Pop Mutations & Freakender present:
CLAMM (Melbourne / Chapter Music / Meat Machine)
+ support
Monday 29th August
Flying Duck
Advance tickets available at https://www.citizenticket.co.uk/events/pop-mutations/
Melbourne punk power trio CLAMM return with the first single Bit Much from their second album Care. Bit Much is out Weds April 20, while Care will be released on vinyl and digital by Chapter Music on August 19.
CLAMM’s music was already concerned with the woes of the world, but the last two years have added extra urgency to their blown out, dystopian punk power.
About Bit Much, guitarist/vocalist Jack Summers says – “It can be a strange thing to focus on your own mental wellbeing while also hearing about the constant horrific events of the world. Bit Much focuses on this dynamic and the overwhelming feeling it can bring.”
CLAMM explore the confusion of what it is to be a young person trying to live an honourable life in this fucked up world. Their songs are about trying to navigate systems of power and oppression while retaining a healthy sense of self and mental health. Community, creativity, and catharsis are what they hope to achieve through their music.
Care is bigger, louder and darker than previous album Beseech Me (2020). CLAMM dodged lockdowns to record at Rolling Stock and Sound Park Studios with Nao Anzai (NO ZU, Cash Savage, Rolling Blackouts). Nao also plays fearsome synth on the album and has joined the band on-stage at recent shows. Saxophonist Anna Gordon (Mangelwurzel) contributes wild free jazz skronk to a number of tracks.
Bit Much is the first CLAMM recording to feature the bass and backing vocals of newest member Maisie Everett (also in Belair Lip Bombs), who joined the band shortly after Beseech Me was released. Jack and drummer Miles Harding have been best friends since primary school, but with Maisie the CLAMM trio finds its ultimate form.
Beseech Me was a Triple R and FBI Radio feature album in 2020 and sold out its original cassette pressing almost immediately. It was reissued on vinyl in 2021 by UK label Meat Machine (renowned as the home for Canadian art-punk provocateurs Crack Cloud), which saw CLAMM featured on the cover of French Rolling Stone and played on BBC 6 Music.
In Australia the band has played with Amyl & the Sniffers, the Chats, Cash Savage and the Murlocs, and played Yours & Owls Festival and Melbourne Music Week. A UK/Europe tour planned for Jan/Feb this year was cancelled for the usual reasons, but the band will return in August for their first international shows.
Care is released on 19 August 2022 by Chapter Music for the world outside UK, Europe and Asia. It will be released in those territories by Meat Machine.
“CLAMM may not be the first group to venture out into the fuzzy Australian wilderness, but…they might just be the best.” – DIY Mag
“CLAMM’s storm of cathartic energy disguises how intricately constructed the songs are…both exhilarating and engaging.” – All Music