Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Tarsha
Hi Michael, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
The Clutch Kings Band is made up of 4 accomplished Austin musicians who finally found a way to play the music we love together with our favorite musicians in our favorite city. Ask any of us and I think we would all pick this same lineup as our dream team for a cover band. 3 of the 4 us had to work our way to get to Austin by the way, while only one of us was lucky enough to be born here, but even that wasn’t easy as she spent some time in Nashville and then had to work her way back home.
Like all good Rock ‘n Roll stories, ours is no different in that after many years the timing and stars aligned, and this line up finally came together. Kember Ottley on lead vocals who is classically trained and can sing anything from Opera to Ozzy, Rob “The Professor” Vela on lead guitar who besides being one of the most versatile guitar players in our beloved city, literally was a music professor. Kriss Ward who is a first call drummer and probably the most dedicated go to rock drummer in Austin. There have been some lineup changes over the years, but I am the co-founder and only person to ever hold the bass spot in The Clutch Kings.
But, if we go back to the beginning of The Clutch Kings story, it all starts with my previous band AudioLight who was sharing a bill with a good friend’s band. 2 days before the gig, we got a call that the opening band had cancelled. Not wanting to let the audience or club owner down, we put together a quick 45-minute set of our favorite cover tunes, called in a favor with one of their favorite drummers and named ourselves The Clutch Kings.
What started out as a challenge and a gig to play some of their favorite cover tunes quickly turned into more than we expected when the club asked us back to headline more shows. More clubs caught the Clutch Kings vibe and gigs started to pile up. Just as fate would have it, neither of those other 2 bands are still around today but The Clutch Kings became more popular than both of them. Along the way another good friend became part of The Clutch Kings story when Kember Ottley started to sit in and sing with us when our schedules lined up. A few years later she stepped in full-time when our singer moved to Las Vegas. She quickly became everyone’s favorite bandmate and often jokes that we can’t change the band name because the origin of how it came about is too good.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have definitely faced some issues over the years but even with all of our past members this band has always been about playing music with people you want to hang out with. An old Blues player who use to play with us taught me that, “You have to love hanging out with your bandmates on the ride home, or at the hotel, or in the most boring situations when you have time to kill.” I can honestly say that has been a big part of everyone that has been in The Clutch Kings. You have to be more than just a great player to be in this band, you have to be in it for the hang as well. We go to concerts and races together; we love grabbing dinner any chance we can and we even get our families together during the holidays.
One other challenge is that Austin has changed a lot…and while I still love the tagline that we are “the music capital of the world”, gigs still pay about what they did when I arrived here as a UT student. Other than that Billy Gibbons still comes to town to play Antone’s, Eric Johnson and Jimmie Vaughan still live here, and you can still see David Grissom on a Tuesday night at the Saxon Pub. We are still an amazing place for musicians to live. What’s not to love.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The Clutch Kings really try and take the audience for a ride for a few hours. We give out and sell a lot of Clutch Kings t-shirts (our theme is “Get Clutched”) at our shows and if you check out our Facebook page and “Fan Photos” section under albums, you will see something like 300+ photos of people wearing our shirts at gigs or in spots like Cabo, Abbey Road, the Sydney Opera House, Oslo, Norway, the Egyptian pyramids or even Buc-ee’s down I-35. We like to connect with our audience and we love it when they take The Clutch Kings on their journeys.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Austin really is an amazing city, and we are still stoked to be here playing for folks in and around Central Texas. If you love music and Rock ‘n Roll in particular, you don’t have to go to just the big tours that come through town. Go to your local watering hole and listen to a local Rock or Blues band, buy a t-shirt, tip them a few bucks if you have it and take a selfie with them. I promise it will make a difference and if that local band is The Clutch Kings make sure to grab a t-shirt, take it on a journey somewhere cool, snap a selfie and then send it to us!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.clutchkingsband.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclutchkingsband/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClutchKingsBand
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheClutchKingsBand
