Lionize Blog From Their Tour With Clutch (EXCLUSIVE)

Maryland troupe Lionize meld hard rock muscle with the grooved-out rhythms of traditional reggae, arriving at a sound that is as funky as it is air guitar-worthy. Check out the group's 2011 Superczar & The Vulture album if you don't believe us.

Lionize is currently out on tour with fellow Maryland homies Clutch and they've partnered with Noisecreep to bring you some blogging from the road. Below is their first entry.

From Lionize keyboardist Chris Brooks:

This being our 6th or 7th tour with Clutch, we knew enough to be extremely stoked to be on this tour. It's always great to start a tour knowing we will be amongst friends. Our first stop was Bogart's in Cincinnati. Immediately it was clear that there would be a strong personal and musical kinship between all the artists on this tour. And after seeing Scorpion Child and Orange Goblin, we knew we were embarking on what is certainly the best club tour going around this spring. Scorpion Child comes from Austin and brings it with real rock and roll inspired by all the bands you should love unless you're some kind of philistine. And Orange Goblin supplies the heavy metal soaked in more memorable hooks and vocals than can be properly taken in in just one set.

Highlights from the first week for us include our first show at Cains Ballroom in Tulsa, a legendary country music hall decked out in portraits of all the greats. A crazy sold out show in Little Rock and a finally successful show at South by Southwest in Austin, a blurry night and another sell out in Colorado Springs, followed by a safe and successful drive across Wyoming to crush Salt Lake City.

The second week began our jaunt through the south west. It was great to see all of our friends and fans in LA, Vegas and Arizona. As the tour rolls on we are picking up more and more steam and the shows are getting better and better. The Regency in San Francisco, in my humble opinion, was the best collective performance on the tour. As of this writing I am in the support green room of the Knitting Factory in Reno, expecting to best last night again tonight. Once again, not to be redundant... Best tour on this Continent or any other.

Also last week Clutch realeased their latest and greatest album, Earthrocker! Congrats to our friends on a monumentally successful release. Nobody deserves it more.

NEXT TIME!

The Northwest leg.

Reno, Seattle, Portland (donuts), Boise, Missoula MT, International borders, dogs, xray cameras, BC, Timmy Ho Ho's...