CLUTCH THE NO STARS ABOVE TOUR
CLUTCH
CLUTCH shares more in common with The Grateful Dead, Rush, and the Allman Brothers than their heavy riffs and heady twists-of-phrase might suggest. Because like those bands, the supporters who adore CLUTCH are there for the experience, community, and authentic connection.
To love CLUTCH is to feel a sense of ownership, membership, and belonging.
Seneca Valley High School classmates Neil Fallon (vocals), Tim Sult (guitar), Dan Maines (bass), and Jean-Paul Gaster (drums) share an unshakeable musical and personal bond now three decades strong. Shaped by the same region which birthed Bad Brains, Minor Threat, and Rites Of Spring, CLUTCH crafts hyper-literate and libertine jams informed by hardcore fury and fuzzy, athletic, stoner rock.
A worldwide cabal of fans and critics cherish the band’s dense and diverse catalog of underground classics, released through major labels, indies, and since 2009, Clutch’s own Weathermaker imprint. Sunrise On Slaughter Beach, the band’s thirteenth studio album, is a slamming summary of everything that makes the band great and another giant leap forward into career longevity.
DINOSAUR JR..
Sweep It Into Space
Here is Sweep It Into Space, the fifth new studio album cut by Dinosaur Jr.. during the 13th year of their rebirth. Originally scheduled for issue in mid 2020, this record's temporal trajectory was thwarted by the coming of the Plague. But it would take more than a mere Plague to tamp down the exquisite fury of this trio when they are fully dialed-in. And Sweep It Into Space is a masterpiece of zoned dialing.
In the decades since the release of Dinosaur Jr.'s original triptych of foundational albums, it has become clear that their sound -- once hailed as a sort of almost-tamed noise -- is/was/always-has-been fully functioning pop music of a sort. The subsequent generations of bands who grew up breathing Dino's fumes managed to tinker around with the edges of their original post-hardcore song-forms enough for listeners to realize there had always been melodies at the center of everything they did. What Dinosaur Jr.. produces is nothing but a beautiful new version of the rock continuum -- riff, power, beat and longing, created with an eye on the infinite future.
RED FANG
“I like the idea of the record starting in a way that doesn’t make any sense at all for a
Red Fang record.”
That’s vocalist/bassist Aaron Beam talking about “Take It Back,” the opening
track—or “sintro,” part song, part intro—of Red Fang’s fifth album, Arrows.
“It reminds me of a time before people listened to music digitally—and they listened to full albums,” drummer John Sherman adds. “There were often cool, spooky intros—like fuckin’ Dio albums and shit. There are some weird sounds at the beginning to get you in the mood before it blasts off.”
And blast off it does. After the woozy opening salvo of “Take It Back,” Arrows launches into a super-rock trifecta of what Red Fang does best—from Melvins-esque power dirge “Unreal Estate” into the anthemic title track into up-tempo banger “My Disaster.”
Yeah, it’s been nearly five years since 2016’s Only Ghosts, but your favorite
beer-crushing, zombie-killing, air-guitar-contest-judging metal heroes are back in action, doing what they do best—AND MORE. “This record feels more like Murder The Mountains to me than any record we’ve done before or since,” Beam ventures. “It doesn’t sound like that record, but Murder The Mountains was us doing whatever the fuck we wanted, and that’s what this is, too.”