Maryland rockers CLUTCH are once again gearing up for another edition of their “Live From The Doom Saloon” streaming concert series. On December 18, the band will play a 15-song set of its classics as voted by the fans.
“The ‘Doom Saloon Volume 2’ set was written by a fan,” states CLUTCH frontman Neil Fallon. “We had over 4000 setlist submissions. We were able to see what songs were the most requested, and for ‘Doom Saloon Volume 3’, we will play the 15 most requested songs from ‘Doom Saloon Volume 2’‘s setlist requests. It could be thought of as a greatest-hits set as per the fans.”
Anyone who misses “Live From The Doom Saloon – Volume III” concert will be able to stream it on demand through the weekend, right up until midnight EST on December 20. Show donations will benefit Save Our Stages, a charitable organization that raises money for over 3,000 independent venues in 50 states and Washington D.C. that are banding together to ask Washington for targeted legislation to help live music survive. Music venues were the first to close and will be the last to open due to COVID-19.
Tickets are on sale now at ClutchMerch.com.
This past September, CLUTCH drummer Jean-Paul Gaster confirmed to the “Cobras & Fire” podcast that he and his bandmates have slowly commenced the songwriting process for the follow-up to 2018’s “Book Of Bad Decisions” album.
“On paper, you would think that this would be a creative time for artists, and maybe there are artists out there who are doing some of their best work ever right now, writing their best songs,” he said. “I can tell you, for us, we’ve concentrated mostly on trying to figure out how to stream shows and figure out that technology. And while we have started to write, we are not living in very inspiring times. So it’s difficult to get those wheels turning. Not only that, but also knowing that once we have this recording done, it’s difficult to say when we’re gonna be able to get out there and play these songs.”
He continued: “We’ve always been a band that writes songs and immediately puts these songs into the set. That gives us the opportunity to play these things, and the songs take shape. We really rely on that live environment to bring those songs to life, because oftentimes what sounds great in the jam room does not translate to the live setting. And you can tell that within the first 10 seconds of playing that song; you know right away if something works or not. And so I think we’re missing that element. That’s not to say that we will not record. But I think for us the challenge is gonna be how do we try to emulate that with this new dynamic. And we’re gonna figure that out, no doubt.”
Asked if Vance Powell, who produced “Book Of Bad Decisions”, will be back to helm the next effort, Gaster said: “[It’s] too early to say. We very much enjoyed our time with Vance Powell. I think Vance Powell is probably one of the most talented engineers we’ve ever worked with. I was continually blown away by the tones that he was able to pull out of the band. And for that reason, that record in particular is one of my favorites. But it’s hard to say. We have to really get a collection of songs, we have to sort of get a vibe going of where this material might head before we start making decisions about who [will produce the album] and where we’re gonna record.”
“Book Of Bad Decisions” was recorded at Sputnik Sound studio in Nashville, Tennessee. The record sold 26,000 copies in America during its first week of availability, giving the group its third consecutive Top 20 album on the Billboard 200.
