ‘90s, yeah?

Tim Sult: Yup, we played our first show in Washington D.C. in August of 1991.

Do you remember who else was playing that show?

Yeah! We played an outdoor show with a D.C. band called Thud, and they were like a noise rock band. Super great guys, we were good friends with them. They worked at a local club that we all went to called the 9:30 Club. Once we played that show with them, we ended up getting in with that venue and got on a lot of other shows there opening for national acts and built our fan base out in the D.C area.

How did that first show come about?

I’m pretty sure we gave a demo to the guys that worked at that venue. A cassette demo.

Any songs on that demo end up on any of the later albums?

I think one of the songs turned into “Animal Farm” off of our second album, and the song “Far Country,” which is on our first EP, was an older song from even further back. Those two are probably the only super old ones that we kept from the very beginning.

Speaking of the very beginning, you guys all met in high school?

We all went to the same high school, but I didn’t actually know JP or Neil. I only knew Dan, and I didn’t start playing with the guys until after I graduated.

When did you start playing guitar?

I was fourteen. When I was younger I lived out in Minnesota with my parents and I wanted to learn guitar, and where we lived there was absolutely no place to take lessons anywhere. So I waited it out a couple years until we moved to Maryland and, finally, there were places to take lessons like everywhere. My parents were cool enough to buy me a guitar and sign me up for classes at a local shop.

What kind of guitar did they get you?

It was either from Sears or JC Penny. It was literally out of the catalog. I had that Sears guitar and a 2-watt amp.

So you guys started playing together right after high school, but when did that transition to “Hey, let’s make this a band and try to do something with it”?

I think there was always the intention of wanting to do something with it. Pretty soon after we started getting some shows this small label based out of Delaware approached us about putting out a project. That was the first thing we ever did as far as working with a “label.” We got together with them and did four songs and put out our first 7″ called Pitchfork. The label was called Inner Journey Records. It got out there and started getting around the country and people were hearing it and reacting to it.

What was the first project you put out that got a bigger, commercial response? Because I know you guys were on the charts a couple times back in the mid-2000s.

Yeah. I mean I don’t think Clutch has ever had like a big commercial response. We’ve had a few songs that were played on the radio. Had a song called “Careful With That Mic” that got quite a bit of radio play. But none of that really translated into anything. Our shows were still the same.

Okay, but at twenty-five years I think it’s safe to say Clutch has some staying power, you know what I mean? Are you still wondering if your career as musicians will be successful, or are you pretty confident you managed to cut a path?

[laughs] I’m pretty sure it’s way too late to stop doing this and start anything else. We’ve already gone too far.

Right! I guess what I’m trying to get at is when was the point where you were like, “Oh shit! We’re secure in being able to do this for the rest of our lives”?

Quite honestly, not until we started putting out our own material. Not until 2008 when we started our own label.

Weathermaker?

Correct. That’s really when things started to fall into place business-wise.

Are there other acts besides Clutch on the label?

Not really. We’ve put out some side projects here and there, and one album by a Maryland band called Lionize. But that’s all. We’re probably not going to bring anyone else on in the near future.

So you started Weathermaker to get control of the business side of the music. You guys have autonomy over that now?

Absolutely. The four Clutch members and our manager are equally involved.

Can you give me some specific history of how the label formed?

We started experimenting with releasing our material early on. For a while, we were doing our own label called River Road Records that originally put out Clutch’s Jam Room album. we also put out a Bakerton Group EP, which is our instrumental side-project. It was late-90s/early 2000s and we were attempting to take care of mail orders on our own. Like, we were directly selling and sending CDs to people, and it got to be too much. So we backed away from it for a while and started working with other labels again. Then we got a little older and figured out things a little better. When 2008 came around we had decided to stop working with the last label we were on and it just made perfect sense to cut out the middlemen and start doing it on our own again.

What are some lessons you’ve learned running both the music and business sides of this thing over the past ten years?

I mean, everything has run pretty smoothly business-wise so far. It’s probably because we have a great label manager, this guy Stefan Koster. He used to be with Roadrunner records back in the day, and he’s been an absolute blessing to have in our lives. He really keeps things going. Makes sure all the bows are tied with releases.

You’re twelve albums in. Are there still nerves leading up to a release?

Yeah, it’s definitely super exciting. With these last few albums, we’ve had a longer buildup time. We recorded this album and then waited quite a while before we put it out. It’s fun to see our fans get excited when we put new music out. It’s honestly the most rewarding thing for me. That there are still people out there that are interested in hearing our new stuff.

Okay, I know I’m jumping around with this question, but how did Clutch get involved with Bam Margera?

He and his brother were Clutch fans, simple as that.

And he just hit you up asking to do a video for you?

Pretty much. He had us on his show, Viva La Bam. We played at a ski resort. It was kind of a weird one. And Bam and Ryan Dunn did the video for “The Mob Goes Wild.”

Do you still talk with Bam or anyone from that crew?

Yeah, Margera was the most recent one. We’ve seen Bam in the past couple of years. I have no memory of where it was, but he’s come out to some shows.

So because you guys are a band, I feel like I should jump into asking about the actual music. Before I do, though . . . dang . . . a quarter of a century. There aren’t a lot of bands out there twelve albums in with the same core members. What’s the secret recipe for you for? You seem super committed to sticking together.

Yeah, you know, when people ask me this I can’t really point to any one thing, in particular, that would make four guys want to be in a band together for twenty-five years. But I feel like an aspect of it is that we remain creative and we’re always trying to move forward and write new songs. That’s really what it’s all about. If we didn’t get together and write new songs, we probably wouldn’t be here.

Does everybody still get along?

Absolutely. We have to live on a tour bus together! We’re kind of forced to get along.

Have the amenities changed at all for you guys on the road?

We went from touring in a van to touring on a bus. Touring on a bus is always easier than a van. It’s truly a whole different world. When you’re in a van, you’re lucky to get any kind of real sleep. But when you’re on a bus, you can sleep in your bunk for twenty-three hours a day if you wanted to. It really is a total opposite lifestyle.

Was there a lot of partying in the early days after shows?

Sometimes.

Is that still going on? You guys strike me as a very professional outfit.

[laughs] There are a lot more good night’s sleep going on these days than there were back in the ’90s, that’s for sure.

Getting to the music, I feel like I can turn on any Clutch song from any album and know within the first ten seconds that it’s a Clutch song. Do you have a name for your particular sound?

Not really, we just call it hard rock.

In terms of the band’s evolution, is there any formula for how the sound or theme will change from album to album?

I feel like, to me at least, it’s the production that changes more than the songwriting itself. Because when I listen to super old Clutch compared to our newest album, honestly the only difference I can personally hear is that our arrangements are better than they were back then. We didn’t really put our songs into normal arrangements at first. When we are on stage, though, and we play older songs along with our newer ones, they still all fit together perfectly.

Okay, but a song like “Electric Worry” has a big bluesy twang to it, right? And you look at that compared to songs off of an album like Earth Rocker and those are way more driving. Do you bring different influences into specific albums?

Well, “Electric Worry” is pretty much half a blues cover. I think Earth Rocker and Psychic Warfare definitely drive a bit harder, and there’s maybe a bit less of a blues influence on those two albums.

And for this new one, you guys took a trip on down to Nashville for recording. How was that?

That was super fun. We’ve never recorded down there before so it was a new experience.

How was working with the new producer?

Working with Vance was really easy and really fun. He and his assistant had a ton of vintage amps that I had never gotten to play on before so it was great getting to record with all of these different setups and doing our thing in a different environment.

What do you play on live? Is there a go-to guitar you bring onstage?

Ahh you know, I pretty much hate all of my guitars. I switch it up quite a bit. Lately, I’ve been playing on a lot of SGs, but the day after tomorrow that all might change.

Fair enough.

I prefer the sound of Les Pauls, but I have so much more fun at a show if I play an SG. I kinda just bounce between the two.

Playing guitar is a hefty position in a band. What are you trying to bring into the mix when making a song?

I try to play something I’ve never played before. Throw out some kind of idea that doesn’t sound like something I’ve done already. I try not to repeat myself too often. I know I do, but guitar-wise that’s the direction I try to go in.

You guys are the only band I know that combines really down to earth rock music with crazy science fiction references at every turn. When and how did that start?

Neil started early on. I think on the second album is where a lot of the science fiction started creeping into the lyrics.

What was your response when he sang the chorus of a song in binary code?

It’s great. It’s hilarious. I love it.

They’re all compulsively listenable live songs, but if you pay attention to the lyrics, you guys really like to dig into paranoia and strangeness. There’s something almost sinister about it. How do you think the lyrics impact or change the sound you’re coming with?

I think as far as lyrics, that’s what people hear first and gravitate towards. That, and the sound of Neil’s voice. Honestly, I’m just happy there’s someone in the band who writes all the lyrics, and that every time I hear the lyrics I’m totally blown away. I’m as big a fan of Neil’s lyrics as the average clutch fan.

Do you do a lot of reading? In my head, I like to think of you guys as a bunch of wily scholars, reading crazy books on the bus.

I haven’t read anything except books to my kids for the past eight years. I’ve been reading children’s books. Neil’s well-read. He went to college. He’s got his English Degree. So he’s always been a very literary person, and I’m lucky to have someone so well-read and intelligent in the band.

Are all you guys family men at this point?

Yep, we’re all married.

How does that affect making records and touring?

I wouldn’t say it’s hugely different. I’ve been with my wife for a long time. She’s been out on tour with us back in the ’90s. She knows what it’s like to be on road. We traveled together a lot, and then I turned forty years old and the next thing you know I had four kids. So now I’m rapidly approaching fifty and my personal life is definitely different than what it was ten or twenty years ago, but the approach that Clutch takes and the way I feel about the band is the same as it was when we met up and wrote our first song together.

It seems like you guys can play with any band. You’ve opened for Motorhead and Lamb of God, and then you’ve headlined your own tours. How’d you end up in the position of being able to open for whoever?

It’s a matter of willingness. We’ll play with whoever. After that Lamb of God tour, we went around opening for Primus. Where do you live?

I’m out in Oakland?

Okay, we played at the Greek Theater with Primus and that was actually the first time Les Claypool came onstage with us. He’s played “Earth Rocker” a bunch of times.

Okay, last question. I guess the most important one. Twenty-five years in, would you say you’re happy with where you’re at?

Without a doubt. We’re playing a 2,500-seat venue in Philadelphia tonight. I have absolutely no complaints about anything.

Clutch is currently wrapping up a European tour and will be back stateside to close out 2018 with shows on the East Coast and in the Midwest.







Author Details Jordan Ranft Author Jordan Ranft is a California Bay Area native. His poetry has appeared in ‘Rust+Moth,’ ‘Midway,’ ‘(b)oink,’ and here. He has worked as an arts/culture and music writer for The East Bay Express, Sacramento News & Review, and Brokeassstuart.com. He’s at a point in his life where a lot of his favorite musicians are also his friends. It is delightful. Follow him on twitter, or don’t.

