by JOHNSON CUMMINS

With metal moving in so many directions, while getting more and more technical, Clutch's new CD Robot Hive/Exodus finds the band leaving the pack for good, and proves to be their best record yet. Although it still packs a wallop, the record moves even further away from their aggressive beginnings over a decade ago in Germantown, Maryland, seemingly more concerned with letting your backbone slide than with trying to get your head banging. The Mirror talked to singer Neil Fallon from a tour stop in London, Ontario.

Mirror: You've always had a sense of groove to your music, but there are moments on this new record where you almost get into a Funkadelic and Meters kind of sound.

Neil Fallon: Well, I guess the older we get, the less related our music is to something like hardcore. I think that when you've been a band this long, you really start to understand the feel of groove. This band has always had a bit more swing then other hard rock bands, and we're really comfortable with that swing.

M: Besides the Howlin' Wolf cover you did, there seems to be more of a blues leaning throughout the new record.

NF: Well, Howlin' Wolf is really the godfather of rock. A lot of bands like Humble Pie, the Stones and Yardbirds would look directly to the blues for inspiration, and they're people that inspire us to play. I just find blues to be a lot more rewarding to listen to then a lot of contemporary bands. All rock comes from blues because it's all heart and soul. We don't write beautiful songs in the pop sense, but a more impassioned kind of music.

M: You have always encouraged tape trading, due to the improvisational nature of your live shows. Does the improvisational side of the band appear much in the studio?

NF: Usually we'll get the song-oriented stuff done early in the day, in the studio, and then at night we'll just pull stuff out of the sky. The instrumental jams on Robot Hive were just off the cuff. Improvising is still a big part for us. It's really the most rewarding thing about playing live. It can be a terrible failure, but even failing miserably is a bigger rush then just putting in a good performance of a song for the five-hundredth time.

M: You did that tour recently where you did three sets - a jazz fusion rock set and then two sets from your catalogue - and followed that tour with the Sounds of the Underground tour, where you were relegated to 45 minutes each night. Was that a disappointment?

NF: We're now doing two sets again for this tour, but that festival tour was fun. I'm not really a big metalhead and I wasn't too excited about doing it at first, but we really had a good time. It was rewarding to see people stop punching each other and just stand there and listen to us.

M: You've been on three major labels and are now on an independent. Have you noticed any differences?

NF: Major labels are in the business of selling platinum records. We don't need anybody to tell us that 2006 is going to be the year for Clutch. We got a good thing going with what we have now, and we really don't want to poison the well.

With Nice Cat at Cabaret tonight, Thursday, Sept. 8, 9 p.m., $20

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