Clutch's Neil Fallon says bad songs are part of learning process

Clutch’s Neil Fallon says that making bad songs is all part of the learning process.

The singer says he has no regrets over the band’s “not-so-great” material because it helped them make better music.

Fallon tells Music Radar: “It’s as good as disowning a kid. Even if I don’t really care for one, we still made it. It’s all part of the learning process.

“To make great songs you have to make not-so-great songs. There’s some early stuff we don’t play, but we’ve changed over 25 years and it feels awkward. Saying that, we just started playing Passive Restraints from 92.”

Though he says choosing their best song is like picking a favourite child, Fallon says he’s “pretty proud” of their song The Regulator.

He adds: “It was a kind of different thing for us and a bit risky doing almost a ballad with the fingerpicking thing. It was one of those songs that wrote itself very quickly and easily, and after all these years I still like it.”

Frontman Fallon revealed earlier this year that the band wanted to avoid playing it safe with their music, adding: “There are artists who see success with a song then try different versions of that song for the rest of their career – and that sounds very depressing. I would rather take a risk and fail at it.”

Clutch are on the road in support of their 11th studio album Psychic Warfare.

Clutch tour dates 2016

Dec 07: Clermont Ferrand La Cooperative De Mai, France
Dec 08: Pamplona Zentral, Spain
Dec 09: Barcelona Sala Apolo, Spain
Dec 10: Madrid La Riviera, Spain
Dec 13: Madrid Le Trianon, France
Dec 14: Brussels AB, Belgium
Dec 15: London Roundhouse, UK
Dec 16: Birmingham O2 Institute, UK
Dec 17: Cardiff University Great Hall, UK
Dec 18: Manchester Academy, UK
Dec 27: Washington 9:30, DC
Dec 29: Bethlehem Sands Event Center, PA
Dec 30: Toronto Danforth Music Hall, ON
Dec 31: Cleveland Agora, OH

Clutch add 3 North American December dates

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Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.