Clutch
Cargo Room, Reno
April 24, 2026
Photos by Paul Piazza
Clutch recently played a sold-out show at Reno’s Cargo Room venue. The powerhouse veteran Maryland band put on a phenomenal show that featured songs spanning their entire career, much to the delight of the packed room. Many in attendance had traveled long distances for this show. More than a few fans had traveled from the Bay Area, and a few even came all the way from San Diego. The band hasn’t played a California club or theatre show since 2024 and this was the closest show outside of a festival that was in the foreseeable future forecast. And as everyone knows, festival shorts are usually pretty brief. Way too brief.
The show sold-out quickly and hotels were hard to book due to the National Bowling Championships were kicking off the the same weekend down the street at the National Bowling Stadium. But naturally, the Clutch fans persevered, booked rooms in the surrounding areas, and made it to the club. Once there, they navigated their way into the somewhat small, dark, and completely packed room. This was very likely, one of the smallest venues the band were playing on the tour. Maybe for quite awhile. The band had been booked at a larger venue, but it was shuttered weeks in advance and the sold-out show had to be shifted to the Cargo to honor the tickets. Somehow, everyone was able to be shoehorned into the room. Once inside, they were delighted to receive a lengthy, 18-song set, that culminated with songs from the band’s first album Transnational Speedway League and the bands eponymous 1995 album. Some rarified heavy and beloved classics were in that bunch.
Clutch is one of those unique groups who, after over thirty years of touring, still have all the original members. And those four guys seem to get along pretty well and just happen to be playing and performing better than ever. The music has evolved over time, but boils down to unique groove-heavy rhythms and a bluesy, power boogie sound with fuzzed out guitar work. Fallon’s blustering and often witty vocals are sung, growled, and sometimes spoken, and narrate a plethora of interesting constellations, mythology and science fiction. Drummer Jean-Paul Gaster plays a “swing-metal” style that incorporates funk and jazz into the heavy sound. Most notably he has the feel of DC style go-go infusing behind most of it and that propels things to make the rhythms unique and bouncy.
Guitarist Tim Sult also has a very distinctive high-gain bluesy, stoner sound and is known for his “fast Wah” technique and melodic yet heavy playing. Bassist Dan Maines just lays it down with Gaster perfectly. As the show began, naturally vocalist Neil Fallon overtook the stage once the show began, as he is known to do, prowling back and forth and engaging and challenging the crowd with a variety of gestures and stares and banter. He kind of takes over the front boards. However, right behind him, the key to this band is witnessing how locked-in the remaining three players are throughout the set. Maines on bass, Sult on guitar, and the groovy powerhouse drummer Gaster were absolutely zoned into the music and drove every song home with serious emphasis. Simply put, Clutch are one of the greatest to ever do what they do.
The crowd was thrilled to hear the rarely heard “Rats,” “Soapmaker” and “Escape from the Prison Planet,” on a night when the ban played songs from 9 different records. They even included a new tune too.
Opening the show were Corrosion of Conformity, the influential heavy band that started way back in 1982 in Raleigh, North Carolina. CoC have created an amazing legacy that has evolved from hardcore punk to sludge, heavy metal, and southern rock. The only remaining original member in the band is guitarist Woody Weatherman, but guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan has been in the group since 1989.
Longtime drummer and original member Reed Mullin passed away in 2020, and the band has carried on with a variety of drummers. But in 2026, the band released a double album with drum world guru Stanton Moore of Galactic. Moore also happens to reside in New Orleans as does Keenan and the two cross paths often. The album is called Good God/Baad Man it’s pretty damn great. It blends 90s era sludge with southern rock and punk and some 90’s heavy psychedelic rock influences, as well as Moore’s steady undercurrent of swing and groove.
The band did a short run of dates with Moore, including a trip for some major shows in South America. However, Moore was needed back in New Orleans, where he is a part-owner of the legendary club Tipitina’s, and also keeps constantly busy with Galactic and tons of session gigs.
The current drum seat is filled by the great Nick Shabatura. Bobby Landgraf on bass joined the band before the Good God/Baad Man record and he is incredibly solid with an aggressive approach.And in addition to classics like “Albatross” and “Clean My Wounds,” the band are playing a solid batch of songs off the new record on this tour, including the Moore-inspired “Gimme Some Moore.”
JD Pinkus opened the show as a solo act on the banjo. Pinkus has a storied history as the longtime bassist with the Butthole Surfers. After he left the band in 1994, he led an Austin boogie band called Honky. Later, he played bass in the Melvins for a stretch and over that time collaborated with them substantially. Pinkus was also in the notable Austin bands Daddy Longhead and Helios Creed. The guy has quite a history. He was joined by Landgraf for a song on which Landgraf played guitar. His set was great and there were great moments of shit-talking hilarity.
Clutch swung out to Europe shortly after the Reno show and were prepping to spend about a month over there before returning to the U.S., and hopefully, eventually, back to the West Coast where they are still in big demand. Just ask anyone at that Reno show. We were all bowled over one hell of a set.
