Tim Sult - Clutch
Questions: Karen Lowe
Clutch formed in Germantown, Maryland in 1991. Since releasing their debut Transnational Speedway League in 1993, they've released 12 albums, started instrumental jazz rock side-project The Bakerton Group, launched their own record label and toured the world, treating fans to their brand of classic rock n roll. Fast forward to 2018 and the band have just released their latest studio album, Book of Bad Decisions and embarked on a 33 date North American tour.
Caught in the Mosh spoke to guitarist Tim Sult about his bad decisions, his rad decisions and the band's plans to tour Australia next year.
You've just released your 12th studio album, Book of Bad Decisions. How did the recording process go and are you happy with how it sounds?
We are definitely happy with how it sounds. The recording process was super easy. It felt like recording an album back in the 90s. We just set up stuff, started playing and the producer started recording and we kept as much of that as we possibly could and it all turned out pretty great!
These days, so many bands seem to be putting out CDs with roughly 9-12 songs on them. Why did you guys decide to go for 15? (Not that we are complaining of course)
I think the last, maybe three or four Clutch albums had between 9 and 12 songs on them, maybe 10 or 11, so we thought it would be something cool just to do something a little different and put out a double vinyl which is something we've never done before, right out of the box I mean. We've done re-releases, where there's a double vinyl but this is the first time where we've actually had enough material to put out two records.
Compared with the rest of the songs on the album, Lorelei is the darkest. Why did you guys decide to end the album with that song?
Maybe because it was the darkest? I mean, we had multiple, multiple different album arrangements written down and that was the one that we went with there. It just felt like the best ending for the album.
The title name is awesome. Where did that come from and what are some bad decisions that you have made in the past?
(laughs) The album title came from the fact that we have a song called Book of Bad Decisions and again, we had multiple album titles that we were working on that we could never settle on a real title for the album. Then when we actually went to record the album, the producer, Vance Powell, had previously worked with a French band and he had their album there in the studio but the album was actually a book. It was in book form and the CD was packaged in a book itself.
Caught in the Mosh spoke to guitarist Tim Sult about his bad decisions, his rad decisions and the band's plans to tour Australia next year.
You've just released your 12th studio album, Book of Bad Decisions. How did the recording process go and are you happy with how it sounds?
We are definitely happy with how it sounds. The recording process was super easy. It felt like recording an album back in the 90s. We just set up stuff, started playing and the producer started recording and we kept as much of that as we possibly could and it all turned out pretty great!
These days, so many bands seem to be putting out CDs with roughly 9-12 songs on them. Why did you guys decide to go for 15? (Not that we are complaining of course)
I think the last, maybe three or four Clutch albums had between 9 and 12 songs on them, maybe 10 or 11, so we thought it would be something cool just to do something a little different and put out a double vinyl which is something we've never done before, right out of the box I mean. We've done re-releases, where there's a double vinyl but this is the first time where we've actually had enough material to put out two records.
Compared with the rest of the songs on the album, Lorelei is the darkest. Why did you guys decide to end the album with that song?
Maybe because it was the darkest? I mean, we had multiple, multiple different album arrangements written down and that was the one that we went with there. It just felt like the best ending for the album.
The title name is awesome. Where did that come from and what are some bad decisions that you have made in the past?
(laughs) The album title came from the fact that we have a song called Book of Bad Decisions and again, we had multiple album titles that we were working on that we could never settle on a real title for the album. Then when we actually went to record the album, the producer, Vance Powell, had previously worked with a French band and he had their album there in the studio but the album was actually a book. It was in book form and the CD was packaged in a book itself.
Once we saw that, it seemed to make sense with the title, Book of Bad Decisions that maybe we could try and package our CD in a book as well because, as you know, people don't buy CDs much any more so we thought it would be cool to have the special packaging of the CD itself rather than having special vinyl packaging which everyone's been doing these days. It's a great thing, I think but we decided to do it with the CD. It just made the most sense with that title, Book of Bad Decisions and the fact that it would be packaged as a book.
I jokingly call the book the Book of Rad Decisions because, you know I'm very happy with it. I don't really feel anything negative or bad or that there is re-living anything bad in the past there. I feel that it's all positive.
As to the bad decisions, well I live in West Virginia. Now that was a bad decision. Moving to West Virginia and not leaving! I don't really see Clutch as a bad decision in any way. I think it was really great.
I think maybe all my bad decisions have maybe involved liquor and... vomiting - vomiting too much so... I try to stay away from that. That's probably my worst decision. Drinking liquor.
You guys are about to head out on an extensive tour. What do you miss most when being on tour?
Probably my kids. I have four kids now so I can miss them quite a bit but within the last several years we’ve managed to start putting out our own albums and we just have total control over everything in our career so we have a lot of time off. It’s great.
If I'd had my kids back in the major label days or the early 90s when we were really trying to get going and we were touring all the time, I probably would have had to quit the band.
We’re in control of everything and now I’m able to live in West Virginia and have a family and still be in the band. It’s great! I have no complaints whatsoever. To me, it’s just a book of rad decisions.
Touring usually means that you are in close quarters for long periods. What steps do you take to make sure that you all get along?
I think it's a lot easier to do the tour in a tour bus as opposed to touring in a van where we spent several... many years. You know, half our career sitting in a van driving from one side of the country to the other and then all the way through Canada and back.
I feel like touring on a bus makes the whole thing so much easier; at least for us anyway.
I suppose it feels like on a tour bus, you can at least get away from each other?
When you think about it, there really isn't a huge amount of space on a tour bus but there's considerably more space than in a van.
You guys have been together now for 27 years. What have been some of the biggest changes that you have seen within the industry? Do you think those changes have helped bands today or created issues?
Well obviously the biggest change is there not being as many labels to sell music to people, to sell the actual physical music. It's really more about getting out there and playing shows or selling merchandise and just doing it that way.
I jokingly call the book the Book of Rad Decisions because, you know I'm very happy with it. I don't really feel anything negative or bad or that there is re-living anything bad in the past there. I feel that it's all positive.
As to the bad decisions, well I live in West Virginia. Now that was a bad decision. Moving to West Virginia and not leaving! I don't really see Clutch as a bad decision in any way. I think it was really great.
I think maybe all my bad decisions have maybe involved liquor and... vomiting - vomiting too much so... I try to stay away from that. That's probably my worst decision. Drinking liquor.
You guys are about to head out on an extensive tour. What do you miss most when being on tour?
Probably my kids. I have four kids now so I can miss them quite a bit but within the last several years we’ve managed to start putting out our own albums and we just have total control over everything in our career so we have a lot of time off. It’s great.
If I'd had my kids back in the major label days or the early 90s when we were really trying to get going and we were touring all the time, I probably would have had to quit the band.
We’re in control of everything and now I’m able to live in West Virginia and have a family and still be in the band. It’s great! I have no complaints whatsoever. To me, it’s just a book of rad decisions.
Touring usually means that you are in close quarters for long periods. What steps do you take to make sure that you all get along?
I think it's a lot easier to do the tour in a tour bus as opposed to touring in a van where we spent several... many years. You know, half our career sitting in a van driving from one side of the country to the other and then all the way through Canada and back.
I feel like touring on a bus makes the whole thing so much easier; at least for us anyway.
I suppose it feels like on a tour bus, you can at least get away from each other?
When you think about it, there really isn't a huge amount of space on a tour bus but there's considerably more space than in a van.
You guys have been together now for 27 years. What have been some of the biggest changes that you have seen within the industry? Do you think those changes have helped bands today or created issues?
Well obviously the biggest change is there not being as many labels to sell music to people, to sell the actual physical music. It's really more about getting out there and playing shows or selling merchandise and just doing it that way.
For us though, we were super young in the early 90s and we got signed to major labels and there was always the promise of making tons of money off your music but back then, you really didn't make money off our music, off our CD sales and all of that.
So I think a lot of that was kind of a myth that had been created where in reality, it's just the labels that have been losing the money. It's honestly really up to an artist to be an artist and get out there and perform and just do your thing at whatever level it is.
You might not be playing arenas or even big clubs but you might be able to play at your local bar or something. Just get as much artistic reward doing that as trying to get a record deal like people always used to do.
If you guys had a choice in venues, would you rather play over several nights in smaller, more intimate venues or play the big arena shows and why?
It's always fun to play big shows but it's fun to play small shows too. If we were to play multiple nights at a smaller venue (which we've done a few times), we always play a totally different set each night so I think fan wise, that might be pretty rewarding for a fan to come to a small show and come to both nights and see two totally different shows so they are both equally as fun.
It's still super fun to play a festival in front of a huge amount of people that have never heard of you too but the smaller the venue, I always feel, the better it sounds on stage.
The crowd is also right there so that you don't have that disconnect either.
Yeah. We actually just did that a couple of months ago - a small show at a 500 capacity club in DC. It was pretty fun. It felt like an old show.
You would have seen a lot of things over the years. What are some of the good things you have seen that may have restored your faith in humanity?
Just the fact that we could go to a place like Croatia and have a great show. People come to our shows and have a good time. It seems like a lot of our fans are the same whether they live in Poland or Michigan or Australia. They are similar people - just working class guys getting through life with a family and a lot of them have turned their children on the band as well so stuff like that reaffirms my faith in humanity. When there's multiple generations as Clutch fans.
After this tour, what's next for Clutch? Will you guys be bringing the tour to Australia and, most importantly, will you be coming to Perth?
There are definitely plans to come to Australia. I hope we are coming to Perth. That would be the plan. If we come there, we are going to do as much as we possibly can and Perth would definitely be on that list for sure. I love that place. I feel that we've only played there once or twice right?
Yeah you have. I think the last tour, you only did the East Coast.
It's been a while since we've been there. We're definitely due to come back. We'll definitely come back on this album. You live about as far away as humanely possible.
Yeah we do. That's the issue.
It must be (laughs) because our last show was eight miles from my house and I'm pretty sure that the last time I went to Perth, it took me around 29 hours to get home.
What bands do you currently have on rotation in your CD player? And are there any bands that you just didn't get until you saw them live?
As far as new stuff goes, I think I've been listening to the new Sleep album the most. I think it's called The Sciences? The one that came out on Jack White's label. I've been listening to that one quite a bit and I usually just listen to whatever my kids just put on but as far as stuff that I actually like, I would say the newest Sleep album - something I really got into.
Oh, you know what? As for not getting a band until I saw them live? Quite honestly, Faith No More. It may have been the last time we went to Australia? We did the Soundwave Festival. Faith No More was on that and I became a fan of Faith No More after I saw them live in Australia. Before that, I really didn't care.
So I think a lot of that was kind of a myth that had been created where in reality, it's just the labels that have been losing the money. It's honestly really up to an artist to be an artist and get out there and perform and just do your thing at whatever level it is.
You might not be playing arenas or even big clubs but you might be able to play at your local bar or something. Just get as much artistic reward doing that as trying to get a record deal like people always used to do.
If you guys had a choice in venues, would you rather play over several nights in smaller, more intimate venues or play the big arena shows and why?
It's always fun to play big shows but it's fun to play small shows too. If we were to play multiple nights at a smaller venue (which we've done a few times), we always play a totally different set each night so I think fan wise, that might be pretty rewarding for a fan to come to a small show and come to both nights and see two totally different shows so they are both equally as fun.
It's still super fun to play a festival in front of a huge amount of people that have never heard of you too but the smaller the venue, I always feel, the better it sounds on stage.
The crowd is also right there so that you don't have that disconnect either.
Yeah. We actually just did that a couple of months ago - a small show at a 500 capacity club in DC. It was pretty fun. It felt like an old show.
You would have seen a lot of things over the years. What are some of the good things you have seen that may have restored your faith in humanity?
Just the fact that we could go to a place like Croatia and have a great show. People come to our shows and have a good time. It seems like a lot of our fans are the same whether they live in Poland or Michigan or Australia. They are similar people - just working class guys getting through life with a family and a lot of them have turned their children on the band as well so stuff like that reaffirms my faith in humanity. When there's multiple generations as Clutch fans.
After this tour, what's next for Clutch? Will you guys be bringing the tour to Australia and, most importantly, will you be coming to Perth?
There are definitely plans to come to Australia. I hope we are coming to Perth. That would be the plan. If we come there, we are going to do as much as we possibly can and Perth would definitely be on that list for sure. I love that place. I feel that we've only played there once or twice right?
Yeah you have. I think the last tour, you only did the East Coast.
It's been a while since we've been there. We're definitely due to come back. We'll definitely come back on this album. You live about as far away as humanely possible.
Yeah we do. That's the issue.
It must be (laughs) because our last show was eight miles from my house and I'm pretty sure that the last time I went to Perth, it took me around 29 hours to get home.
What bands do you currently have on rotation in your CD player? And are there any bands that you just didn't get until you saw them live?
As far as new stuff goes, I think I've been listening to the new Sleep album the most. I think it's called The Sciences? The one that came out on Jack White's label. I've been listening to that one quite a bit and I usually just listen to whatever my kids just put on but as far as stuff that I actually like, I would say the newest Sleep album - something I really got into.
Oh, you know what? As for not getting a band until I saw them live? Quite honestly, Faith No More. It may have been the last time we went to Australia? We did the Soundwave Festival. Faith No More was on that and I became a fan of Faith No More after I saw them live in Australia. Before that, I really didn't care.