2020 may be the scene of real life dystopia but in the sleepy town of Wimborne things have been brewing since 2018 when one of industry’s best kept secrets Clams stepped back into the rehearsal room. After a decade of playing in various different outfits the band have expanded their sound taking on heavy blues rock influences to add to their insatiable riffs.
In the early 2000’s Clams shared Brixton Academy’s stage with Audioslave and caught the attention of Smashing Pumpkins James Iha and Fountaines of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger who flew them to New York for their Scratchy Records label. Even with heavy support from KERRANG magazine who made Stray their single of the week, tons of support from Metal Hammer (all press quotes below) plus air play on Radio One’s Mark and Lard show (Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley) poor management advice led to the band disappearing into obscurity and eventually splitting up. Now with all the original members back in the same area and a new level of musical and industry knowledge plus an expansion of their sound with two new members Clams are back with their second single in a decade Worn And Torn from the forthcoming EP The Road To Stone Lane.
Clams are the product of elongated friendships that never ended, but life got in the way. Thankfully over a pint Pete and Rich were talking about riffs and the rest is history. Talking about Worn And Torn Rich said that it “is about having a good time but getting a bit wrecked from it, not having much money but needing to let loose regardless! The song started out as a half time heavy riffer, Pete added a Keith Moon style intro on drums and then we made the riff double time for the second half to bring things back up.” In the original incarnation of Clams they “were all about the noise, fuzzed up guitars, big riffs and hard hitting songs” according to Rich, but Stone Lane shows a more varied breadth of songwriting. Rich confirmed that “Clams production sound has always been the same, [and still is all about] raw and dirty!”
Sticking with those “raw and dirty” riffs Rich told us that Worn And Torn “made the perfect choice for the second single because it’s instant. It has an immediate opening with all of the band coming in straight away which demands the listener to pay attention.” Rich continued to explain how it’s style fits well as a cross between the Clams 3 piece heavy riff incarnation and their new more blues style, Rich explained how Worn And Torn “leads into a riff that gives it swagger and locks into a heavy groove.”
Talking about Clams HQ Rich told us “we’re the most “on it” we’ve been as a band right now and it feels great, the album has taken us forward to somewhere we didn’t think we could go. We have expanded the line up and expanded our horizons but still retained the essence of what Clams are all about – rocking out!”
With KERRANG and Metal Hammer previously focussing on the thunderous sound the trio produce Rich told us that “There is a lot of variety on Stone Lane, but it sticks together as a cohesive piece of music. When we first started working on the songs we had no idea how they’d turn out and it was a big jump for us to decide on getting extra members, but fuck it, it’s worked!”