"Album Of The Week"-The Company Band-"Self-Titled" (2009)

The "Album Of The Week" this week is the first full-length self-titled album from The Company Band.



Reviews:

"The Company Band is an aptly-named little project. Featuring Neil Fallon of Clutch on vocals, Rev. James Rota of Fireball Ministry and Dave Bone on guitar, Jess Margera of CKY on drums, and Fu Manchu bassist Brad Davis, the band is an all-star collaboration of hard rock and stoner metal’s blue collar best. Supergroup you say? No way in hell. This is just five drinkin’ buddies playing ball-busting hard rock the way they know best. With equal inspiration from the source bands (except for CKY), this self-titled effort is ten songs of stoner-boogie, blues-based hard rock, and should easily please fans of the band members, and in much more than typical side project fashion. It more than delivers on the promise of their debut EP, Sign Here, Here and Here, and is a helluva fun way to start rounding out 2009.

“Zombie Barricades” lets the listener know from the first second that they’re in for a serious bounty of rock. There is no secret to what these boys are doing here. It’s verse-chorus-verse rawk-n-roll with shitloads of meaty-yet-simple riffs, driving (and occasionally deft) drumming, and Fallon’s signature vocal delivery. Speaking of Fallon, he is the undisputed star of this show, even more so than he normally is in Clutch, due in large part to the devilishly infectious choruses strewn throughout The Company Band. Each is punctuated by his undisputed charisma and goofball-genius lyrics (of which “Hot Topic Woman” is particularly hilarious). From the Fu groove of “It’s A Confusing World” and Clutch quirk riffs of “Djinn and Pentatonic” to the softer, very bluesy “All’s Well in Milton Keynes,” the album actually has a fair amount of variety. The latter is even enhanced by a touch of Allmanesque slide guitar and some moody drumwork from Margera. Immediately following is the much heavier (and, again, ludicrously catchy) “Who Else But Us?” The production is on the warmer side of amp sounds, and nicely reveals the nuances of each (slight) style variation.

Pointing out highlights on such a complete album is essentially pointless, as each fan will have their own favorites. So in the interest of just talking about a couple more great songs, I’ll offer my own. First, “CD&W” is a shuffle-crazy blast with the most sing-along chorus of them all (really conjures some Blast Tyrant), and even a touch of space rock during the bridge. In a just world, this would have limitless rotation on rock radio (alas, it is not a just world). Second, “Lethe Waters” is the emotional highlight of the album, again showing off the power of Fallon, and ending the album with a slightly darker, yet equally drinkable, mood.

This album just demands the inclusion of brews and buddies. Call it “tailgate metal” if you want, best mixed with equal parts bratwurst and pale ale. The Company Band are certainly doing their best to help us forget how shitty the weather outside is getting. In a year already featuring great albums by Clutch, Fu Manchu, and Bible of the Devil, The Company Band is yet another quality slab of metal and rock’s have-a-blast side. So kick back, grab a cold one, and allow yourself about 40 minutes to forget about the world’s problems, you’ve worked hard to deserve it." (Zach Duvall, MetalReview.com)

"After issuing their IPO in the form of the recently-vinylized Sign Here, Here and Here EP (on CD through the band’s own Venture Capital Records in 2008), the five-piece supergroup The Company Band return with a change in lineup and general approach on their self-titled debut full-length. The Company Band, produced by Andrew Alekel (Foo Fighters) with additional tracking by J. Robbins (Clutch), is ten tracks of straightforward pop songwriting that is tight and given an edge because of the players involved...(Read more)

Track Listing:

01. Zombie Barricades
02. It's a Confusing World
03. Djinn and Pentatonic
04. Inline Six
05. Hot Topic Woman
06. All's Well in Milton Keynes
07. Who Else But Us?
08. CD&W
09. Love Means Never Having to Say You're Ugly
10. Lethe Waters



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CLUTCH Frontman Talks New Album; Video Available

"Talking Metal" recently conducted an interview with CLUTCH frontman Neil Fallon. Watch the four-minute chat below.

CLUTCH entered Magpie Cage studio in Baltimore, Maryland last month with producer J. Robbins (JAWBREAKER) to begin recording the band's new album for a tentative June 30 release via the group's own label, Weathermaker Music. Bassist Dan Maines recently told The Obelisk, "This [current CLUTCH] tour goes on until the first of March, and we are planning on going into the studio basically a week after that to record the [new] CLUTCH [CD]," he said. "We have about eight songs, or eight song ideas that we're gonna flesh out through this tour and write a couple of new ones on top of that. We're trying to do somewhere around two to three new songs a night and we'll switch them up and just kind of smooth out the rough edges."

CLUTCH released its first-ever live DVD, "Full Fathom Five: Video Field Recordings", on August 12 via the group's newly launched Weathermaker Music label. The band also released a live companion CD, "Full Fathom Five: Audio Field Recordings", on the same day. All tracks on the DVD and CD were recorded and filmed in late 2007 and early 2008 in New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Denver and Australia.

CLUTCH Frontman Talks About Songwriting Process For Next Album

Greg Prato of UGO.com recently conducted an interview with vocalist Neil Fallon of Maryland-based rockers CLUTCH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

UGO.com: After many years, CLUTCH has finally issued a live DVD. How did it come about?

Neil Fallon: We've been talking about making a DVD for ages. We don't like video cameras — if we get right down to it — so it was an uphill battle to get it together. We met Agent Ogden, who works closely with Les Claypool, and we hit it off. He came out and got a crew together for a couple of shows, and just compiled a "best of" performances. We recorded the live CD simultaneously with the DVD — it's just sort of an ‘audio version' of it, if you will.

UGO.com: How did you decide which tracks would be on the DVD, and which would be on the CD?

Neil Fallon: We didn't want to have an exact reproduction. With us, sometimes there were good performances audio-wise, that maybe there was a "hiccup" video-wise — so it couldn't fit both categories. So that was one of the reasons. I think we didn't put "Big News I & II" on because we had that on a live CD in the past [actually several live CLUTCH releases have featured this track — 2002's "Live at the Googolplex", 2004's "Live in Flint", and 2008's "Heard It All Before: Live at the Hi Fi Bar"].

UGO.com: What is CLUTCH currently up to? Is there a new studio album on the horizon?

Neil Fallon: We're knee deep in writing the next BAKERTON GROUP record, which is a side project that we do. We're going to go out on tour in about two weeks, and then starting in October, we're going to record that here in Baltimore with J. Robbins [producer and former JAWBOX singer/guitarist]. Jean-Paul, Dan, and Tim are all very proficient musicians — I'm not nearly as good as a player as those guys. I'm doing my damndest to become one, but I have to play a lot of make up. So they have a lot of ideas that wouldn't maybe necessarily fit under the umbrella of what CLUTCH does — not that we ever really defined what that is. Put it this way — for every one riff that makes a CLUTCH record, there's 20 that ends up in the trashcan. So this was just a way to recycle some of those ideas, and approach them in maybe a more "liquid" way, and not put it so much in the "verse, verse, bridge, chorus, verse, chorus" formula or what have you. We have yet to come up with [an album title]. And then as soon as we're done with that, we're going to roll our sleeves up with writing the next CLUTCH record.

Read the entire interview from UGO.com.

The Company Band "Sign Here, Here and Here" EP Released

The Company Band is a new band featuring Clutch vocalist Neil Fallon, guitarists James Rota and Dave Bone from Fireball Ministry, drummer Jess Margera from CKY (Bam's brother) and rounding out the group is bassist Jason Diamond from Puny Human. The band has just released it's new EP entitled "Sign Here, Here and Here". It was completed at Grandmaster Recorders in Hollywood with producer Andrew Alekel (FU MANCHU, FIREBALL MINISTRY). "Sign Here, Here and Here" is your typical blues-rock offering which is mostly reminiscent of Clutch due to Fallon's vocals, but the 4-song EP definitely leaves you wanting more.

Track listing:

1. Company Man (Free MP3)
2. Fortune's a Mistress
3. Spellbinder
4. Heartache Misery

You can check out more about the band and purchase the EP on their MySpace page.

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