Bio

HAS THE GUITAR HERO GENERATION PRODUCED ONE OF ITS OWN?

When teenagers view punk as the older generation’s music, like something that can be heard on cruise ship commercials, you can bet a revolution is about to take place. Weaned on fourth generation pop punk and the open-chord ethos of emo, the Guitar Hero generation is pushing back, defining its own sound, one that owes far more to the classic rock that dominates the game’s ubiquitous soundtrack. That movement may have just found its leader in 21-year old Cetan Clawson and his aptly named power trio, The Cetan Clawson Revolution.

Cetan Clawson is what best selling author Malcolm Gladwell calls an “outlier.” Raised by his music instructor father, Cetan (a Lakota name, pronounced ‘Cheta’) began playing as soon as he was big enough to hold a guitar. At the Clawson household, jam sessions were as common as play dates and Cetan logged his 10,000 hours before getting his high school diploma. Amidst all the guitar activity, he also managed to make the honor roll. When offered scholarships from academics institutions Cetan turned them all down, flat. “I didn’t make full use of it against the advice of certain people,” he says matter- of-factly. Having a sister who had just attended Berklee, he was too comfortable with the curriculum and felt he didn’t need a degree where he was headed; he knew a real rock n’roll education could only be had via experience on the stage. “I turned it down for personal reasons,” Clawson says. “I could have gotten a free ride, but I am committed to the blues. This was and is my passion, and I was confident I could pursue it with reasonable expectation of success.” Further to that point, Clawson cops to being “a blues scholar. I like to study it and I love it.” He feels “there is a lot that can be studied from classic rock guitars in the music of Cream, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and other artists from the late ‘60s and beyond. It’s raw and real and that is an element we like to portray on and off the stage.”

Indeed, Clawson, younger than two of the three Jonas Brothers who are currently worshipped by youngsters nationwide, wasn’t even close to being born when the music and the heroes he adores was being created. Regardless, Clawson has rock star in his DNA and it shines through in his playing and his individual style. He is a perfect storm of mind-boggling musical technique, jaw dropping stage presence and a sartorial flair that rivals that of Prince in his prime. Cetan classifies his style in a way similar to the video game that has kidnapped pop culture’s often-fickle attention and places himself within a similar –but not the same- context. “Guitar Hero has combined an older mix of songs with a new way of presenting them,” he theorizes. “They are taking classic rock and putting it in a format that newer kids can understand. That what blues guys do: take old things and make them fresh. They make it new, not better, but in an original way.”

And what better time for the return of the guitar god? As kids everywhere rediscover actual playing in both the games and on YouTube, and punk stagnates in a morass of mascara and morality, Cetan doesn’t just commit heresy by playing leads; he plays them behind his head, behind his back, left-handed, right-handed, one handed and even with his teeth, boasting a style that can’t be matched by guitarist nor gamer. “I have one small chip from a slight mishap before I practiced it a lot,” he says with a laugh. “It takes a great deal of skill.” Clawson himself admits that while the game exposes “the kids” to the artistry of the guitar, he thinks that hours spent playing the game would be better as hours spent playing the actual instrument. Spoken like a man who is truly attached –handcuffed, even—to his guitar. But make no mistake, he’s lovin’ every minute of it.

It’s been years since John Mayer emerged as the new guitar ace whose job it was to re-introduce the blues to a younger audience. Cetan Clawson is now poised as heir to that lineage, pushing into new territory with a skill and acumen that represents everything happening in today’s music. The Cetan Clawson Revolution is a return to classic form; the manifestation of a new generation’s desire for a bona fide Rock Star. “There is a lot going on nowadays that can’t be construed as not real. A lot of people play stuff they are not feeling. We feel it and do it for real. The blues guys felt a certain way about their craft and musicians have to soul search to get into the nitty gritty of what they are about. We do that,” Clawson says.

It’s been said within the blues scene that one must live to blues to sing the blues, a fact not lost on Cetan. “If you play it for real,” Clawson assesses, “your identity and originality shines thorough. You cannot copy the blues. It does require that you live it and make sacrifices with your time, money and energy. That attracts me.” What Cetan hopes will attract fans to his band is the live show. “There are so many ways to tackle musicianship,” he says. “There’s performance, theory, actual musicianship, virtuosity, talent, showmanship. That is the funnest part for me: hopping on stage and killing everyone. The blues is the foundation of modern music, without the primary design that existed before. So, how can you not dig it? Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn and that whole lineage of artists extraordinaire! Their music kills you and gets into your soul.” While he is clearly a student of his idols, Cetan is able to push the guitar acrobatics into the modern age, saying, “We’re taking the next step in the lineage. Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters did it first. Then in the 1960s, the guitarists reinvented it, with Clapton, Zeppelin, Hendrix. The next wave, like Stevie Ray Vaughn, came along. We’re next in line to bring it the forefront.”

The Cetan Clawson Revolution has already logged hundreds of shows in the Detroit area, carving out his place between Ted Nugent and Jack White in Detroit’s rich musical history, and now looking for his place among the Guitar Gods with the reissue White Heat through Universal, an album he made when he was a mere 17-years-old. He has also begun pre-production of his new album, The Feedback Gospel.