THE BLANK GENERATION

A nifty introduction to this series is provided here.

C-Clamp—a now-defunct, ex-Champaign-Urbana band—is tucked away on the shelf in-between the Buzzcock’s Operators Manual and John Cale’s Fear.

I got my first taste of C-Clamp well before I moved to Champaign when I picked up what I believe to be their first recording, the self-released “Passing/Fox & the Hound” seven-inch, in May of 1995. Oddly enough, I didn’t buy the record in C-U; rather, I got it from Reckless on Broadway and Belmont in Chicago. The Reckless sticker on the sleeve reads: “Chicago band plays low key angular pop in a Seam or Codeine style. Features member of Steak Daddy Six.”

I really miss the days when I used to spend a good chunk of change on seven inches. What a great, inexpensive way to discover new bands. And those stickers that Reckless slapped on everything were quite helpful in building hype for whatever single I happened to be fawning over. Nowadays I don’t spend a dime on singles. Most bands don’t bother with them anymore because most labels don’t want to front the cash to press a single when pressing a full-length CD is more cost-effective. And sadly, all of my seven inches are now stored in the closet, out of sight and often out of mind.

But, I did listen to this particular single tonight to see if my memory was correct. Both of the single’s songs also appear on C-Clamp’s debut album, Meander and Return, which is what I’m actually going to discuss at greater length here. I recall that I preferred the single’s versions of each song, and in retrospect I can’t quite place why that was. Maybe it was the fact that I heard the original versions first, and possibly I just fell in love with the vinyl's more “raw” production values. At any rate, I don’t see how it much matters now.




So, lets move on to Meander and Return. At the time of its release in late 1995, I thought C-Clamp was a pretty unique band. Sure, they did have a melodic, clean-tone sound reminiscent of Seam. And, to a lesser extent I suppose they also sounded a bit like Codeine. So, the Reckless sticker was accurate. But more so than either of those bands, C-Clamp seemed to relish in rocking and rolling. That was due in no small part to Nick Macri’s round, energetic bass tone (a precursor to Dianogah for certain) and Frantz Etienne’s spectacular, soulful, atmospheric drumming. Etienne was truly a monster behind the kit, sort of like rock’s version of Elvin Jones (which had nothing to do with the fact that he too was Black, and everything to do with his ability to use his drum kit in both a rhythmic and melodic sense). Still today he remains one of my favorite drummers to witness in the flesh. Too bad he’s no longer active, to my knowledge.

It’s hard to place C-Clamp anywhere but in the slow-core camp. But unlike a lot of the bands often lumped into that movement, C-Clamp borrowed a lot of texture—especially in the form of feedback—from the shoegazer movement and their friends in HUM. Actually, listening to this record now, I hear a decent amount of early Starflyer 59 in the band’s sound, too.

Another determining factor in differentiating C-Clamp from bands like Low and Bedhead was their obsession with obtuse melodies and angular riffs, much of which can be credited to Tom Fitzgerald’s songwriting. Fitzgerald’s elaborate, irregular guitar playing would not prove easy for anyone to sing over the top of; luckily for that anyone, Fitzgerald had the job of attempting to do just that. His vocal lines often sounded like abstract painting looked—broad brush strokes juxtaposed against a busy background. He definitely wasn’t constructing vocal leads with a killer hook in mind. And that was yet another reason why I was fascinated by C-Clamp’s complex web of intrigue. To think, the band claimed their songs were “simply pop songs that require a little patience.” Ha!

Vocals and all this talk of slowcore aside, my favorite C-Clamp song remains the instrumental “Fox and the Hound,” which sounds more in line with Slint or Hoover. The version on the album is drenched in distortion and thus rocks a bit heavier than the seven-inch version. The rhythmic guitar line that lays the song’s foundation bounces around like an acrobat on amphetamines so much so that I have a hard time figuring out exactly what time signature the band is playing in. (Anyone that has this album wanna figure it out for me? Maybe it’s just 4/4, who knows?) This song strikes an emotional nerve with direct force, more so than any other song on the record.

Meander and Return was Ohio Gold’s first release. They went on to release records by Dianogah, The Zincs, and Pinebender, as well as another C-Clamp full-length, Longer Waves. C-Clamp gained some notice overseas when the British label Che Records nabbed a song of theirs for a 1996 compilation entitled Disco Sucks, which also features The Delgados, Fuxa, Bardo Pond, Merzbow, Windy & Carl, and others. I presume that Parasol Records might still have a copy or two of Meander and Return for sale, considering that Nick Macri used to work for them and all. If not, I’m sure they’ll know whom to speak with about getting yourself a copy. As for me, I’m keeping mine.

I actually interviewed Nick on behalf of C-Clamp in or around 1996 when I was still “publishing” my zine. He was in the process of moving up to Chicago at the time. But, I never finished that particular issue and the interview is sadly lost. I do recall him telling me something about a kitty cat that liked to piss on Frantz’s drums, though. Hmmm…maybe my memory isn’t so good.

I do remember that Nick, who was previously in Steakdaddy Six, did go on to play with Heroic Doses and possibly in Euphone's live band. But that's about as good as my memory gets.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 23 at 10:05 PM.

3 Comments:

I used to run into Nick a lot a few years back, mostly because my fanaticism for Heroic Doses. At some point he befriended Jeremy Enigk and company, because of touring with Euphone, and I believe he ended up standing in for Nate Mendel on one of the later/last SDRE tours. And last year I saw him playing keyboard on the Fire Theft tour, as they came here through Denver. Strange.

By  TGV, at 9:13 AM  

my best friend in college got me into c-clamp (albeit begrudgingly on his part - he was really protective of them and fellow C-U indie stalwarts, castor). the word i'd heard about franz etienne from my roommate (who might have spoken to nick macri while euphone was on tour, or perhaps to ohiogold's andy mueller through e-mail) was that franz etienne had injured his hand while working construction. if memory serves me right, it was something along the lines of getting a nail from a nailgun through the hand. this, obviously, would make playing drums very difficult.

By  Anonymous, at 12:36 PM  

Since you asked! The weird things going on in "Fox and the Hound" are due to the guitar playing a riff in 12/8 and the bass and drums playing in 7/8. So if you do the math, if they start out together (which they do after 4 x through the guitar riff on its own), it's not until the guitar has played its riff 7 x and the bass and drums theirs 12 x that their "down beats" coincide again.

And while on the subject of C-Clamp - I'd love to know how far they got with their third album...

By  Anonymous, at 7:31 PM  

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