Clawfinger 07/12/22
MM: Can you give us some insight into your recent track "environmental patients"
not really, we have a ”bank” with riffs beats and some basic song ideas, at the end of the day it´s unfortunately mostly down to me to come up with lyrics in order for the songs to make it to the next step. In other words if I ´m not feeling it for whatever reason then nothing much will most likely happen. In this case it was simply a beat that I liked when I heard it and it sparked the lyrical idea, the first verse more or less wrote itself, I recorded it and sent it to the others, they liked what they heard and I fairly quickly wrote a second verse, then we got together in Jockes home studio, Bård had a chorus idea and from there on we played around until we were happy with the result. As for the topic well it´s been on my mind since the mid 90´s so it´s nothing new but I ´ve never managed to pull it off until now, I am very self critical and can dwell on themes and ideas for years!
MM: Will there be an EP or Album released next year
Your guess is as good as ours, we have nothing planned but we usually get together at some point during a calender year, whether or not that will generate a song, an EP or an album we don´t even know ourselves. As most of us have other jobs, families etc. time is tight and the get togethers are far between. The idea of an LP is of course lovely although I ´m not sure how important albums are these days, compared to what it was like in the old days. So to the answer the question, something will come sooner or later, we just don´t know what it will be or exactly when it will happen.
MM: The world is in total turmoil, so many ideas and themes I guess for you guys lyrically!
Yeah, You ´re not wrong but it´s still a question of managing to boil down topics into 3-minute songs which isn´t always easy and I ´m not sure I want to be stuck in that box even if my track record more often than not says otherwise. I like the idea that we ´re totally free to go wherever we want topically and musically for that matter even if that might not be the case in reality. Don´t get me wrong, I do like the idea of saying somehing that means something and I have always loved songs with some kind of ”message”, I just don´t like the idea of being stuck there or being forced to always have to say serious shit.
MM: You are out on tour at the moment what can we expect from Clawfinger live
Live it´s simply about connecting with the fans, making the stage disappear and creating an atmosphere where everyone feels like they´re part of the show. It´s everbodies party and were all in it together so there is no time for stuck up rockstar shit. We like to communicate with our fans as much as possible. We try and put as much raw and spontaneous energy into our shows as possible, whatever happens happens and that´s the beauty of it. We are more relaxed than ever but we still put great pride in being tight but we also leave space for laughs and giggles. The buzz... the buzz you get off the audience is amazing. I mean, it's the audience that makes a gig, you know? When you're on stage there, and there's this huge crowd of people, all sweating and jumping about, and all enjoying themselves, and it's all because of you.
MM: You have toured already with some metal icons but if u could have 3 bands to go on tour with dead or alive who would u choose
That is a nasty question to ask cos there are so many amazing bands out there that I could/would choose for totally egoistical reasons. Ideally we would choose bands that we thought would fit with our style of music and that would make our audiences happy but if I could choose totally freely then I would pick Frank Zappa, Tom Waits and Jimi Hendrix. I know, none of those are metal. How about Dead Kennedys, (with Jello of course), Crass and The Sex Pistols, nope not metal either. Uhm, ok lets see. I would choose Faith No More, Alice In Chains and Barkmarket, there you go!
MM: Tell us your best experience playing live ever if possible
The big festivals back at the beginning of our career were truly mindblowing, our first time at Roskilde was a mindfuck, Rock Am Ring in Germany blew us away, Monsters Of Rock in South America with Ozzy, Alice Cooper, Megadeth, Faith No More, Paradise Lost and Therapy? was the trip of a lifetime. There have also been club gigs in Spain that were totally crazy and also intimate gigs in France with bad audience attendance that turned into shows I will never forget. Being able to look every single fan in the audience in the eyes and then doing the last songs actually standing amongst them is an experience in itself even if we of course would prefer to sell out a venue. It´s impossible to pick one specific gig or moment, simply because there are so many fun memories and most of them have had their own stories and absolute charm in totally different unpredictable ways.
MM: And now your worst experience
We had an argument while on tour and because of it a tense band meeting just before a gig on the outskirts of Venice. Everyone went on stage mad, our guitarist drank the better part of a bottle of whiskey on stage during the gig and basically had to be lead off after the show, I deliberately stomped and jumped on the stage until I managed to break through the floor and all of a sudden my head was the only thing visible to the audience, our stage tech had to repair it while we continued playing, banging his hammer to the beat, it was nasty. At the same time it´s a very funny memory in a twisted sort of way and at least we learned to never have band meetings just before gig time again!
MM: Can you tell us the most outrageous thing u have ever done in the name of Rock n Roll
I don´t really know what to say, I mean we ´ve had our moments of doing stupid shit, you know, the clichés, food fights, chucking the occasional thing out a window thinking we ´re all that but they´ve been very few. At the end of the day we ´re reasonably grounded and don´t like ruining things for others but boredom can create silly situations and when you have too much time to kill on the road idiotic things can happen. Most of the time though we just have internal practical jokes going on and a very childish jargon. That way the only people we ´re making fools of or hurting is ourselves!
MM: If you could form a supergroup, with you, who would u choose (include yourself in the lineup!)
Ok so I guess that means me on vocals, on drums I would have Terry Bozzio, on bass Lemmy, on guitar Page Hamilton, on keys Mark Ramos Nishita AKA money Mark.
MM: What would you say has been your biggest accomplishment
Not trying to be anything else than what we are, we ´ve made our mistakes and bad decisions through the years but at the end of the day we have done things the way we ´ve wanted to do them and we can´t blame anyone but ourselves if things haven´t gone as planned because it´s always been down to us. We certainly haven´t done everything perfectly but we ´ve never faked shit except for that one photosession in 1997 when we let them persuade us to use just a little make-up and picked our wardrobe, that never happened again. We ´re a weird dysfunctional bunch of idiots and it sometimes feels like we do everything the wrong way round but somehow when we get together and all the stars allign something magical happens and at the end of the day we still love what we do!
MM: What song do you think has the heaviest riff of all time
I have no idea which song has the heaviest riff of all time but Helmets: In the meantime is definitely has one of my favourite heavy riffs!
MM: can you tell me the last song you listened to
Led Zeppelin: Ramble on
MM: Four words to describe Clawfinger
Honest, heartfelt, direct, catchy.
quick fire:
1. vinyl or digital. Vinyl for the artwork, digital for easy access.
2. saint or sinner. Don´t believe in either, we ´re just a bunch of stupid humans trying to make sense of this planet and some of us are fucking shit up more than others.
3. festival or small intimate gig. Love them both in different ways for different reasons.
4. Meatballs or beer. My wife always tells me that a beer is the equivalent of about ten meatballs caloriewise but if I have to choose then beer wins every time.
5. Abba or Hellacopters. Two great bands, for dancing and singing karaoke I choose ABBA, for hellraising and beer drinking I choose Hellacopters.
Keep on keeping on and be cool, be yourself, peace/Zak
