March 15th 2013 marked the release of Clutch’s 10th studio album “Earth Rocker”, a storming release that has met with critical acclaim and some of the heaviest songs since their 2004 album Pure Rock Fury. They start a 4 date tour of England this coming Monday 8th July starting in Norwich before hitting up Nottingham, Manchester and London. Rather than bring along another US act they have opted to support the UK scene and grabbed 2 upcoming bands in the form of Sons Of Icarus and General. Having searched the net I could not find a great deal about General so I hit the band up to find out more about their upcoming support slots.
Your Facebook page and website give little information on when the band was formed, how etc? Would you care to elaborate a little on the mystery?
General formed 2006/2007. We are all from Coventry and have played locally for years with lots of different projects, we have known each other for a long time, GENERAL started as mates jamming together and we quickly realised we worked really well together and haven’t looked back!
For Clutch fans getting to the gig early what can they expect?
Clutch fans getting to the gig early can expect 5 dudes from the midlands belting out a heavy rock / stoner sound that is riff driven with bluesy vocals and some heavy soundscapes to match. We will get some heads nodding and fire the crowd up for the rest of the night.
You’ve only just released your debut and already you’re on a tour with Clutch? How excited are you all, and how did it come about?
We are really excited about this opportunity to play with clutch as we are all fans and have been to their gigs quite a few times. We were contacted by clutch’s management team after they stumbled across our youtube video for ‘bullet train’, they got in touch and offered us the support slot – a real good news story and we are very excited to be given the chance, it’s a rare example of an established band helping the local underground scene, again really grateful and honoured to be playing by invitation just on the strength of our material.
The album was recorded with Greg Chandler of Esoteric and produced by Billy Anderson, how was it working with those guys?
Working with Greg and Billy was a fantastic experience – Greg understood what we wanted with ‘Where are your Gods Now?’, and helped us to deliver that live sound by not playing to a click track. He didn’t even mind all the empty beer cans or when Dave’s Head started smoking – in fact he just coolly pointed out where the fire extinguisher was should the smouldering and smoke turn into flames! Greg is a cool guy and a great producer. We really enjoyed ourselves at the priory studio.
Billy offered his services and we jumped at the chance (we are also fans of the Melvin’s and High on Fire) – Greg had already worked with him previously which made life a little easier – it wasn’t easy having your album mastered long distance via email and dropbox especially with the time difference but we were patient and as a result, we feel the album is a professional, quality product with that massive Billy Anderson sound.
Who and where have you played with so far, and what’s been the best support slot/headline/venue so far?
Our previous gigs have been in the uk – we have been lucky enough to snag some good support shows with Napalm Death, Senser, Pulled apart by horses and Viking skull – Coventry does struggle to find the likes of Clutch playing here regularly so we find ourselves having to travel to get decent shows.
We love a dirty pub gig , you can’t beat the intimacy, the immediate response and the energy from a crowd where you can literally see the whites of their eyes. You soon learn what works in your set in that kind of space and trust me, you soon learn what doesn’t work. It’s fantastic preparation for the shows with Clutch.
Any funny tour stories?
The worst show was to just one guy in a shitty bar in Leamington Spa, it was years ago not long after we had first started. He was really cool and cheered as loud as he could after each track, unfortunately he was only passing through so apologised before we finished the set leaving us with just the bar man to play to. Thankfully we have never been in that situation since !
What’s next for General after the Clutch tour?
Currently, GENERAL are rehearsing hard for these Clutch gigs , we have already starting writing some new material and will continue to write after the tour.. we will be opening with a new track on the tour. We are also starting work on a new video with WINDUPMONKEY for the track ‘monkey city’ – we hope to have a new album well on its way as soon as possible so we can capitalise on any opportunity that may come.. . . watch this space !!
You can check out General on the following links:
General support Clutch on the following dates:
8th July 2013 – Waterfront, Norwich
9th July 2013 – Rock City, Nottingham
10th July 2013 – The Ritz, Manchester (please note this date moved from Manchester Academy II)
11th July 2013 – Forum, London
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