CLUTCH & Rock And Roll Mama #live show shots #tour news

Clutch opening for Motorhead at Congress Theater in Chicago


Here at ChiIL Mama, we know parents rock, and there's life after birth.   In fact, we have a whole Pinterest Board devoted to our long term video project on How Creatives Parent and How Parents Create.   You can click the link and check it out.   Here's the basic premise:   


Interviews-How Creatives Parent
How Do Creatives Parent and How Do Parents Create? These are ChiIL Mama.com's original video interviews with a wide assortment of professionals in the music and theatre industry who are also parents. We've asked parents in metal bands, punk & funk bands, kindie rock, theatre production, directors, actors and more just how becoming parents has influenced their creative work and vice versa. Here are their words on how both worlds collide and how to strike a balance.


**You might also want to check out fellow blogger, Lindsay Maines, who writes Rock And Roll Mama.   She's married to the bass player for Clutch!




Maryland metal heads, Clutch, have been one of our favorite bands for decades.  We always make a point to catch their Chicago shows.   This tour they're skipping Chi-town, so we're actually road tripping down to Indy this Friday and have a video interview set up with frontman, Neil Fallon.  

Blast from the Past:  Click here for our original Clutch show shots from Congress Theatre, Chicago when they opened for Black Label Society with Children of Bodom.     

They're playing a bit closer to home at Mojoe's in Joliet on 11/2, but that's months away and we wanted to catch 'em with Prong (*click here for our original video interview with Tommy Victor and Alexei from Prong and live show shots from their recent show at Cobra Lounge, Chicago).

Maryland rockers CLUTCH are kicking off their summer tour 7/11 in Fayetteville, AR at George's Majestic Lounge.  Support will be provided by Prong and Lionize.  The tour also features festival appearances at the "Forecastle Festival" in Louisville, KY and the "Artscape Festival" in Baltimore, MD. The run is scheduled to wrap up July 22nd in Richmond, VA at The National.

CLUTCH will also be playing select dates in August with Lionize as well as performing at WWBN's "Dirt Fest" this August.  These shows are scheduled for August 9th - August 12th.  Opening these dates will be the band Monster Truck from Toronto, ON.

The band has rescheduled the two shows that were postponed this May.  These dates are now scheduled for November 1st through 3rd.   Lionize will be providing direct support and MonstrO will open these dates.  Please note that the Flint, MI and Detroit, MI shows are already sold out, tickets for the Joliet, IL show are still available.

Recently CLUTCH released a limited edition picture disc single of the track "Pigtown Blues" via Weathermaker Music.  The single is also available digitally.  The A-Side is "Pigtown Blues" and the B-Side is an acoustic version of the track "Motherless Child".  The disc can be found at your favorite record store as well as online at www.clutchmerch.com.  This is the first new studio material from CLUTCH since 2009's Strange Cousins From the West, and the first simultaneous worldwide release for Weathermaker Music.

Want to be the first to know about everything CLUTCH related?  Be it tour dates, breaking news and exclusives, make sure to sign up for the CLUTCH Mobile Mailing List by texting CLUTCH to 94253.

Neil Fallon, Clutch at Congress Theater-Chicago opening for Motorhead with Valiant Thor 2011

WITH PRONG AND LIONIZE

7/11: Fayetteville, AR @ George's Majestic Lounge - Tickets 

7/12: Lawrence, KS @ Granda Theater - Tickets 

*7/13: Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue - Tickets 

7/14: Vienna, WV @ Fishbone Gill & Grill - Tickets 

7/15: Louisville, KY @ Waterfront Park (Forecastle Festival)* - Tickets 

7/17: New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues - Tickets

7/18: Pensacola, FL @ Vinyl Music Hall - Tickets

7/19: Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club - Tickets 

7/20: Charlotte, NC @ Amos' Southend - Tickets

7/21: Baltimore, MD @ Artscape Festival* - Free Festival 

7/22: Richmond, VA @ The National - Tickets

WITH LIONIZE AND MONSTER TRUCK

8/9: Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance - Tickets 

8/10: Buffalo, NY @ The Town Ballroom - Tickets 

8/11: Birch Run, MI @ Birch Run Expo Center (WWBN Dirt Fest)* - Tickets

8/12: Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues - Tickets

WITH LIONIZE AND MONSTRO (*click here for our original MonstrO live show shots from Ultra Lounge, Chicago).

11/1: Flint, MI @ The Machine Shop (Sold Out - Rescheduled from 5/13)

*11/2: Joliet, IL @ Mojoes - Tickets

11/3: Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall (Sold Out - Rescheduled from 5/12)

*CLUTCH only

For More Info Check out Clutch's main site here or their own label site Weathermaker Music Here.

Want more ChiIL Live Shows/ChiIL Mama Past Clutch Coverage?

Pigtown Blues

Neil Fallon-Sweden?

Clutch Coming to Chi-town with Motorhead & Valiant Thor

Ragnarok Indeed

Prong Video Interview With ChiIL Live Shows & Live Show Shots From Cobra Lounge, Chicago #Album Review

ChiIL Live Shows caught up with front man, Tommy Victor and drummer, Alexei Rodriguez, before their 4/20 set at Cobra Lounge, Chicago, for an exclusive video interview.   We talked about everything from their new album, to that crazy chaos that's parenting and touring as a musician.   Tommy and Alexei both have daughters on either end of the age spectrum-about to graduate from high school and 20 months old.   They had some insights for our continuing series on How Creatives Parent and How Parents Create.   Check it out here.

 

Prong is back with a vengeance.  Their 8th studio album, Carved Into Stone is just released and their recent 4/20 Chi-Town show at Cobra Lounge sold out!  Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we've been giving Carved Into Stone a listen repeatedly, and can't get enough.   Hopefully Tommy's serious when he says they're writing new material and want to put out back to back albums, and ride the momentum of this sonic boom, Carved in Stone, instead of slipping back into oblivion, and releasing another album in 5 years. 

This album, the first all new material in 5 years, indeed, is an amalgam of the best of Prong's past and fresh new fury.    These 11 tracks of rage will bring joy to metal fans world wide.  There's not a weak link in the bunch, but Revenge_Served Cold will warm hearts.  This album comes out swinging with Eternal Heat, and doesn't ease up.   Ammunition, State of Rebellion, and List of Grievances (likely our favorite) provide plenty of rebellion ragers.   We also really dig Keep on Living in Pain and Eternal Heat.  Even the slower title track, Path of Least Resistance and Reinvestigate which close out the album, are strong and full of sweet riffs.  Carved into Stone is a metal must have.

On 4/20, we caught a little of En Masse and Witchburn's whole set and were super impressed with Witchburn in particular.   We'll have live show shots from both bands up in the very near future.  We'd seen some past Witchburn clips online that were interesting enough, but they just don't do their live show justice.   Check 'em out when you can!

During Prong, the pit was so frenetic and outta control they had to send in the bouncers and toss a few bodies out of the club.   I got smashed into the side of the stage a half dozen times and eventually had to duck behind the merch table fast.  I spent a few days limping, but my camera gear all survived.   Despite the near brawl, it was a welcome reunion and the band sounded great!   They've still got that legendary power to stir things up. 

*Tony Campos is presently touring with Soulfly.   Phil Zeller (Toxic Holocaust) is on bass

Tommy Victor began as a sound guy for CBGBs, and formed the first incarnation of the band with bassist Mike Kirkland who was CBGB’s doorman.   In the past 20+ years, Prong has been through many incarnations and weathered the death of their bass player, ex-Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven, at age 46.   They've been on tour with many of the big boys like Sepultura, Pantera, Soulfly and Fear Factory, among others.   Tommy took a hiatus from Prong around 2000 and played with Danzig and Ministry.   He'll be back out again in May with Danzig Legacy.   Check Prong's site for dates/cities.

They were signed by Epic in 89 and unceremoniously dropped in 96 after the album Rude Awakening turned eerily prophetic, and proved a rude awakening for the band, indeed, when it didn't sell as well as anticipated.   In our interview, Tommy conceded that for a while after that he wanted nothing to do with Prong, but eventually ran out of money and decided to give it another go.

We hate to sound all schadenfreude (happy about the misfortunes of others), but the metal world was not finished with Prong, and we welcome you back with bursting ear drums and head banging mosh pits.    Your cash flow problems = our gain.   And failure, struggle and loss make for great material.

With fresh material in mind, Prong tapped producer, Steve Evetts (Dillinger Escape Plan, Suicide Silence), who worked them relentlessly to make Carved Into Stone as good as it gets.   Tommy and Alexei spoke humorously, heatedly, and at length about the whole brutal recording process.  As so often happens, we had our best conversations off camera, once the lens wasn't pointed at the band.   Suffice it to say, all the hard work paid off and they're pleased with the final result.

Evetts was a great fit for polishing up Carved Into Stone, so all the raw power, energy and emotion come through, combined with technical prowess.    They may have hated the tedious retakes, but with high production values and a perfectionist streak, plus a healthy ear toward not overproducing, Evetts earned his excellent reputation and did right by the band.

 

Here's Prong's take on Carved Into Stone off their home site:

What becomes an iconoclast the most? Carved Into Stone sums up what

Prong stands for. This is an album slaked in hostility, personal

detachment and seething with the urban paranoia that's long been the

mark of this sonic triad. It's eleven tracks that don't merely settle

into the New York City-born band's cannon of material that has yielded

post-metal classics including Beg To Differ and Cleansing. It exceeds

it.

"I hate nostalgia," says mainstay, vocalist and guitarist Tommy Victor

whose musical and personal outlook belies his current Los Angeles

environs. "But this record literally has every strand of Prong's DNA

spliced together in a way that feels more exciting than it has in some

time."

Produced and mixed by Steve Evetts (Dillinger Escape Plan, Suicide

Silence), Carved Into Stone picks up where Prong's classic albums left

off. Opener "Eternal Heat" sets things off at a blistering pace fueled

by drummer Alexei Rodriguez and bassist Tony Campos' formidable rhythm

section. Meanwhile, the likes of "Revenge…Best Served Cold" is absolute,

classic Prong: a huge riff slaked with bitter sentiments.

Tommy Victor admits that Carved Into Stone is the first time Prong has

taken direction from a producer in the studio. "It's also the hardest

I've ever worked on a record," he says of working with Evetts. "I'm

happier with the way it came out more than almost anything I've ever

done but there were points during it I wanted to kill myself and

everyone around me."

Prong emerged from the New York City underground of the late 80's,

quickly setting themselves apart from the conformist culture of the

city's hardcore and metal scenes. They were recognized internationally

for their first two independent releases: Primitive Origins and Force

Fed. When Prong's dalliance with the outer limits of the mainstream

acceptance came via Epic Records, it proved more successful than the

underground-bred trio ever expected. The band's "Snap Your Fingers Snap

Your Neck" from Cleansing became Prong's calling card.

"It felt like the world had finally caught up with us," says Tommy.

Prong's influence was being felt in the scene around them. Bands from

the likes of Pantera to White Zombie to Korn were taking notice of

Prong's purposeful, creative riffing and making that the template for

platinum selling success. "I wasn't jealous," Tommy recalls. "But I

could take a royalty check or two."

At the beginning of the 2000's, Tommy put Prong aside for a time to

play with Danzig and Ministry. It was a much-needed time for Victor to

refocus his energies. When Prong finally twisted itself back into form,

they toured exhaustively both headlining and supporting the likes of

Soulfly and Fear Factory. Slowly but surely, the songs and ideas that

would become Carved Into Stone began to take form. "The songs I was

writing felt more like Prong than anything I had written since Raven was

in the band," says Tommy, recalling the era when the recently deceased

ex-Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven was one of his co-conspirators.

Prong's Long Branch Records/SPV debut Carved Into Stone isn't merely

another chapter in the band's many-storied career or the much clichéd

"return to form". It's the sound of Tommy Victor and Company stating

exactly who Prong is. Like it or not, they aren't about to go away any

time soon.  

 

Like Tommy said in our interview, they're busy gorging on Beg To Differ on those long stretches in the van, so they'll be ready to bust it out in May for their European Tour.  

Check out Prong's main site here.  

Play Locally-April Highlights: Theatre Openings, Music and Giveaways

It's an eventful, event filled April in Chi-Town. 

Scroll All The Way Down For A Month Full of Adult & Family Friendly Highlights Below Including 21+ punk & metal shows, Ticket Give Aways, original video interviews, live kids' show footage, Beat Kitchen Concerts for Kids, Bloodiest vinyl release, C2E2, CIMMfest 2012, Human Nature The Motown Show, 20 FREE copies of Just Kids book by Patti Smith, Prong, recommended bands at Cobra Lounge & Empty Bottle, Reggies, Schubas, & Sub-T, Theatre openings, CD releases, and more:

FAMILY FUN: 


Sunday 4/15   Beat Kitchen's Concerts for Kids features The Boogers (Ramones style punk for the punk kin) at noon.   ChiIL Mama's stoked to sponsor the series aimed at birth through 10 year olds with parents.   Infants are free.   Everyone else is just $6!   Win 4 free tickets right here, to see The Boogers.   We pick new winners weekly and have 4 free tickets to all kids' shows at Beat Kitchen and many other venues throughout Chicago.   Then check out ChiIL Mama's YouTube Channel for loads of live Boogers show footage and our exclusive video interview with the band.

*Wait for Rafflecopter to load up right here (if you've gone through RSS feed or are scrolling down the blog and don't see it, click on the actual page title and it should pop right up).   Entries are easy.   Winning rocks!