The Presidents had their holiday, and now it’s officially time to THROW DOWN, and (as Joe Perry once ordered) “Let the music do the talking!” Below are four plus weeks worth of CLUTCH North American tour dates, to commence in exactly 50 days! As of today, the guys are already confirmed to co-headline at least 18 concerts with ex-Pantera skinsman Vinny Paul’s highly successful hard rock outfit HELLYEAH. Both Clutch and Hellyeah will be playing full sets each night regardless of appearance order. There will be close to a dozen Clutch headline shows interpolated within the Hellyeah dates, of which there will be more announced/confirmed very soon. Not only will Clutch be supporting the THREE expanded and recently produced double disc re-issues, but as previously stated, the mega double vinyl Blast Tyrant package will drop into ALL great record stores/music retailers on February 28th!

….and we’re excited to announce….MORE vinyl…as Clutch (via Weathermaker) will release WORLDWIDE, a ONE OF A KIND 7″ VINYL PICTURE DISC on April 24th! This limited pressing will feature two brand new recordings! The single’s A-side will be the new Clutch composition “PIGTOWN BLUES.” his will be backed with a completely re-worked, 2012 acoustic style version of “MOTHERLESS CHILD.” Other than on the shelves of retail, the ONLY way to grab one of these badboys, would be to arrive at a (below listed) concert date EARLY and seek out (and because of the ridiculously fan-friendly under $5 price tag) maybe even BEG – Clutch’s amazingly patient, uber genius merch-man Sean. He might save you one!

4/10: Norfolk, VA @ The Norva (Clutch only)
4/11: Lancaster, PA @ Chameleon Club (Clutch only)
4/12: Albany, NY @ Northern Lights Ground (Clutch only)
4/13: Providence, RI @ Lupos
4/14: Atlantic City, NJ @ House of Blues
4/15: Long Island, NY @ Paramount Theater
4/17: Stroudsburg, PA @ Sherman Theater
4/18: Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall
4/20: Traverse City, MI @ Ground Zero
4/21: Ft. Wayne, IN @ Pierre’s
4/22: Toledo, OH @ Headliner’s
4/23: Dayton, OH @ McGuffy’s House of Rock (Clutch only)
4/24: Madison, WI @ Orpheum Theater
4/25: Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom
4/28: Lincoln, NE @ Box Awesome’s Bourbon Lounge
4/29: Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
5/1: Springfield, MO @ Gillioz Theater
5/2: Wichita, KS @ Cotillion
5/3: Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom (Clutch only)
5/4: Sauget, IL @ Pops
5/5: Chattanooga, TN @ Track 29
5/6: Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theater (Clutch only)
5/8: Libertyville, IL @ Austins
5/9: Sioux Falls, SD @WH Lyon Fairgrounds (KRRO-Fest)
5/10: Rock Island, IL @ Rock Island Brewery (Clutch only)
5/11: Joilet, IL @ Mojoes
5/12: Detroit, MI @ St Andrews Hall (Clutch only)
5/13: Flint, MI @ Machine Shop (Clutch only)

Weathermaker Music has announced the date of February 28th as the official retail release for the CLUTCH double vinyl edition of Blast Tyrant. This 180+ gram expanded vinyl contains 16 songs and includes six mini-posters taken straight from Blast Tyrant’s “Atlas of the Invisible World”. Each illustrated poster is sized (8.5″ x 11″) and depicts one of the various characters featured within the Blast Tyrant storyline. Prior to February 28th, the double vinyl edition of Blast Tyrant is exclusively available via www.Clutchmerch.com.

In other CLUTCH news, you will be hearing CLUTCH music in the mid-season premiere of The Walking Dead February 12th on AMC. A sneak preview of the episode is available here. CLUTCH music will also be featured in the soon to be released film The Baytown Disco starring Andre Braugher, Billy Bob Thornton, and Eva Longoria. A six minute preview of the film featuring CLUTCH music can be viewed here. And for all you hockey fans, CLUTCH’s “Electric Worry” is still the goal music for the Vancouver Canucks. Check it out here.

In CLUTCH tour news, the band is close to confirming a North American Spring Tour. Dates will be announced in the next few days. CLUTCH will also be returning to Europe this festival season. The band has been confirmed for the Sonisphere Festival in Madrid Spain on May 26th and the Peace and Love Festival in Borlänge, Sweden on June 29th. Additional festival appearances are expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

As we settle in for a long cold winter, the early days/weeks of 2012 are not void of some kick ass rock & roll news! Clutch kicks off the year with a few weeks worth of UK concert dates with the legendary THIN LIZZY (see below)

Later this week, Weathermakermusic.com will announce the inclusion/appearance of a certain classic Clutch song in a brand new episode of a certain (very popular) network TV show! The only hint I’ll let loose, is that this “certain song” appears on both the Blast Tyrant double vinyl set and expanded 2CD re-issue.

The aforementioned double vinyl edition of Blast Tyrant is currently available exclusively via www.indiemerch.com, and we are currently hard at work producing more of these hot looking and EVEN PHATTER sounding double vinyl packages for a late February retail release…

Also later this week, we’ll announce how you can make yourself eligible to win one of three WEATHERMAKER Music WINTER Retreat Prize Packages. Specific Details for this entire Winter Program are forthcoming but the first prize package will consist of brand new copies all THREE Clutch double disc reissues WM015, WM016, & WM017, From Beale Street to Oblivion, Robot Hive/Exodus, and Blast Tyrant. A new owner for these SIX amazing discs will be randomly chosen on February 14th!

For ONE week only, beginning tonight at 6pm (est), fans can pre-order the LONG awaited Weathermaker Music deluxe, double vinyl edition of Clutch’s “Blast Tyrant” via Indiemerch.com. There are at least 4 major reasons (not including your personal taste for the warmth of the vinyl sound) to grab this brand new, 181 gram (heaviest available!), hot off the press, 4-sided Herculean effort by Clutch at this present time!

A. The double vinyl version features all 15 original Blast Tyrant songs PLUS a very special vinyl only bonus track!

B. The packaging that surrounds/holds the double vinyl is epic unto itself. Included within its walls and sleeves are SIX gorgeous mini-posters from “Blast Tyrant’s Atlas of the Invisible World! (“The Huntress” already graces the Weathermaker office walls!)

C. Any Blast Tyrant vinyl package pre-ordered on Friday November 4th through Thursday November 10th will include a FREE 24″ “C” Blast Tyrant logo snowboard sticker!!! AND a free Clutch “Winter Tyrant” embroidered (2 styles available) knit cap!!!!

D. Any Clutch vinyl package pre-ordered during the aforementioned dates, will be connected with it’s new owner(s) at least 4-7 days prior to the official November 29th streetdate, at which point it becomes available to the North American masses.

It’s all right here… www.clutchmerch.com

We at Weathermaker Music post this awesome feature article about Clutch’s Jean-Paul Gaster in celebration of THREE relatable events, none of which might be Halloween! First & foremost, we are now 30 days and counting until the release of our double vinyl masterpiece deluxe edition of Blast Tyrant. The vinyl packaging includes SIX pull out mini-posters (not 4, as recently reported)…The posters are: “Worm Drink”, “La Curandera”, “50 Eyed Beast”, “Ragnarock”, “The Pendulum”, and my personal fave: “The Huntress”.

With that said, I can ALSO tell you that we’re less than 24 hours away from announcing the mind-melting news/details regarding the absolute behemoth pre-order package and a surprise bonus retail package that will soon be available.. We will UNLEASH details at noon (est) on Wed, November 2nd. Wear a bib. You might actually drool uncontrollably!

…AND Lastly, today we celebrate the kickoff of CLUTCH’s large scale European tour with VOLBEAT, as tour participants meet up for the first gig in Frankfurt, Germany this evening. The tour will then move onto Milan, Italy & Vienna, Austria; two of Europe’s most prized cities!

As we’ve occasionally done in the past, we love to post (or re-post) a well thought out and/or highly imaginative journalistic pc. The below feature originally comes from Noisecreep…. We think you’ll enjoy.

Clutch recently announced their annual run of holiday shows for 2011 which will find them sharing the stage with Corrosion of Conformity and Kyng. Anyone who has already seen the Maryland stalwarts in concert already knows why many critics consider them one of the most vital live performers around today. In celebration of the gigs, Noisecreep asked Clutch vocalist Neil Fallon to take part in our ‘Five Albums That Changed My Life’ series.

‘Greatest of the Delta Blues Singers’
Skip James (1965)
“During one of Clutch’s first tours, I bought a blues cassette tape at a truck stop. I had never heard of the artist, but I desperately needed to hear something new. The first track was ‘Devil Got My Woman.’ Instantly, the late night creep-out meter went off the charts. That record, ‘Greatest of the Delta Blues Singers,’ scared the daylights out of me and it still does. James’ voice and cryptic guitar playing made me realize that music doesn’t need to be loud to be terrifying.”

‘Bone Machine’
Tom Waits (1992)
“Hearing ‘Bone Machine’ was a watershed moment for me. I realized songs don’t need to be about true life experiences. They could be tall tales, pieces of weird fiction standing on their own without any need for justification or explanation. Waits’ tales in ‘Bone Machine’ are nightmarish. In ‘Black Wings,’ the line, “Some say he once killed a man with a guitar string,” is genius. And to be totally honest, ‘Going Out West’ has given me lyrical inspiration for more than one Clutch song.”

‘Bad Brains’
Bad Brains (1982)
“A high school friend of mine lent me the yellow ‘Bad Brains’ cassette. I remember seeing the song title ‘Pay to Cum’ and thinking that this band just had to incredible. Upon listening, though, I was totally confused. I had nothing to compare it to. It was freakish. But after repeated listens there was that eureka moment and ever since they have been on the loftiest of rock pedestals.”

‘Dark Side of the Moon’
Pink Floyd (1973)
“The ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ album cover poster was one of the rare chess pieces that escaped any collateral damage in my adolescent battles with my parents. Posters went up. I would do something stupid. Posters would come down. Repeat. But that poster always dodged the bullet. Maybe it was so innocuous they just thought it was art. Who knows? ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ is one of the few records I love today more than when I first heard it. Sure, it’s been played into the ground and maybe it’s easy to dismiss because of that. But damn it, this album is a timeless masterpiece. For my adolescent self it was a secret escape hatch. And as a 40-year-old, it still is.”

‘Welcome to Sky Valley’
Kyuss (1994)
“I think Welcome to Sky Valley is without a doubt the best record of the 1990s. I can’t tell you how many times we listened to this record in our touring van. It was the soundtrack to many many overnight hauls. When I hear these songs now they conjure up a collage of faces and places that I hold very dear.”

The last few months of the year have proved more than noteworthy for the members of Clutch, and the final week of 2011 might actually top it all. Following their blistering mainstage performance at HFStival in Maryland was the official release of their own Clutch Dark & Sour Ale. Later this month, the band will depart for a LARGE SCALE European tour, (4th international tour of 2011) to be followed by the late November release of the “Blast Tyrant” double vinyl package, Topping all of that is the news that Neil, Tim, Dan and Jean-Paul will be headlining a series of large east coast shows which will most likely showcase a few recently written/new Clutch compositions! The original power trio version of COC will be direct support to Clutch and newcomers Kyng will open all dates. Tickets to these shows are currently open to fanclub members only, but will be available to ALL concert-goers beginning Friday morning October 7th.

CLUTCH with Corrosion of Conformity & Kyng

12/27 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
12/28 Portland, ME @ The State Theater
12/29 Syracuse, NY @ Westcott Theater
12/30 Sayerville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
12/31 Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero

JN

HEAVY RECORD ALERT!!!!!
Poised for a November 29th, (2011) North American release through Weathermaker Music, here is the official track listing for Clutch’s 188 gram “Blast Tyrant” double vinyl package…

Side A.
Mercury
Profits of Doom
The Mob Goes Wild
Cypress Grove
Promoter (…of Earthbound Causes)

Side B.
The Regulator
Worm Drink
Army of Bono

Side C.
Spleen Merchant
The Swollen Goat (In the Wake of…)
Weathermaker
Subtle Hustle
Ghost

Side D.
La Curandera (Notes From the Trial of)
The Regulator (Acoustic)
WYSIWYG

More information, including “Blast Tyrants” amazing gatefold package, and pre-order
instructions for this Clutch classic coming soon!

American Beer masters New Belgium Brewing Company have teamed up with Maryland based veteran songwriters and touring icons CLUTCH to brew, bottle and distribute the brand new CLUTCH beer! The 9% alcohol by volume dark sour ale joins NBB’s Lips of Faith Series, adding to a beer family which already includes the highly popular Fat Tire Ale, which is now sold in over 32 of the 48 continental United States. The beer is available in 22 oz. bottles which have been selling out everywhere and a limited amount of CLUTCH kegs. New Belgium and CLUTCH (the band) will officially unleash the ale at a very special kickoff event at the Red Palace in Washington DC on Sunday night September 18th, at which members of CLUTCH and their label Weathermaker Music will be present. Admission will be limited.

Leading the “It’s a bummer announcement no matter how ya spin it” category, is:

I’m regret to inform everybody (especially those who planned to be in the DC area) that Monday’s New Belgium release party to launch the Clutch dark sour ale has been postponed until further notice.

JN