Interview with Dan Maines (Clutch)

Clutch were in the midst of their latest sold out UK tour when we got the chance to catch up with bassist Dan Maines to discuss tour life, new music and much more.

R13: How's this stretch of the tour been so far? What do you like most about touring in the UK?
DM: Well this tour has been really good for us because we've been having a bit of an upsurge, there are more people coming out to see us so we've been playing slightly larger venues. The crowds, I think as a general rule in the UK are pretty animated. I don't know if its copious amounts of malt or what, but the crowd's just seem very lively here. It's probably because we don't get over here as often as we tour the States, which we do constantly so people there have probably had the opportunity to catch us two or three times a year whereas in the UK it's more of a special event.

R13: Earth Rocker has proven to be a massive success, I know in this country it topped so many 'Album of the Year' lists. Did the decision to keep touring off the back of it come from your wish to maintain the momentum you've got at the moment?
DM: Sure, yeah it's what we like to do. When we're home we spend a lot of time just writing and that's something not easy for us to do. So we try to take advantage of the times we have travelling to write. We just finished, an almost, good two months at home so that was a nice block of writing time, so now we just kind of want to head out on the road for the next 3-4 months and just get as much touring in as we can. It kind of, you know, pushes the reset button a little bit on a creativity level as far as writing new material. It's nice to break it up into spurts like that.

R13: You've always extensively toured and there have been no line up changes, how do you guys do it? Have you got any Metallica style psychologists hiding in the back?
DM: (Laughs) No. Fortunately. I don't know it's just dumb luck! I think a lot of it probably has to do with the fact that we knew each other before Clutch even existed. We were already friends from back in high school, where we eventually met each other in our last year. Clutch formed out of various bands we were touring around with. I don't know, its just there's no real egos involved. It's a challenge for any band to go on tour and not want to just leave (Laughs), you know just not see those people for a while. I've seen it happen a dozen times over the last 25 years that we've been a band, but for whatever reason we just escape all that.

R13: What are some of your favourite tracks to perform off of Earth Rocker?
DM: That record was one of the first... probably the only record which we've recorded, actually I'd say since the self titled record, it was one of those records where we were very excited about playing all the songs on the record. Some of the songs you put on a record, they don't translate to a live show or you know you just kind of record it, it gets released and you lose favour with that song a little bit. But with Earth Rocker there isn't a song on there yet which I don't enjoy playing, erm we've been playing probably 70% of the record every night for the last two years. I would say, I really enjoy Gone Cold because that is a different dynamic for the band, and it's a nice addition to the set....
R13: A bit of a breather...
DM: Yeah exactly! And D.C. Sound Attack is always a favourite of mine too

R13: You mentioned you were at home for two months, and you said you got some writing done and music down, are plans firmly in place then for the next record?
DM: Absolutely. We're probably only about half way through the writing process but things are moving quick and our plan is to have something.... or our plan is to go into the studio at some point this Winter, and have something for release early next year.

R13: Going from future albums to the past, and not to make anyone feel old (Laughs)... but the self titled hits it's 20th Anniversary next year, do you guys have anything special planned, or is it just another year?
DM: Ha, erm yeah we don't really have anything special planned. To be honest that record came out on I think Atlantic, so erm even if we wanted to do something, either way we wouldn't have the rights to do it. But yeah, I'm not sure on that kind of thing, people bringing it up will probably encourage us to put those songs back in the set lists....
R13: Yeah I was going to say, I mean at the moment I think a lot of bands have gone mad with it, everyone is doing anniversary tours, I mean you guys have done the album before...
DM: Yeah we did do that, but we didn't do it for any particular anniversary. We did a hometown show in DC, and we played the self titled record in its entirety and made the DVD out of it, but that was a fun experience. You never know, we played Spacegrass a few times just last week because we try and change up the set lists on a nightly basis so those songs are going to creep in.

R13: What do you like to listen to whilst on tour? What stuff gets you fired up for a show?
DM Erm.. [Long pause] Silence? (Laughs). The opening band, we're usually fortunate to tour with great bands and friends. On this tour we've been able to bring along Lionize from back home and they just released a brand new album. It's great to have a band like that you can watch just before your show and get inspiration from them...
R13: Do you look at them as the young Clutch?
DM (Laughs) Yeah well they are a little younger than us, but they're definitely by no means a new band. They are great at taking bits and pieces of different types of music and putting it together, and I feel like that's something that we are able to do as well so I see that similarity. You should definitely make a point in checking them out tonight.
R13: Oh yeah, their new record it great

R13: Well that's me for questions, have you got a message for our readers?
DM Come out to the shows if we're ever anywhere near your town!