On the radar: Crobot
Tin men with a rocking heart
We live in enlightened times. These days the chances are that if you're too young to have witnessed 'Zeppelin in their pomp, your Dad did. But it's still a bit backwards when your mum instructs you to run away and join a band.
"My mum was super supportive," acknowledges Crobot guitarist Chris Bishop. "She was always like, 'You need to move to California and join a band!'"
In the end, at the invitation of an ill-fated radio rock group, the Tennesseean guitarist packed up his Tele and Orange Dual Terror and headed to Pennsylvania.
"We thought it was going to be successful, but it just fell apart," he explains. "So me and the [now] singer of Crobot, decided to do what we wanted to do… which was to basically rip-off Clutch, Sabbath and Queens Of The Stone Age!"
Chris' self-deprecation is uncalled for, given that his band are one of the finest examples of the recent breed of beefed-up classic rockers we've heard. We're not alone in that: Clutch producer The Machine offered to record their debut album after stumbling across them at a club show.
"It was like having a big brother come in and really help you out," recalls Chris. "We don't play with any tracks and there's a lot of feeling and those are the Machine's favourite bands. He has this live room and he calls it the 'Big Boy Room'. He says that's where you can see who the real bands are!"
For fans of: Clutch, Kyng
Hear: Nowhere To Hide
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Matt is a freelance journalist who has spent the last decade interviewing musicians for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.