20/03/2026
Interview with CLAWFINGER
Back in the early ‘90s, the Swedish-Norwegian quintet took off like a rocket. Their first album earned gold records and two Grammys and it influenced a good number of new bands like Korn. They even had the luxury of having Rammstein as their opening band in 1995! After two decades, 1,500 gigs and 1.5 million records sold, the titans of crossover metal have finally released a new record. This is a good reason for us to have a chat with lead vocalist Zak Tell. Prepare for an interesting comparison between the old and new music industry, some very honest statements and tour anecdotes – from crashing a wedding to Zak breaking through the stage floor!
MMP: Hi Zak, First I have to say that it’s a special honour for me to do this interview as “Deaf Dumb Blind” brought me into metal over 30 years ago, together with the “Black Album” from Metallica.
Zak Tell: Nice! It’s one of the records that got me into metal as well!
MMP: (laughs) So you didn’t listen to metal before you made metal music yourself?
ZT: I had some Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath albums; I mean I listen to music, but I don’t really care about labels or what something is called. So, I wasn’t strictly a metalhead, I simply like music.
MMP: Nevertheless, despite being quite new to metal, you had immediate success, earning gold records and Grammys. Can you tell me what the band’s expectations for the success of the new album are?
ZT: I don’t expect anything at all anymore! We’re 33 years older than we were when “Deaf Dumb Blind” came out, we’ve done this a couple of times and know that there are no guarantees. We have never really done it for the fame or the glory. It has always been a fairly egoistical process of making music because we love to do it. Everything beyond that is a bonus. Of course, I hope that things go really well, I’m not stupid! But it’s a business that has changed immensely since the early ‘90s. Physical albums don’t sell like they used to. We are just happy when people like the new album and we’re proud of it! It’s our first album in 19 years. I’m happy anyway, it’s quite fun doing the festivals and picking out gigs here and there. I don’t have that dream of making a living from music anymore or at least I’m not hungry enough to work 150% for it! It’s hard to find the energy if you are a middle-aged person with a regular job.
MMP: I know well what you are talking about; we are the same age. As you just said, the music business has changed a lot. Your last album, “Life Will Kill You”, came out in 2007, the same year when Type O Negative was still releasing records and the first smartphones were sold. Today we’ve got streaming, YouTube, social media and algorithms. Would you say that the fight for attention has become as important as the music itself?
ZT: I guess in some ways that is the reality. You can call it sad, you can call it wrong, but in all honesty, at the end of the day, as a band you want that attention. I’m not prepared to pr******te myself, but if it’s smart to release more videos, then we’ll make a few more low-budget videos. You constantly have to produce something so that people don’t lose interest and forget about you. Do I prefer the old way more? I’m not sure. I think it’s important to adapt. This doesn’t mean that you necessarily like the way everything works and it doesn’t mean you have to do everything the new way. But there is nothing wrong with being open-minded about it.
MMP: Was there a particular reason why Clawfinger decided to make a comeback?
ZT: Yeah, we had songs! That’s the honest answer. As you know, we split up and then we got a festival offer, so we thought that we could do a one-off gig. People realized that we were playing again, so we got offers to play a few more festivals. And then our manager came over to Stockholm to have a meeting with us and he asked us if we would consider writing a new song. “Save Our Souls” was the name of that song - I can’t remember what year that was (2017, ed.) but it was the first time in many years that we tried writing a song together and it came quite easily. I won’t say it’s our best song and it didn’t even end up on the album, but we tried to find the path again. So, we needed that song just to test the waters again. The fans who had lost hope got it back. Then, “Deaf Dumb Blind” was turning 25 in 2018, so we did a short club tour playing the album in its entirety. We wrote another song and we slowly got back into it. We live far away from each other, so it takes time and it all comes down to me because if I don’t have the lyrics, nothing is going to happen. I’m quite picky and self-critical, so a lot of the time I couldn’t come up with anything and then there is no song. But by 2023, we had a bunch of songs and then we had a Zoom meeting with our manager who suggested releasing a new album before we all die (laughs).
MMP: So, do you start writing lyrics before you have the instrumental part?
ZT: Well, we don’t have one specific way of making music. Sometimes we just have a heavy drum beat or a guitar riff that turns into a chorus - it’s a lot about bits and pieces with us. We really like putting a puzzle together because we have never been a band that jams together in a rehearsal studio. It’s different for every song. “A Fu***ng Disgrace” on the new album for example started out as a kind of blues song that I made myself. I sent it out to our guitarist Bård and the first thing he asked me was: “Is it a Clawfinger song or is it a Zak song?”. And I was like: “I don’t know, what’s the difference?”. In the end, Bård reworked the instrumental part and it turned into something a bit more Clawfinger. So, there isn’t one single way to male music. We’re no longer in the loop of writing music, recording, touring, writing music, recording, touring… we don’t do that anymore and we don’t stress about it. That was the liberating thing about this batch of songs, it has come naturally and organically.
MMP: Thus, you feel free now?
ZT: Yes, absolutely! It’s nice not to be part of that race.
MMP: You made my day when I took a look at the press kit. There’s a group picture where all the band members show their naked backsides! Did you intend to express some kind of “kiss my ass” anger towards the current world we live in, or can this mess only be endured with humour?
ZT: I wish I could say yes. It is a very good metaphor you’re giving and it sounds cool when you interpret it that way! We took that picture a quarter of an hour before a show in the north of Germany. We were just feeling silly and in full in adrenaline mode. It was not really intended to be a press photo, but someone in the management thought it was a funny idea and put it in the press kit. We didn’t ask for it, but in the end, it’s so much fun to have untypical press photos because there’s nothing more boring than seeing bands trying to look hard, standing in industrial areas. This has been done so many times.
MMP: You’re currently wearing a baseball cap with the word “SCUM”, the title of the opening track of your new album. At the end of this song, a politician with a voice like Donald Trump is shot. This reminds me of some songs from the “Zeroes & Heroes” album that denounced the politics of George W. Bush. Almost a quarter of a century lies between these two records, yet many of your old themes are still relevant today. Do you still believe that music can change opinions or is this just wishful thinking?
ZT: I certainly believe that music can guide you on your way to what you believe to be right or wrong. I can only look at myself and the music I grew up loving, its lyrics, and how it shaped me into what I am now. So, the answer is yes! But of course, it takes more than just music. It has to come from within you, but certain bands definitely have the power to strengthen those ideas and thoughts. Do we do it deliberately to change other people? No! I grew up loving Bob Dylan’s protest music, I grew up loving John Lennon, the Dead Kennedys and other bands that try to say something. Those things feel important to me, so it’s great if we can make a difference. I wish I could say that I’m that kind of militant activist who deeply lives every word he says, but that would be pushing the truth a bit. I mean, I never write anything I don’t believe, but I do exaggerate sometimes to make the music and lyrics more powerful; it’s a simple old trick to catch people’s attention.
MMP: I can see what you mean. Your band always stood for powerful messages against racism. But today, some people are too ignorant to understand the lyrics – you probably know what song I’m referring to; the one you can’t perform live anymore.
ZT: Yeah, I know exactly what song you are talking about, the song that starts with the letter “N”.
MMP: Would you say that you had to be more careful in expressing yourself on the new record?
ZT: We haven’t played that song since 2021 because the political climate has changed. The way people hear things is different, there’s a new political awareness and people care less about context. And for this reason, songs like that can even be dangerous. It’s a very different world than in 1991 when we wrote that song. Do I think about it when writing lyrics? No, not really. When we are talking about being careful, a song like “Scum” shouldn’t be there. On the other hand, that moron is allowed to say whatever the f**k he wants, people can hear it all over the world and he gets away with it, so why the hell shouldn’t we be allowed to say we think he’s a morally corrupt f**king as***le, you know? Of course, there are people who hate us for that song, but that’s their problem and not ours!
MMP: Clawfinger had Rammstein as an opening band in the ‘90s and you helped them to make their first breakthrough. So, did you ever text Till or Richard “You owe me a beer!”?
ZT: (laughs) I don’t have their numbers, so the answer is no. I think I have contact with someone in their management because back in 1995 when they supported us, I recorded some of their live shows from the stage with a Hi8 camera. If I went to a show, I could get on their guest list, but in the music industry, it’s rare to make close friends; it’s not that intimate, or at least not for me.
MMP: I thought you might be friends as later on in the 2000s, you went on tour with Rammstein.
ZT: Yeah, we went on the “Mutter” tour with them. That was great fun; they’re lovely guys and of course we hung out and drank some beer. But you know, these guys are busy and very successful, so their time is very limited.
MMP: Were the after-show parties really as wild as people say?
ZT: I would say yes! At least the part I saw. I don’t know what happened later on. At the end of the day, they are guys from East Germany who found success in a band and they are enjoying it. Is it always tasteful? Maybe not in my opinion, but they are all grown-ups and they are doing things the way they want; that’s not my decision. I think we are a little bit more Scandinavian and down-to-earth.
MMP: You did a lot of tours and played about 1,500 shows in your life, so you probably can tell me more backstage stories!
ZT: Oh, there have been loads of stupid s**t, loads of fun and loads of terrible or boring things! I mean, we spend an enormous amount of time just waiting and killing time – for the gig to start, for the tour bus to leave, for the plane to depart, for everything. But let me think of a funny story. We went to a German festival which was cancelled because of a storm, but we only noticed it after we had already landed. Getting new flights back turned out to be so expensive that we decided to stay at the hotel. When we got there, it turned out that there was a wedding, so we ended up crashing that wedding party! We spent the entire evening and half of the night partying with the married couple and their friends. Everybody got ridiculously drunk and we ended up naked in a pond in the back garden of the hotel! It was just a really funny evening where nothing bad happened. So that was one of my favourite festival experiences! (laughs).
MMP: I bet! But did they know you were famous musicians?
ZT: They found out during the evening. Then there was also a story from when we played outside of Venice in Italy. We had a big band argument just before the show, so we all walked onto the stage really angry and I remember our guitarist grabbing a bottle of whisky which he took up with him on stage. I was so angry that I tried to break the stage by jumping, and in the end, I managed to break through it! All of a sudden, the only thing above the stage was my head! Our stage technician was putting the plates back in place with a hammer in time to the music (laughs). Meanwhile, our guitarist continued drinking whisky and by the end of the show he was drunk and we had to leave him on stage. Another funny story happened in Germany. The bass player and I shared a hotel room and on our day off we went out for some day drinking. He got tired and fell asleep when we were back at the hotel. We decided to take the TV out of the room and put it in one of the other band member’s room. When our guitar player went into the room the next morning to wake him up, he said: “André, André, we have to leave now! Where is your TV, what have you done with it?” He was totally stressed because he couldn’t remember. He opened the windows, looked down at the street and said: “I don’t f**king know where the TV is!”. In the end, we brought it back – so that’s our way of killing time.
MMP: Let me ask you a personal question to finish this interview. When everything gets quiet – no stage, no crowd – how would you describe yourself without Clawfinger?
ZT: Oh, well I don’t know. I’m always going to be Zak from Clawfinger and I don’t think a day goes by where I’m not reminded of it. Apart from that, I do other stuff just like anybody else. I play table tennis with my brother regularly, I drink beer with my dad sometimes, I hang out with friends, I watch movies, I’m lying on the sofa tired as f**k after work and I do absolutely nothing - and I go on holidays with my wife. Just regular stuff as everyone does. It’s just that I have the bonus and the luxury hobby of being in a pretty successful band. But apart from that, I’m just a regular dude who likes music and drinks beer. I have my 9-to-5 fulltime job as well, so my life is very unexotic.
MMP: Maybe that’s a good thing.
ZT: Yeah, I do think it’s a good thing. It makes it easier to be hungry, to enjoy what we are doing and it makes it so much easier for the adrenaline to still kick in when we get up on the stage. The physical part is a lot harder now than it was in ‘93. I’m getting old and my body is telling me that I’m a f**king idiot! Nevertheless, we’re looking forward to the festival season, which starts for us in May. We have more fun than ever now because we are cool with it; it’s not dead serious anymore.
MMP: I do believe that you have a lot of fun when you are on stage as I remember well the last time I saw you performing. During your show at the Summer Breeze Open Air in 2019, you were showing your belly to the crowd.
ZT: Yeah, you know, we are what we are! For me, there’s no contradiction between making jokes and saying something serious with a deep meaning. It’s a festival and people are there to have a good time, so let’s have fun! We still take great pride in giving the best show we can, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t make jokes as well.
MMP: I think these are good closing words for this interview. Thanks a lot for your time and your honest answers!
ZT: Thank you, take care!
Photo credit: Dean Gregorius
