CLUTCH To Release Cover Of ZZ TOP's 'Precious And Grace' Next Week

Maryland rockers CLUTCH will release a cover version of ZZ TOP's "Precious And Grace" on July 9. The track, along with CLUTCH's previously issued rendition of the Willie Dixon 1950s classic "Evil" (later recorded by CACTUS),will be included on a collection of newly recorded songs, "Weathermaker Vault Series", to be made available this summer.

Drummer Jean-Paul Gaster told Cory Blose of TotalRock Radio's "The Valley" about "Weathermaker Vault Series": "We got into the studio early this year. After we finished another U.S. tour, we jumped in the studio and we recorded a selection of songs. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a full album. But the idea is just to release a few things throughout the rest of the year. And these will be completely just digital releases as well. We're sort of experimenting with that format — just releasing stuff for streaming purposes. And we'll see how that goes."

He continued: "It was fun to get in the studio, and we picked some songs that sort of all meant something to us in different ways. We also re-recorded a few CLUTCH classic songs, so those will be coming out as well. I suppose maybe in some ways it's sort of just a way to tide us over until we really get the juices flowing to record another album."

Gaster said that CLUTCH's insistence on recording and releasing new music comes from a pure place.

"As we all know, there's not a tremendous amount of money to be made in releasing albums anymore, so you have to do it because you wanna do it," he said. "And also too, it just gives us an opportunity to play some new stuff when we get out there on the road and play shows. We do not wanna be a band that gets up there and just plays the hits and that would be the end of it. This is not a nostalgia thing for us. For us, this is still very much a live working rock band. We have the desire to be creative and to play music, so we try to foster that in whatever way we can."

He added: "I can say a scenario where we'll release this collection of singles and maybe a few more, and then eventually we might put these all on a vinyl record and put them out.

CLUTCH's latest album, "Book Of Bad Decisions", was released last September. The record sold 26,000 copies in America during its first week of availability, giving the group its third consecutive Top 20 album on the Billboard 200.

"Book Of Bad Decisions" was recorded was completed at Sputnik Sound studio in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Vance Powell.