David Clayton-Thomas On His New Album “Say Somethin’,” Blood Sweat & Tears, & More

GRAMMY Award-Winning singer and Hall Of Fame Canadian icon David Clayton-Thomas first became famous in the 1960s as the frontman of Blood Sweat & Tears. “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die,” “God Bless The Child,” “Hi-De-Ho,” “Lucretia MacEvil,” “Lisa Listen To Me”… Those are some of the Clayton-Thomas-sung Blood Sweat & Tears musical staples that you still hear on the radio, in films and on concert stages to this day. The new Hulu-released Pete Davidson film Big Time Adolescence has a BS&T reference in there, while BS&T’s performance at the original Woodstock festival in 1969 finally got a proper record store release last year.

Life after Blood Sweat & Tears never slowed down for David Clayton-Thomas after first leaving the band in the early 1970s. He pursued a solo career — both touring and recording — before returning to BS&T for 1980’s Nuclear Blues. He remained with the group through 2004, resuming a proper solo career thereafter. He would also release an acclaimed autobiography called Blood Sweat & Tears in 2010, which rock legend Randy Bachman called “A compelling inside look at the music business, stardom and politics, set in the turbulent times in which he lived and told in his own words.”

The latest solo album from David Clayton-Thomas is 2020’s SAY SOMETHIN’, which came out on March 20th. The album confronts many timely issues across today’s social spectrum, including climate change, immigration, and politics. A simultaneously well-informed and anger-based album, Tinnist noted in its review that “Clearly, DCT has zero f**ks left to give.” Clayton-Thomas collaborated on SAY SOMETHIN’ with Canadian musicians Lou Pomanti, Eric St Laurent, Davide Direnzo, and George Koller.

As embedded below, along with several tracks from SAY SOMETHIN’, I had the pleasure of speaking with David Clayton-Thomas by phone on March 26, 2020 in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. As nice and as honest as one would home for a musical icon to be, Clayton-Thomas pulled no punches within his responses. The former New York City resident was a pleasure to speak with and can be visited online via his official website at www.davidclaytonthomas.com.

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Tags: Blood Sweat & Tears, BS&T, Canada, Coronavirus, David Clayton-Thomas, Eric Alper, New York, Toronto

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."