El Jefe Speaks – Jean-Paul Gaster of Clutch

Posted on April 22, 2016 by News Team

Clutch has been riding high since last fall’s release of their album Psychic Warfare (Weathermaker). Being a band for over 25 years, the venerable act has seen trends come and go, but never wavered from their high energy rock music they love. They are also one of the few bands that has operated with the same lineup for most of their history, for which in this day and age, you need to give some props. We caught up with drummer Jean-Paul Gaster to discuss touring and performing, how Clutch makes a record among other topics. The band is heading out with Lamb of God and Corrosion Of Conformity soon:

Clutch are hitting the road soon with Corrosion Of Conformity, who are back with Pepper Keenan, and the band have already toured together extensively. What are you guys most looking forward to most about this run of dates?

They’ve been one of my favorite bands since I first started playing music, and this even goes back to the original 3 piece version of the band. When I watch Mike Dean and Woody and Reed play together, for me, it’s a little bit like looking back into history because those guys really formed that music that we call hard core, or sludge, or doom, or whatever you want to call that thing that those guys are doing. They really did it first and they did it better than anybody. When I watch those guys play, I think about that. I think about how long those guys have been playing together and the level of communication that goes on just in looking at one another or little gestures. That’s amazing, and then when Pepper joined the band, those guys wrote even more incredible songs. I’m very much looking forward to checking out their set every night.

Clutch, by Evil Robb Photography

Clutch has made a career of being a great live band. Musically they are almost another animal entirely how they bring it live from their albums. Jean-Paul explains:

That’s the point. My intention is to go up there and make music, make it be a real musical situation. We take chances on stage. We improvise. We try new things. The song itself is really just a vehicle for the playing. I try to make that performance a unique performance. What happens tonight is not what’s going to happen tomorrow night and what happened last night. For me, that’s a very special thing knowing that the folks in the audience are going to be treated as something completely unique. That’s what I would want, as a music fan, I love that. I don’t love going to see a band and knowing that the guy said the exact same thing last night and that the band is going to do that exact same thing just like they did last night. To me, that’s not rock and roll. That’s like a school play. That’s fine too. There’s great bands out there that do that really well, but that’s not interesting to me.

The 20th anniversary of the very first and much-loved Clutch album, Transnational Speedway (East West) was a few years back. Wouldn’t it be something special for the band and their fans if they represented that music on tour?

I think we’re probably just going to keep things business as usual. We’re going to get out there and we’re going to tour. A lot of bands get together, say, for their 25 anniversary tour and they go on tour. We’ve been going on tour for 25 years already.

If we did anything, maybe we’ll just take a year off. I don’t think we will.

Clutch, by Evil Robb Photography

Psychic Warfare came out last fall, seemingly on the heels of Earthrocker, which was amazing. Just a short time ago. Not only are are Clutch one of the most consistent bands around, they are stunningly consistent from album to album.

I think in some ways, there are some tunes on there that are related to what we did on Earthrocker. Let’s remember we recorded Earthrocker not that long ago. In some ways, the way we wrote the songs are similar. We learned a lot on the Earthrocker run. It was a good tour for us. We went to a lot of places. We played those songs in a lot of different venues.

Consequently, there’s a lot of energy we pull from those tunes. In some ways, the new songs are related. I do think this is a more diverse record. Earthrocker tended to be pretty consistently upbeat, and on this one, there’s a little bit more variables on there. We have some more dynamic happening. The tempos are a little different. There’s some blues-ier things on there, and some more funk based things on there as well. I enjoy playing that style. We’re very proud of the record. It’s going to be a fun tour.

Clutch Psychic warfare Front_Cover_Small

The band worked with their sometime collaborator/producer Machine on Psychic Warfare. From the artist perspective, having a producer that understands you, but can also give you a reality check is key. The artist perspective, it’s important to keep it. While respect for the man is industry wide, Machine’s personal style is said to be not for everybody. We asked JP why the band works so well with him?

I think the most important thing that Machine brings to the table is that he is able to look at the songs from the perspective of a fan. For us being around for 25 years, same guys with the same instruments, it can be tough sometimes to gain perspective. You feel like you’re swimming around in a fish bowl a little bit. You can’t see the forest through the trees. Machine is really good at doing that. He’s really good at listening to a song, looking at a song, and thinking about how a fan is going to hear that song. That perspective is invaluable for us.

KEITH CHACHKES

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Back For Another Round- Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman of COC

Posted on December 9, 2015 by newsteam

Corrosion of Conformity, by Evil Robb Photography

The news of returning vocalist and guitarist Pepper Keenan to Corrosion of Conformity made waves across the heavy music world over a year ago. Keenan spent his time playing guitar in Down, while guitarist Woodroe “Woody” Weatherman and bassist Mike Dean reunited with drummer Reed Mullin in 2010 (the Animosity lineup) to record 2012’s Corrosion of Conformity and 2014’s II, and the 2012 free EP Megalodon via Scion AV.

This version found themselves touring and reacquainting with longtime fans, which took them through Knotfest. Following this appearance, the band is feeling good and gave longtime Southern California fans their first look at this lineup since their hiatus in 2006.

“That was totally Slipknot who that hooked us up on this. It came straight from the fucking band,” said Keenan, talking about getting onto the festival.

“They wanted COC, and which was an awesome thing. I’ve known those guys and the fact that they asked us weirdo rednecks to do this…it’s great. That carries a lot of weight. We’ve had a lot of friends support this thing. It’s been awesome.”

Having Keenan on stage with them did bring back old memories from the Deliverance and Wiseblood eras, and helped stimulate the energy on stage. Longtime fans were reunited with songs from that time period that were not played for some time.

“I think people are stoked to hear those songs they need to hear. I fucking love playing them. All of those classic tunes, from the Blind album and Deliverance all the way up,” said Weatherman.

“We’re in a weird situation because we haven’t played together in so long. What band gets that opportunity to get back out there and get so much help from fans and other bands hooking us up. So it’s really fucking cool. The songs still work. They work fucking great.”

“We’re on tour with Clutch right now. We’re using this time to get our heads together and [figure out] where do we go from here,” added Keenan.

COC-3

Were there any songs from that era that they rediscovered from that era that they hadn’t performed as much? “I’ve got all the demos. There’s a song off from the Deliverance era that’s pretty strong. We probably won’t do them but the energy is there. It’s a good thing. You have to progress a little bit. I don’t go backwards,” said Keenan.

“We don’t go backwards but we still have riffs around. Shit we’ve had for a long time like ‘fuck! Why didn’t we use that? I don’t know…’,” added Weatherman.

Photo Credit: Evil Robb Photography

Keenan said the four members were in touch during the time apart, even though each were doing their own respective things. “Yeah. It was a long time coming. We kept it on a lo-key thing and waited until the moment was right. We went to Europe this summer, not knowing what to expect. We went back a few times.”

So did the time apart make their bond stronger? “I think the one locking element was the songs. Playing the songs, done them, and do them again the next day. It’s all good. We’re having a good time.”

Corrosion of Conformity, by Melina D Photography

Since his time in Down, Keenan had not sang a note with a band in some time. Getting reacquainted with that role, he talked about how he worked himself back into that position.

“I hadn’t sang in 15 years. Literally. I had to fall back into it. Remember the words and write them down and then go from there.”

“Double up the Coors Light!,” joked Weatherman, with a huge laugh.

Corrosion of Conformity, by Melina D Photography

Plus with Dean handling vocals for the trio version of COC, would they somehow work the two members in to both doing vocals on future material?

“It’s possible,” said Keenan.

“When we did it in the past, it was on Deliverance – the title track on that. We all join in. We fill in where we can,” added Weatherman.

Photo Credit: Evil Robb Photography

Even Mullin, where he shared his vocal skills on the Teenage Time Killers album, may make an appearance behind the mic. “He sings every night a little bit,” said Weatherman.

Speaking of Mullin, the appearance also marked his return, and had not performed with this incarnation since 2001. Having him back in the fold also added a spark that fans often missed throughout that era. Weatherman shared his thoughts on him.

“Yeah this is really…Pepper’s talking 15 years – that’s how long it’s been since all four of us – this four piece has been since ’01 or 2000-whatever it was because Reed split for a while. So it’s nice. It’s the real deal and we’re back up.”

Corrosion of Conformity, by Melina D Photography

Weatherman talked about how doing the trio brought out the punk rock side of COC, and finding a side of their sound that was overshadowed by their melodic riff driven sounds of the recent years.

“We knew all along that sooner or later we’d be back with [Pepper] Keenan doing his shit. So we’re doing a little punk rock here and there and playing some old shit,” he said.

“I’ll be honest…I want to combine some of those elements now because we’re there, where playing wise we’re going into manic crazy shit or whatever. I like the energy of whatever they did and the last album, In The Arms of God was a pretty strong record. That’s a catalyst for us,” added Keenan, praising the energy created by the trio during his time away, and possibly hinting where the new material could head towards.

Corrosion of Conformity, by Evil Robb Photography

As for a new record, the band has signed a new recording deal with Nuclear Blast and talks about a new album began to surface. Keenan gave their status on this and how far along they were on when such a thing would see the light of day.

“The main thing is gelling and playing together. It’s a different situation and now the riffs will start to come out. We’ll start to get organized. It’s a tall order there. It ain’t gonna be no half assed bullshit.”

By Rei Nishimoto

Aaron Beam of Red Fang Talks New Album

Posted on November 30, 2015 by newsteam

Portland riff rockers Red Fang have been powering through on the road and continuing to push their latest album Whales and Leeches. Their latest venture took them through Knotfest in Devore, CA where they were greeted with a swarm of fans for their early set time.

Being that it is a bit over two years since the release of their current album, they have stretched the lifespan of the release beyond where they had thought it could possible reach.

“It was October of 2013 when it came out so it’s about two years. This is the last tour we’re doing on it. We’re trying to play some smaller cities and cities we haven’t played in a long time. We wanted to get out with some of our favorite bands Whores and Wild Throne and take those guys out. We’ve been writing some new songs and we wanted to try some of those songs out on the tour. We didn’t play them today (Knotfest) because it was a shorter set, but on the rest of the tour we’re doing three to four new songs,” said bassist Aaron Beam, talking about where they stand today.

He talked playing Knotfest and how different it is playing an American festival versus the numbers of European festivals Red Fang had participated on over the years.

“Most of the people at Knotfest speak English! They speak English at most of the festivals in Europe too. I feel more comfortable speaking to the audience here and feeling like they understand me. Besides that, generally festivals are festivals and they’re pretty similar,” he said.

Photo Credit: Kaley Nelson

During their 2011 release Murder The Mountains, Red Fang took part on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival tour across North America and played in front of crowds largely geared towards the younger, modern metalcore oriented audiences. Now fast forward to 2015, Beam talked about how playing Knotfest differs from back then.

“I think the lineup today was a bit more varied than Mayhem was the year that we did it. I know Mayhem changes up but the year we did it there was lots and lots of metalcore and more thrash bands. We were the only band that was a rock band. Today was good. It seemed like people were more locked in.”

He also talked about public awareness growing over the years and fans becoming much more saavy with the Fang helped sway them in their favor.

“That’s it too. More people know about us now. Almost any time you go to see a band cold and you’ve never heard of them before, you’re not going to be thrashing around. You’re going to be paying attention and listening, especially when it’s something so different from everything else during the day.”

Recently, Red Fang has released a new seven inch single on Volcom Recordings with two covers – an Elvis Presley and the theme song for the popular 1980s television series Fraggle Rock, reinterpreted by the band.

“There’s two covers on the Volcom seven inch. There’s the Elvis cover which is only the lyrics are the same. The song is an old couple of riffs that we’ve never figured out how to turn it into a song before. Then there’s also a cover of a song from that TV show Fraggle Rock, which is similarly lyrics and an old song that I wrote from before Red Fang even existed that we modified and turned it into a track that worked with that vocal melody,” he explained.

Beam himself took part on the Teenage Time Killers’ record Teenage Time Killers: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 on a song titled “Your Empty Soul,” which he also involved Corrosion of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin. He talked about how he got involved in this project.

“It was actually through this guy Sean Cox, who’s a tech for the Foo Fighters. Several of the Foo Fighters crew live up in Portland. So Sean was helping us out with some guitar problems and we were just hanging out and he asked me if I would mind if he put me in touch with Lou, who engineered the thing. I was like ‘yeah…’ “

“Reed was originally thinking of having Pepper [Keenan] sing on that track but something happened and Pepper couldn’t do it. So it was like ‘you know what would be cool is if we got that guy Aaron from Red Fang.’ I think it was like Reed mentioned it and then Lou talked to Sean, and then Sean talked to me and that’s how it came together.”

While he enjoyed working on the song, he missed his one chance at performing it live at a recent one time show in Los Angeles.

“No I’ve never played it. That was my chance I guess with the concert that they did (Teenage Time Killers at Henry Fonda Theater) in LA but there was no way for me to make it down. Juggling kids and being on tour was real hard. That was a weekend I wasn’t available. Hopefully they’ll do another one and I can do it. I love the idea and I want to actually perform the song once.”

John Sherman of Red Fang. Photo Credit: Kaley Nelson

While Beam and the Red Fang guys experienced a lot during this album cycle, he shared some of the highlights he experienced throughout the past few years.

“This last tour with Whores and Wild Throne was big. That was one of the funnest US tours we’ve done. I also loved that tour we’d done with Big Business and American Sharks earlier, and we did a tour right in the beginning with Helms Alee, Wild Throne and a band before them called Gaytheist. Those were all super fun US tours.”

“The highlight of show for me was…and we’ve played a lot of really good shows. But the one that really was the most memorable from this album was Hellfest in France. It was the third time we’ve played it and we’ve got a pretty decent main stage slot. I would say conservatively there were 25,000 people watching us play, and they were not just standing there. It was packed and people were rocking out all the way to the back of the crowd. It was amazing. It was so fun.”

“Lots of times there’s something about the energy of an intimate club you can’t capture on a big huge festival stage like that. But with that many people it was awesome. Maybe we’ll never get to do that again but that’s really memorable.”

Red Fang with Paul Shaffer on Late Show With David Letterman.

They met a lot of high profile names along the way, and many were not necessarily from the heavy music world. One person they met was David Letterman, where they had a rare opportunity to perform on his television show – Late Night With David Letterman – before he retired earlier in the year.

“That was on this album cycle! It seems like so long ago,” said Beam, suddenly remembering this moment. “That was an amazing experience. It was one of those things where I didn’t feel nervous until they started taping the episode. Once they tape it there’s no stopping. It feels like when you’re climbing to the top of a huge waterslide or you’re about to skydive. You know you’re committed. There’s nothing you can do – you have to do it. You’re terrified when you do it and as soon as you do it, you want to do it again. It was exactly like that. It was awesome.”

They also got to work with actor and musician Fred Armisen, who appeared in their music video for ‘Blood Like Cream.’ “He played in a band called Trenchmouth in the 90s that my kids’ mom they used to play shows together, like way back when. She knows him from the music world before he was on TV at all. Pretty interesting.”

Fred Armisen with Red Fang on the “Blood Like Cream” Music Video.

Lastly, Beam talked about a new Red Fang also in the work, following the conclusion of their touring cycle.

“Yeah for sure. We’ve already got three songs that are totally done, and we’ve got pieces of…I don’t know…30 more songs worth of material. We’ve got to start as soon as we get back from this tour we’re gonna lock in and start bashing out the songs and turning them into finishing them. We have studio time tentatively booked for end of February or beginning of March.”

“We’re really buckling down now. These tour things come up and A) you’ve got to make money and B) we wanted to try out these songs on the road as well and dial them in a little bit better and see how they’re working. That really helped a lot.”

He gave a preview of the new material that is in the process of becoming the new Red Fang album. “You’ll probably be able to find some YouTube videos of some of the new songs. We’ve played them on this whole tour. One of them is called ‘The Shadows’ and it’s actually on this seven inch we’ve already put out. We’ll do an updated version of it.”

“There’s a new song that I’m super excited about that we’re playing on this last tour that’s kind of a slower, a little dirtier songs but it has this more Russian Circles kind of thing that happens half way through it. It’s got some surprises.”

“We’re still experimenting and branching out and trying new things always. It’s clearly going to be a Red Fang record but with some stuff you haven’t heard before.”

By Rei Nishimoto

Ghost Cult Magazine

Music News, Interviews, and Reviews that matter.

Tag Archives: Pepper Keenan

El Jefe Speaks – Jean-Paul Gaster of Clutch

Back For Another Round- Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman of COC

Aaron Beam of Red Fang Talks New Album