What can I do for you?
Jocke – keyboards, vocals
Zak Tell – Vocals
Bård Torstensen – Guitars
Micke Dahlén – Drums
André Skaug – Bass
Clawfinger is a rap metal band from Sweden and they are known for their aggressive but melodic music and for tackling political and anti-racist themes in their songs.
The band’s origin dates back to the summer of 1989 when Zak Tell, Bård Torstensen, Erlend ottem and Jocke Skog met while working together at the Rosenlund Hospital somewhere in the vicinity of Stockholm. Soon the four realized their similar interests in music and decided to make something together, just for fun.
Their original demo comprising three tracks (Waste of Time, Nigger and Profit Preacher) quickly secured them local radio airplay and consequently brought them to the attention of the MVG label. “Nigger” is an anti-racism statement that caused quite a stir and was a massive success; it was also released as a single. By the beginning of the 1990s, Clawfinger released their debut Deaf Dumb Blind on MVG Records. This sold in over 680,000 copies worldwide and was critically acclaimed in Swedish press. With the addition of André Skaug and drummer Morten Skaug, Clawfinger went on tour and played at countless European festivals including major support slots with Anthrax and Alice in Chains.
The band received many awards, including two home Grammies at the Swedish Grammy Awards in 1994 for best hard rock band and best music video. After touring, they went straight back in the studio to record their second album, Use Your Brain. After the release of this album they went on yet another touring campaign, most notably participating at Ozzy Osbourne’s Monsters of Rock Festival in Brazil and Chile, rocking alongside American metal counterparts like Megadeth, Faith No More, and Alice Cooper. Back in Europe they continued their touring campaign by participating at festivals and countless gigs.
Since then they have released five further albums and continued to carve out a path that is very much their own and for each album they have taken more and more control over the entire procedure from beginning to end. They are one of the original founding groups of the style that has now become known around the world as rapmetal, crossover, industrial metal, nu-metal etc…we have many names for the things we love! 🙂 Last but not least they are considered to be an extremely tight and hard hitting live band who never disappoint on stage and always deliver the goods no matter the conditions, satisfaction is gaurenteed when it comes to Clawfinger!