CLAWFINGER (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything going right now with CLAWFINGER?
Well I’ve worked with children for last six years, I’m repsonsible for a ecreation room in a school where we have foosball games, sofas, bean bags and board games and I also run a Junior Club for 4th & 5th graders. Jocke produces and mixes different productions and is also the bass player in a band called Feared that I know nothing about. Micke plays drums with a number of different bands and also gives drum lessons. André plays bass with Pain, is a carpenter and has also become a karate expert. Bård has a small homestudio in his basement in Arendal Norway where he records and produces local bands, he also works with kids at an after schools activety center teaching them about music. With Clawfinger we are not doing anything the band is not active anymore, the 20th anniversary box has been released and hopefully there are old fans out there who will enjoy it, it’s our thank you to them for being on the Clawfinger ride with us from beginning to end!
– First off, where does the name of «Clawfinger» come from?
It was just a name that popped up after we had spent a couple of weeks trying to find a good name, in the end we ran out of ideas, Bård suddenly suggested Clawfinger and we just said, fuck it why not, it’s only a bloody name, we’ll get used to it in the end and it’s no better or worse than LOT of other bandnames. In the end it’s not about what a band is called but how good and original the music is.
– To celebrate the 20th anniversary of your debut album, «Deaf Dumb Blind», you have unleashed «Deafer Dumber Blinder». How did the idea arise? And what are your expectations on this release?
We had talked about releasing a Best of B-sides for many years and we knew we also had alot of good demos and loose material lying around. When we decided to call it quits it simply made sense to throw all of the material together and luckily enough we also had a great live recording from the woodstock festival in Poland and some old documentaries that also became a part of the package. Like I said earlier it’s simply a nice way to say thank you to the fans who have followed us throughout our career. We are not expecting anything, people don’t really buy CD’s anymore so I just hope it will make a bunch of hardcore Clawfinger fans happy.
– You haven’t release a new studio album since 2007, what’s the reason behind this? Do you plan releasing new material anytime soon?
The reason is reality, the music business has changed, it’s not what it used to be and after our last tour in December 2007 we could no longer make a living from music. That pretty much leaves you with no other choice, bills need to be payed and the money needs to come in from somewhere so we simply had to find other jobs, just like everyone else. We have not written any new Clawfinger material since the writing and recording sessions for Life Will Kill You. As we are no longer a functioning band there are no plans at all to write or record anything new, the Anniversary box is the final package.
– Digging deeper into this opus; would you mind to elaborate a little bit on its cover? It’s quite different to the original art but seems to fit perfectly with the album’s title.
Well «Deaf Dumb Blind» is a classic picture and saying about someone who shys away from all aspects of responibilty and reality and our first album was all about talking about things that not many other bands dared to talk about. While other bands were talking abut sex drugs and rck’n’roll, we felt like we wanted to try and say smething that made a difference. We called it Deafer Dumber Blinder simply becos’ we added unreleased demos, exclusove b-sides and film footage that gives everyone a glimpse of what it was like, behind the scenes, on the road and on stage.
– Talking about such, the title is a nod to the debut album but can be associated to several different things. What could you associate it with? Could you say its autobiographical in any way?
It could be associated with the fact that the longer you’re in a band the more you loose track of reality as your busy living in your little band bubble, more than anything we simply called it that becos’ like I said it includes alot of bonus material so it’s more than just Deaf Dumb Blind, it’s Deafer Dumber Blinder.
– This about «Deafer Dumber Blinder» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
For the fans!
– You are hailing from Sweden which, in Metal music terms, has always been specially known due to its extreme Metal bands, that’s why I would like to know what Swedish bands more similar to your style could you suggest.
I have no idea what bands are out there now, I’m oldschool and most of the extreme stuff does not even appeal to me, it’s not the kind of music I listen to. If and when I listen to metal I listen to Alice In Chains, Faith No More, Barkmarket, Helmet, Soundgarden, Pantera and stuff like that. Meshuggah is the only Swedish «metal» band I can think of, otherwise there are plenty of good bands within different genres of music, Swedish and non-Swedish, too many to mention in fact. I’ve always loved Mats & Morgan but beyond that I can’t give you names, I listen to alot of stuff and if it gives me an eargasm I keep on listening, I don’t care where it happens to be from or what style of music it is.
– And how do you see has the Swedish scene changed with the years?
Music changes all the time, trends come and go and there are good and bad bands everywhere within all categories regardless of whether or not they’re fashionable. I try to let me ears do the judging and not think about if a band is hot or not. Life is too short and there’s too much good music out there to waste time worrying about what is trendy or not! Sweden has always had alot of good stuff simply because we have never dubbed tv shows and we are very influenced by both British
and American artists and culture.
– Now going for some more generic questions; throughout all these years of musical career with CLAWFINGER; what have been boh the best and worst moments for the band?
Best moments are the one where we’ve connected with the fans so being on tour has always been a big reward in itself. Roskilde 93 and 94 were magic, South America with the Monsters of rock tour with Ozzy, Alice Cooper, Megadeth, Faith No More, Paradise Lost & Therapy? was amazing but pretty much all clubs, fans and tours have been magic regardless of where jebe been. It’s just magical to know that people are paying to see you and sometimes know your songs better than you do! 🙂
– And what are some of the goals yet to achieve? As sharing stage with certain bands, playing in certain places or countries…
There are no future goals for Clawfinger, we have achieved more in our career than alot of bands out there and I am happy and proud of that but we have nothing new to offer. Maybe there will one day be some livegigs at festivals or whatever but the simple truth is that no one should expect anything to happen at all, we have come to the end of our productive path ogether and what once was is no longer there. The magic is gone and we ave all grown older and gone on with our lives. We’ve pretty much met all he bands we ever wanted to meet and played stages massive and tiny clubs ll over the world and it’s all been equally fun in different ways
– Finally, what are your near-future plans?
Well I have 6 more weeks at work and then I have the entire summer off, what the other guys have planned I know nothing about. My plan is simply to enjoy my life and my time with the ones I love and make the most out of what I have in life. Once again Clawfinger have no plans whatsoever, if something happens it will be because it feels fun and the time is right, if nothing happens then so be it, there is a time and a place for everything and in order for new things to be able to happen in life sometimes old things have to end.
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Thank you for showing interest, take care and be cool be yourselves, one
love Zak
