I was a little lukewarm on Clutch's first single "Gimme The Keys" from their upcoming album Book Of Bad Decisions, but this new one has me looking for the pre-order options. "How To Shake Hands" is a big, fat rock n' roll song with a seriously deep groove, lots of cool stop-and-go riffs, and very politically charged lyrics from Neil Fallon that the press release says is a callback to Ry Cooder and John Lee Hooker.
Clutch's song "How to Shake Hands" traces its lineage back to Ry Cooder and John Lee Hooker via the song "John Lee Hooker for President." In that song Ry Cooder impersonates JLH giving a stump speech on what will happen when he becomes President. Clutch's original idea of covering the Ry Cooder song was soon abandoned as vocalist Neil Fallon said he couldn't do the song justice. Instead, Neil put his own lyrics in the style of Ry Cooder/JLH to a new Clutch song which ended up becoming the fast-paced "How to Shake Hands."
Book Of Bad Decisions is out September 7 and Clutch will hit the road shortly thereafter with Sevendust. Get those dates here.
