ZAK TELL Explains Why It Has Taken CLAWFINGER 19 Years To Release New Studio Album

In a new interview with Seb Di Gatto of The Metal Gods Meltdown, vocalist Zak Tell of Swedish-Norwegian rap-metal trailblazers CLAWFINGER spoke about the band's long-awaited comeback album, "Before We All Die", which will arrive on February 20 via Perception, a division of Reigning Phoenix Music. Asked why it took him and his CLAWFINGER bandmates 19 years to release the follow-up to 2007's "Life Will Kill You", Tell said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, what happened… What didn't happen? Life. When we did our last tour of 2007, at the very tail end of 2007, we already knew that we were running out of money, which happens to people all the time. The thing is, we made a living off CLAWFINGER from '93 onwards. Up until 2007, the beginning of 2008, we actually made a living off CLAWFINGER, so that was our main source of income. And we could spend our days in a studio, writing songs and mucking about. Once we came to 2008, we no longer had that luxury anymore and we had to do what everyone has to do in the end and that is find jobs. And there's nothing unique about that. The reality was we had to find jobs. All of a sudden you're stuck in a nine-to-five, Monday to Friday. We also had kids, most of us."

Zak continued: "We'd released seven albums. We'd done the recording, touring guinea pig wheel thing for quite a few years. We kept on playing festivals for a few years after 2008, and then gradually it all just sort of crumbled, I guess. And I don't know — I guess we were disillusioned and it just felt like maybe CLAWFINGER had run its course. And I think we convinced ourselves that was the case. So in 2013, we split up. And in reality, we only spent one year not doing anything. And then we got an offer from a festival in Switzerland that paid well. MOTÖRHEAD and a bunch of other bands were playing. And we were, like, 'Why not? What's stopping us from doing a one-off gig or a couple of gigs here and there?' And then once we did that gig, we remembered how fun it was. And then other offers started coming in, and then the snowball slowly started rolling again. And then all of a sudden it was the 25th anniversary of [CLAWFINGER's debut album, 1993's] 'Deaf Dumb Blind', and our manager said, 'Maybe you should do a tour on that.' And we were, like, 'Yeah, why not?' Another year passes by. We do a few more festivals that summer. Our manager calls to have a meeting with us, and he's coming over to Stockholm, and he says, 'Guys, if I rent a hotel apartment, would you consider writing a new song?' And we were, like, 'Yeah. We could always give it a go. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't.' And within 24 hours, we had a new song, 'Save Our Souls'. Not necessarily the best song we've ever written and recorded, but it came easy, and we had fun. And then we did some more festivals, and then we recorded another song a couple of years later, 'Tear You Down'. And that's when it started feeling like it was back to what CLAWFINGER sound like. Then we got some more festivals, and we started playing a few more festivals than we did the summer before that. And then we wrote another song, 'cause I found a beat that Jocke [Skog, keyboards] made that I thought was good and we released 'Environmental Patients'. And then we started getting more and more festivals. Last summer we did 14 festivals all around Europe. But at some point, and this would've been 2022, maybe, early '23, we had a Zoom meeting with our manager, and he was, like, 'Guys, I know that you've sort of been getting back into the groove of things, and I know that you have, like, six, seven songs that you've written.' So he was, like, 'Would you consider writing maybe three more and we could release an album before we all die?' And that is literally where the [new album] title came from."

Elaborating on the lyrical inspiration for "Before We All Die" and some of the songs on the album, Zak said: "Part of it is just a joke because we're old farts, and we're not gonna live forever, so we'd better hurry up and release a new album. And, of course, it's also about the fact that we are ruining the one earth we have — we are literally tearing it apart. And when I looked at the lyrics, a lot of the lyrics I had were about how fucking dumb we are… So the title started off as a joke, but it also fit very well with the songs we had. And the cover was designed to fit with the title. And, yeah, so we wrote a few more songs, and the last song we wrote was the song that became [the title track] 'Before We All Die'. 'Cause I asked the other guys, 'Shouldn't we have a song that's called the same thing as the album title?' That would mean that we had 12 songs in total, which sounds better than 11. And also it's a pretty cool name for a song. And then we wrote that song and that was the last song before we had a finished album. We actually wrote and recorded that this summer. So that's the freshest song of the bunch."

Asked if CLAWFINGER has already started writing music for the follow-up to "Before We All Die", Zak said: "We are not that structured. There have been people asking if there will be a new album and if it will take 19 years as well. It feels like we've sort of fallen in love with writing and playing again. I mean, we never fell out of love with it completely, but there were some years where it felt more like work. And it feels like we're back in a good place now. I would like to imagine there will be a new album. Whether or not that will be in two years, five years, a year and a half, I know not, but I don't think it will take 19 years, if there is one."

CLAWFINGER are considered pioneers of European rap-metal. Formed in Stockholm in the early 1990s, the Swedish-Norwegian band made an explosive debut with "Deaf Dumb Blind" (1993),blending aggressive guitar riffs with politically charged lyrics and rap vocals. The album sold over 600,000 copies worldwide — more than 250,000 in Germany alone — and won a Swedish Grammis award in the hard rock/metal category.

CLAWFINGER's follow-up, "Use Your Brain" (1995) continued their success with chart placements across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Sweden. Over the years, they released seven studio albums, including "A Whole Lot Of Nothing", "Zeros & Heroes", "Hate Yourself With Style" and "Life Will Kill You", selling over 1.5 million records worldwide.

Known for their direct, riff-driven sound and strong political stance, CLAWFINGER address topics such as racism, political delusion, drug policy, environmental destruction, and social inequality. In the 1990s, they toured intensively with acts like ALICE IN CHAINS, MEGADETH and FAITH NO MORE and appeared at major festivals including Rock Am Ring, Roskilde and Monsters Of Rock in South America.

After a brief hiatus, the band returned in 2014 and has since released new singles like "Save Our Souls" (2017) and "Environmental Patients" (2022]) In 2025, CLAWFINGER signed a new label deal with Perception.

In July 2025, CLAWFINGER released the official Rune Foss-directed music video for "Scum". The track, which was mixed by Jocke Skog at the Sunmountain Facilities and mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street, is a clear jab at U.S. president Donald Trump, with such lyrics as "a bad taste in my mouth, a sore sight for my eyes a foul stench in the air, a nasty vibe in the house a bad excuse for a man, a dark time for the earth" and "another pussy to grab, yes that's what you said, a small cock in your pants, no brain in your head".

Tell said in a statement: "'Scum' is a raw, loud, and brutally honest punk rap anthem that goes straight for the throat. It's aimed at the kind of guy who's selfish, sexist, full of himself and somehow still talking. With sharp lyrics and a beat that hits like a punch, 'Scum' says what we're all thinking about that one guy we all wish would just vanish from the face of the earth. It's angry and it's dark. If you've ever wanted to spit in someone's face but lacked the upper-body strength or social permission, this song's for you."

Six years ago, Tell expressed his disdain for Trump while speaking to Germany's Metalogy about the enduring lyrical themes covered on the band's debut album, "Deaf Dumb Blind", which came out more than 30 years ago. He said: "I wish I could say that things have changed [since that record has released]. I guess a couple of things did that too. But if you look at what's going on in the world and how we behave as human beings, I think we haven't made much progress. And it looks like there is a Trump for every Greta [Thunberg] — that's just an example because it's just so much on the news. For every person who wants to improve the world, there is an idiot who wants to turn everything back. It kind of feels like it happens every time. I already thought that maybe this is simply human nature; the constant back-and-forth and colliding. I'm really not sure if things have gotten better. I wish I could say that they were. But I don't think they are. So I think that the 'Deaf Dumb Blind' message is still up to date and that it has stands the test of time quite well. Of course, it's difficult to be objective with something that is a big part of me."

In March 2022, CLAWFINGER released the official music video for its previous single, "Environmental Patients". The track marked the first new music from CLAWFINGER in more than two years.

Prior to the arrival of "Environmental Patients", CLAWFINGER released a single called "Tear You Down" in September 2019 and "Save Our Souls" in 2017. "Save Our Souls" was made available four years after CLAWFINGER announced it was calling it quits.

During the break from the studio, the members of CLAWFINGER were reportedly taking care of their families while performing sporadic reunion shows, mostly at European festivals. "CLAWFINGER no longer is our main job," the band explained at the time. "We all have other jobs and families to love."

CLAWFINGER's last studio album, the aforementioned "Life Will Kill You", was released in the U.S. in July 2008 via Locomotive Records. The CD, which entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 89 upon its European release in 2007, was recorded and produced at Sweden's Fear And Loathing Studios, a facility that CLAWFINGER runs along with the members of MESHUGGAH.

CLAWFINGER is:

Zak Tell - vocals
Jocke Skog - guitar, keyboards
Bård Torstensen - guitars
André Skaug - bass
Micke Dahlén - drums

Photo credit: Peter Bjöns