Clawfinger

Clawfinger
Clawfinger in the Saarbrücken garage in February 2006
General information
Genre (s)	Crossover , rap metal
founding	1991, 2014
resolution	2013
Website	www.clawfinger.net
Current occupation
singing	Zak Tell
Keyboard , guitar	Jocke Skog
Rhythm guitar	Bård Torstensen
Drums	Micke Dahlén
bass	André Skaug (live)
former members
Lead guitar	Erlend Ottem (until 2003)
Drums	Henka Johansson (1997-2008)

Clawfinger ( engl. "Clawed fingers") is a crossover - band from Sweden and Norway .

The band achieved great fame in Europe in the early 1990s in the burgeoning crossover trend. The Scandinavians were considered to be the pioneers of this genre. However, when the crossover wave subsided, they lost their popularity. In 2007 they released their seventh studio album. What was striking about the first generation of commercially successful crossover bands was the socially critical content. Clawfinger's big hits come from 1992-1996 ( Nigger , The Truth , Pin Me Down , Do What I Say ). Then the band landed two chart successes with single releases ( Biggest and the best and Out to Get Me ) as well as well-known remixes for bands like Rammstein or Die Krupps . By operating their own Fear-and-Loathing - Sound Studios in Sweden with the band Meshuggah are Clawfinger as a producer of many rap - and metal productions active behind the scenes.

history

1992-1993: Deaf Dumb Blind

The band received media attention only a few months after their debut album Deaf Dumb Blind (1993), because the very first single Nigger was condemned as a racist song and brought the band into discussion on MTV and VIVA . Due to the misunderstandings, singer Zak Tell still announces the song as an "anti-racist piece" at some concerts today. In response, Clawfinger published the song Braindead on an Antifa soli sampler from Stockholm's Antifa. The single The Truth , released in the same year , finally ran up and down on the music channels; tours with Alice in Chains , Die Krupps and Anthrax followed . Appearances at major international festivals such as Rock am Ring or Roskilde Festival followed quickly , and the song Warfair became the third single. 250,000 units of the album were sold in Germany.

nigger

The song criticizes black minorities - especially those in the US hip-hop culture  - for using the word " nigger " for themselves, as it was originally used by whites as an extremely derogatory term for people of dark skin color . The German translation of the first stanza is roughly:

German: Damn, look here, I don't get it: Why do you call your brother a nigger? You talk about black pride and then call yourself a nigger Don't put yourself down like that, it's pointless. Look at yourself and your story: You don't look like a goddamn nigger to me. It's a negative word and the white man made it up He gave you a name to dominate and sell you Made blood money with his own race And all because of the color of your face [...]

English: Goddamn my man you see I can't understand Why you wanna say nigger to your brother man Talk about black pride then you call yourself a nigger Don't bring yourself down cos it just don't figure Take a look at yourself and your history You don't look like a goddamn nigger to me It's a negative word and the white man made it Gave you a name to dominate and trade it Making blood money of this very own race man And all of this because the color of your face man

(from: Nigger , text: Zak Tell , published on: Deaf Dumb Blind )

Critics countered that one's own use of the word would also lead to an elimination of the word as a dirty word.

1993-1996: Use Your Brain

The second album Use Your Brain built on the success of its predecessor and sold another 250,000 copies. The first single Pin Me Down came into the heavy rotation on music TV . In terms of sound, the band didn't change anything in their concept. Song structure, content and stylistic devices were retained and the band showed no creative development. The single Do What I say also became a radio hit because of its title, angrily screamed by two underage boys. The song deals critically with authoritarian upbringing and the reflection of the educated.

After three years of intensive touring and over 500 live concerts around the world with highlights from the Monsters of Rock Festival in South America in 1994, the band's career began to take a turn for the worse. So plans to release the first album in the USA burst after the song Nigger was supposed to be replaced by a B-side ( Get It ). Altogether there were two unsuccessful attempts to gain a foothold in the North American market.

1997–2001: Clawfinger and the "Rammstein Connection"

On the third album Clawfinger (1997) the sawing and dominating guitars gave way to slowly progressing and viscous eating rhythms. Also the lyrics no longer had the note of youth rebellion, but moved away from lyrics with raised index fingers and showed a more emotional and psychologically darker side of the band. Despite the use of new stylistic devices and various sound experiments, the sales figures collapsed (approx. 150,000 albums in Germany), although the band also landed another disco hit with their new single Biggest and the Best , while crossover acts such as Dog Eat Dog , H- Blockx and others had recently disappeared into oblivion. The second single, Two Sides , was hardly noticed. The band received greater praise for their remixes for the German band Rammstein , for which they first produced a remix in 1997.

2001–2003: A Whole Lot of Zeros?

After the band was put off by their label wea and there was never a release of the newly written songs, Clawfinger changed the label and went to GUN Records . GUN helped Clawfinger with the release Out to Get Me (2001) after years of failures to another top 100 hit. The release as well as the album A Whole Lot of Nothing (2001) helped the band to make a comeback. However , there were no creative excursions like on Clawfinger or new lyrical insights from the band. Instead, Clawfinger repeated himself not only musically, but also in terms of content. With Out to Get Me or Nothing Going On , however, two singles were released, which brought the band back to the big stages.

The album Zeros & Heroes , released in 2003, received almost no attention, the GUN label made the band disappear into oblivion through cautious marketing and the band toured the country far away from the big festivals at small rock and metal open airs in rural regions . Then there was the departure of the guitarist Erlend Ottem in October 2003. Since Erlend left, Jocke has often taken over the guitar in addition to the keyboard. The only single from the album Recipe for Hate was the soundtrack to the matrix - video game .

From 2005: Nuclear Blast

In 2005 Clawfinger signed a new record deal with Nuclear Blast , a label focusing on metal. This means that Clawfinger, alongside Manowar , In Flames or Graveworm, are in a musical neighborhood that was previously unknown to them. Hate Yourself with Style was released on November 21, 2005 . There were music videos for Dirty Lies and Without a Case .

The album was slightly different from the previous albums, so several voices and tempo changes were often used in the choruses. Overall, the band kept their previous style of music. The lyrics remained at the usual critical level, but this time allowed more insults.

On July 27, 2007, the album Life Will Kill You was also released on Nuclear Blast. There were music videos for The Price We Pay and Prisoners .

At the end of August 2013, the band announced the breakup, but they still give a few concerts, especially at festivals. In 2017, for example, they were live at the Irreversible Festival and have been announced for the Wacken Open Air . On August 4, 2017, the band released a new single called Save Our Souls .

style

Clawfinger were long traded as the European answer to Rage Against the Machine ( USA ), as they seemed to be closely related to this band both in terms of sound and content. “ With their clinical guitars and pounding beats, they were the most electronic version of the fidgety virus that was rampant at the time ” (source: Plattentests.de ). This sound is considered a trademark of the band. It is characterized by sharp-sawing guitar sounds, which often rhythmically support the rap singing for less than two riffs . Clawfingers don't use guitar solos. The style is characterized by simple and very short guitar riffs and tangible hooklines as well as easy-to-remember choruses. The guitars are usually recorded directly on the mixer without guitar amps and additional pickups .

A reference in the booklet of the debut album in 1993 describes the band's sound very well today:

" This record is loaded with samples , loops and no guitar amps ".

This allusion was aimed directly at Rage Against the Machine, who particularly referred to producing all sounds with the guitars themselves and wrote in their own booklet of the self-titled debut album in 1992:

" No samples, keyboards or synthesizers used in the making of this recording "

Remixes

Already with the first single Nigger and special remix EPs , the band lived out creatively with remixes. However, there were rarely really elementary changes in one's own musical development. The singer's statement "Remixes are rip-offs", which was made very early on, is countered by numerous remixes of his own. So there were countless interpretations of their own songs ranging from techno to hard industrial experiments. The band earned international hymns of praise with a remix for Die Krupps , for which they reinterpreted their hit To the Hilt .

Tape network

Die Krupps: Clawfinger remixed their biggest hit To the Hilt for Die Krupps in 1994 on the compilation The Final Remixes . The remix was widely recognized and represents a fusion between rap, metal and industrial. Jürgen Engler and Die Krupps then returned the favor in the same year with a remix of the song Pin Me Down , which appeared on the single of the same name. In 1996 Clawfinger contributed the Clawfinger Remix to the single Isolation .

Drain: A women's metal combo from Sweden that experienced a brief hype in the late 1990s. After the joint tour, I Don´t Mind (Clawfinger Remix) was created on the US single Crack the Liar's Smile , 1998.

In Extremo: In 2003 the band remixed the song Küss mich (Clawfinger Remix) for In Extremo .

Just D .: At the beginning of his career, the hip hopper from Sweden took Clawfinger in tow. Clawfinger also recorded an album as an instrumental band with Just D., in 1991 before their first single.

Mambo Kurt: The band discovered Mambo Kurt after their performance in Bochum. "We wanted to have another drink, we came to a bar where the solo entertainer was playing his set of metal and rock anthems with his Hammond organ .", Zak Tell told a journalist for the newspaper "RaKJu". Mambo Kurt was taken on tour and played a 15 minute set on the Clawfinger album tour before the actual opening act Cold . Mambo Kurt was discovered and there followed appearances on TV (including Verona Feldbusch ) and his own record releases. On his 3rd album "Ekstase" (2002) he covered Nigger .

Meshuggah: Together with Meshuggah, Clawfinger run the “Fear and Loathing Studio” in Spanga, Sweden. Jocke Skog mixed the song Future Breed Machine .

Misery Loves Co .: On the promotional tour for "Use Your Brain" it was the opening act for Clawfinger. For the EP "Happy?" (1997) Jocke Skog gave a Sonic Attac Zorbact Mix for Clawfinger . Also for the tour single the Sonic Attack (Seven Snare Clawfinger Mix) .

Rammstein: In 2001 the band only received greater praise for their remixes for the German band Rammstein, Du hast (Clawfinger remix) (1997). Rammstein helped Clawfinger not to disappear into oblivion in the years that followed. For the song Sonne (2001) there were two remixes, Sonne (Clawfinger KO Remix) and Sonne (Clawfinger TKO Remix) . In the same year Clawfinger played the Links 2-3-4 (Clawfinger Straight Remix) again . In 2005, Clawfinger received a lot of praise for an extraordinarily unexpected jazz remix of the song Keine Lust , for which there was also a Keine Lust (Remix N ° 1) (2005). On the joint tour in 2001, Clawfinger and Rammstein covered Pet Sematary from the Ramones together in a 12-minute encore in memory of the then recently deceased Ramones singer Joey Ramone .

Slick Idiot: Bård Torstensen remixed Get Down (With Give In) on the album ReDickUlous , 2003.

Tone Norum: The sister of Europe guitarist John Norum worked with Bård Torstensen and Erlend Ottem for their 1992 album Don´t Turn Around as a studio musician on two tracks.

Discography

Studio albums

year	Title music album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	SE
1993	Deaf Dumb Blind WEA	DE32 gold (53 weeks)DE	AT16 (16 weeks) AT	CH19 (17 weeks) CH	-	SE5 (33 weeks) SE	First published: April 21, 1993 Sales: + 270,000
1995	Use Your Brain WEA	DE8 (31 weeks) DE	AT9 (16 weeks) AT	CH6 (17 weeks) CH	UK80 (1 week) UK	SE7 (9 weeks) SE	First published: March 23, 1995
1997	Clawfinger WEA	DE35 (6 weeks) DE	AT2 (7 weeks) AT	CH39 (4 weeks) CH	UK99 (1 week) UK	SE20 (5 weeks) SE	First published: September 29, 1997
2001	A Whole Lot of Nothing Supersonic	DE12 (9 weeks) DE	AT9 (10 weeks) AT	CH26 (7 weeks) CH	-	SE48 (1 week) SE	First published: July 23, 2001
2003	Zeros & Heroes Gun Records	DE65 (3 weeks) DE	AT60 (3 weeks) AT	CH22 (6 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: May 26, 2003
2005	Hate Yourself with Style Nuclear Blast	-	-	CH51 (2 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: November 18, 2005
2007	Life Will Kill You Nuclear Blast	DE89 (1 week) DE	AT62 (4 weeks) AT	CH15 (6 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: July 27, 2007

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	SE
1993	Nigger Deaf Dumb Blind	-	-	-	-	SE22 (3 weeks) SE	First published: 1993 Sales: + 5,000
	Warfair Deaf Dumb Blind	-	-	-	UK54 (2 weeks) UK	SE12 (13 weeks) SE	First published: 1993
1995	Pin Me Down Use Your Brain	-	-	-	UK87 (1 week) UK	SE28 (4 weeks) SE	First published: 1995
1997	Biggest & the Best Clawfinger	-	-	-	UK94 (1 week) UK	-	First published: 1997
	Two Sides Clawfinger	-	-	-	UK79 (1 week) UK	-	First published: 1997
2001	Out to Get Me A Whole Lot of Nothing	DE68 (7 weeks) DE	AT74 (1 week) AT	-	-	-	First published: 2001

More singles

• 1992: Rosegrove
• 1992: The Truth
• 1994: Do What I Say
• 1995: Tomorrow
• 1998: Don't Wake Me Up
• 1998: Fast Forward Rewind (Remix EP )
• 2001: Nothing Going 'On
• 2003: Recipe for Hate
• 2005: Dirty Lies
• 2006: Without a Case
• 2007: The Price We Pay
• 2007: Prisoners
• 2017: Save Our Souls

Awards for music sales

Golden record

•  Norway
  • 1994: for the album Deaf-Dumb-Blind
  • 1994: for the single nigger

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Germany (BVMI)	gold1	-	250,000	musikindustrie.de
Norway (IFPI)	2 × gold2	-	25,000	ifpi.no ( Memento from November 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
All in all	3 × gold3	-

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.musik-sammler.de/artist/182
2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ [1]
4. ↑ [2]
5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn9bwmzxfBI

Web links

• Official website
• Clawfinger at laut.de
• Chart sources: DE / AT / CH / UK / SE