ION INDIE MAGAZINE December 2016, Volume 31 | Page 34

Ion has featured a few bands that have been influenced by Clutch…4x4 Barracuda and others. I asked Tim how he felt about
his music influencing a new generation of artists, a younger generation. He said that he never really thought about being an
influence, but adds, “Being around for so long gives a lot of other people hope that they can perform their own music for 25

years. I believe that many people look up to us because of just that. We have never gone away--we have always been on tour,
play shows and remain creative, writing as many songs as we can. I think that has echoed with many people that have grown
up listening to our music. They realize that being a musician or an artist is all about not quitting. Even if you have a day job,
you can still make your music. You might not be making a lot of money from it, but that’s ok.”
Tim said that they did a few shows “School of Rock Style”, (Thank you, Jack Black) and was amazed about the repertoire that
they had. He described one show where the kids were performing songs from Iron Maiden, and one even opened up with a
“Fastway” cover; digging pretty deep. Sticking to the younger generation question, he said, “The huge future rock bands are

working on their instruments right now and they are pretty much playing ‘The Trooper’ from Iron Maiden, but then in a few
years, they will be writing their own songs. There will not be a shortage of rock bands.”
Tim’s advice to the up and coming bands is: “Don’t quit-ever. That is the most important thing. There’s always a lot of

challenges, and we could have quit at any time back in the 90’s and got real jobs. We decided to soldier on. As far as playing
gigs goes, it just seems different these days. We had to book our own shows in the early 90’s. It is kind of a different world.
Back then we had a ‘7 inch’ and just gave it to the people at our shows and to the other bands we played with, hoping for the
best. That actually worked very well for us. Nowadays, all music is free. It is a whole different world. I think that some people
believe that there was some glory days back when record labels were just dumping money all over bands. That never
happened.”