In a recent conversation with Bloodstock TV's Oran O'Beirne, Clutch's lead vocalist Neil Fallon revealed that the band has just wrapped up their first demo session with producer Tom Dalgety for what will be the follow-up to their 2022 release, Sunrise On Slaughter Beach.
Fallon stated: "We're gonna try to maybe do another session in January and then another one right before we record. Hopefully, we'll have 15 tracks and then we'll pick maybe the 10 best, release those, and maybe save some for a rainy day."
Praising Dalgety, Fallon highlighted the importance of a good working relationship, mentioning, "Tom's great. I think sometimes working with a producer, personality is half the battle because they can have all the skills in the world but if they're an asshole, you don't wanna work with them. Tom is anything but that."
Still, we will have to be patient, as Fallon indicated that the band's next album is likely to drop in the third quarter of 2025. He explained: "It would be probably the third quarter. Nowadays, you've gotta have such a buffer. It's getting better with vinyl, but we have to plan that way in advance."
When asked if the band might test out some of their new tracks live before the album's release, Fallon expressed interest: "Yeah. we try to. That doesn't always happen. Playing a song live in front of people is a much different animal than doing it in a studio where you can stop and say, 'I have to go to the bathroom.' There's an urgency that will change a song. Sometimes something sounds great and then you put it on stage and it may be not so much, or vice versa. So we like to do that."
In a recent interview with Neil Jones of TotalRock, Fallon discussed their songwriting sessions and delved into how he crafts the themes for his lyrics. He remarked: "I wish I knew there was a very succinct system for doing this. But I'll come up with lyrical ideas. I'll jot 'em down in a notebook or a voice memo on my phone and I'll come up with an idea for lyrics. And sometimes they seem to write themselves.
"Other times I'll say, 'Well, they don't really sound that good. Let's try it on this song.' And eventually, it's like… I don't know. You whittle away at stuff until you find its final form. I find that songs that have stood the test of time are the ones that were the quickest to write. The ones that take months, but usually those don't last very long as far as live rotation on stage."
