Casey Schwochow of How Was It Detroit? conducted an interview with drummer Jean-Paul Gaster of Maryland rockers CLUTCH on October 28 at The Fillmore in Detroit, Michigan. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On CLUTCH's plans for 2017: Gaster: "We're gonna write some, and then we're gonna go back on tour. Touring really never ends. We take breaks from time to time. We'll take off the first three months of next year and we'll get down to writing, see what kind of direction that's gonna take us in, and then start making plans to record. Probably what will happen is we will do some shows in the spring, and then, for us, it's really important to play the new songs live, so I have a feeling that wherever we choose to record, we'll do shows on the way out there to work through the material, play the material. You know, for me, as a drummer, those experiences are crucial to recording a record that, at the end of the day, you feel proud of. In the live setting, you can immediately tell where the pulse of that tune is. You gauge by the audience reaction, how they're latching on to whatever groove that is, and you start to tweak things — you might pull stuff back or you might push stuff, change up an approach entirely, maybe. But that's really crucial — it really brings the song to life." On his side project with guitarist Mark Morton (LAMB OF GOD), bassist Yanni Papadopoulos (STINKING LIZAVETA) and keyboardist Chris Brooks (LIONIZE): Gaster: "Yeah, I've been jamming with Mark, Yanni and Chris, and the four of us have been getting together for about a year now. We have a good collection of tunes, and I think, really, the next move is to make a recording. And so we'll probably do that at some point next year. It's such an eclectic mix of musicians that when we get together, it's a lot of fun more than anything, and stuff happens very quickly. So the shape of the music changes, and the approach change. There's a lot of energy there, and we're still trying to figure out how to focus it and what exactly it's gonna be." CLUTCH's latest album, "Psychic Warfare", debuted at No. 11 on The Billboard 200 chart after shifting 26,000 equivalent album units in the week ending October 8, 2015. "Psychic Warfare" was released via CLUTCH's own label Weathermaker Music.
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