Finally... there was another Belgian Clawgig ! The Zeros and Heroes tour was coming to "Rock Ternat", which is the biggest "after summer" festival in Belgium. Tommy saw the Claws two days ago in Weert and he couldn't keep his mouth shut about all the great new songs that the Claws were doing live and how heavy they sounded even without Erlend. So that got me worked up and ready for the Clawgig ! The stupid thing about the festival was that the Claws were playing as the second band @ 16.45 ! If you know what "life style" the guys have while on tour, you may consider this hour as "very early in the morning" So off we went at around one in the afternoon, picked up a friend called David and drove to Ternat, where we met our Gods Of Metalrap on the bus (home is where the heart is !). They were going through the daily routine of playing some Vice City on the PS2. Damn it was great seeing them again ! Of course a big part of the Clawfamily was present: Maike, Ruud, Patric, Alex and Susie. Our Walon friend Julien was there as well. And then it was showtime !! I was on the side of the stage to take some pics while Tommy took David into the pit to have the time of his life...again ;-) What I saw was absolutely amazing ! Clawfinger blew everyone away, took all the attention of the crowd and turned the place into one big party. For the whole of the concert there was a great vibe hanging in the crowd and people were surfing like hell which inspired André (why am I not surprised) and even Zak to make a huge stagedive into the pit ! All the fans gave their best to turn this gig into one of the highlights of the festival (if you don't believe me, just check the guestbook on www.rockternat.be ) After the show, the Claws had a signing session, which gave the fans an opportunity to meet the band, what they really enjoyed by all means ! We even introduced the youngest Belgian Clawfinger-fan. Check out his pic in the picture section !!! We went back into the backstage area to get some beers, talk some more and have some more beers (I know, life is hard ! ) The next highlight of the day was still to come since the Claws agreed to have an afterparty at the "Dépot", which is...ahum... my bar We drove the bus to Steendorp where we park in the drive way. It looked like they shooved a bus in the Dépot's ass. Kinda huge that bus thing they have !! But we had a great time, about a zillion beers and a pizza dinner. Tommy's entire family showed up to meet the band their son was always nagging about ;-) A bunch of friends got word that Clawfinger was hanging out at the Dépot, so the place was getting crowded. Even Tud Russel was there to meet the band they were going to support in two weeks. Me and Zak had a little party of our own, since he finally got his hands on some new Zappa CD's I had for him. Damn man... everyone was very drunk. It was super ! The next morning Bard, Gustav, Henka and me went into town to get some food and afterwards we had a full blown Clawfinger breakfast ! And then it was time to get on the bus and prepare for the next gig. But we will meet again soon... for the gig of our lives ! TO BE CONTINUED !

Mmm... what to say about the Fun And Crust festival ? Not much if you ask me. It was a very small festival somewhere in the middle of "Hill Billy Land". It felt like the local farmers wanted something else then a yearly barbeque where they fry their cows and goats... Some wise ass must have said: "Hey what about a metal festival ?" And so it was... Höchstenbach now has its very own metal festival. With bands that are so proud of their nationality, that they hire fans to wave their home flags during the whole duration of the concert. With beer that is so warm, that you start to wonder if this is directly coming from the toilets. With a field so rocky, that you would look like Freddy Krueger after stage diving and landing on the ground with your face. With a backstage so charming, that you would feel right at home with all the Hillbillies surrounding you. With rockers so cool, that they rape a 13 year old and get the whole festival area sealed off by the police... I had a good time, but this whole thing made me kinda bitter. Being a father myself, I can't imagine being confronted with the horror that this girl's parents must have gone through after hearing this news. Sorry if I'm being so negative... but that just the way I feel about this. Anyway, it was great seeing Marcus & Jochen again, it was great to see Maike, Ruud, Melantrys & Alex again. The Clawz ruled... end of story.

Oh man ! The Clawz play Belgium ! At one of the biggest festival in the country: DOUR FESTIVAL. Tommy got back from his vacation so he travelled along with Maike and we had two special guests: Wesley (Tommy's brother) joined us for his very first Clawfinger concert and we had to pick up Susie at the Central Station in Brussels: a fun day !
When we arrived in Dour, the Clawz just got there and Bård (the new tour manager) had to arrange some things in order to get the guestlist done. We met at the press entrance, but we weren't allowed 'coz we didn't have the passes yet. Bård told us we had to go to the main entrance, go to the ticket stand and ask for the backstage passes. He also told us that he specifically asked for VIP passes, that we should not take anything less then that. Oh man... VIP ! Cool ! Free beer and food and fun with the guys: PARADISE AWAITS US ! Yay !
First negative point:
The main entrance was a few kilometres down the road. OK, no problem. We get VIP passes later, so what the heck... This was a good time to catch up with Alexx, who came from Cologne to see the Claws. It was a long time since we saw him ! Finally we arrive at the main entrance and we are so happy to go get our VIP passes. At this point we meet up with Melantrys, Ruud and his girlfriend. They're also very excited to get backstage.
Second Negative point:
NO VIP PASSES FOR US ! They considered us GROUPIES. And when we called Bård, he said: "Well, Yves... you are groupies !" Aaaargh ! And I was wondering why they served us from behind an iron fence. I guess this was to prevent them from getting their faces smashed in by frustrated groupies when they denied backstage access. Man I was pissed... and also without a passport which they needed to let me in... I needed a beer... I needed 10 beers !! This is not happening ! Maike joined me to get some beers, but since we weren't at the festival ground yet, they couldn't serve us... GREAT ! At that time the whole situation seemed to have turned around at the ticket stand, so we got tickets to get in, but that was all. Bård assured us that he would work something out to get us backstage.
We walked to the stage were Clawfinger was going to play and there we met up with the whole gang. The weather was nice, the beer was cold (if you were lucky to find one) and the company was great, so... no worries !
The Clawz played a great gig ! The crowd went totally crazy and we enjoyed every second ! There was little problem though... it seems that the playlist was a bit too long, so the organizers were yelling at the side of the stage to stop the set. And then what happened was completely absurd ! They pulled the plug during the last song: "Do what I say" !!! So everybody was looking at eachother with an expression like "What the fuck !??" The crowd didn't know what was going on... Talking about an anti climax ! The Clawz were really pissed, as you can imagine ! But Ruud stated it perfectly afterwards: "When I grow up, they will pull the plug !"
We managed to get some press passes afterwards so we could join the Clawz in the press room where we had some beers and talked for a long time. It seemed that we were a bit too loud 'coz the people started complaining about the fact that they were unable to take interviews with our noises in the back, haha.
After all it turned out to be a fun day... we went back onto the festival ground and checked out some bands like Biohazard where Zak managed to surprise us with his "pulled up pants dance"... haha. Make sure you check out the pics for this one !
We followed the Clawz back to the hotel, near the airport in Brussels. We chatted some more and had some beers in the lobby. This is where Jocke told us the most amazing story about a support he invented together with the guys from Meshuggah when the actual support band did not show up. They call themselves "Le The Le The The" and pretend to be a french speed metal band, with hits like "Le Tour Eifel" and "Jeu de Pomme Noire". Make sure you check'em out while in a town near you, haha !
Zak was talking with his eyes closed all the time, so we knew he was completely shitfaced and so we left, 'coz the Clawz had an early flight the next morning. Everything considered, it was a pretty bizarre day... or as Jocke would say: "Fucked up... like a BEYBAH!"

A new album equals a new tour, right ? So the Clawz are back, playing festivals troughout Europe. The first concert I was able to visit is Waldrock. Situated in the north of Holland, more specifically in "Fryslan", it was about 2 hours driving from my place.
I was really excited coz it's been awhile since I saw the guys... On the other hand: this is the first Clawfinger concert I see without Tommy, the other half of the "Equipe Belgique". He is on vacation with his girlfriend so this will be a little bit weird.
It was already late when I left for Burgum so I had to be carefull not to be too late. But traffic was no problem so I arrived about 20 minutes before the Clawz were scheduled. And then... there it was... it sneaks into the story as it always does at the wrong time: CONCERT SECURITY!! I walked to the ticket booth where they also handed out the backstage passes and stuff. I state my name, show 'em my passport, try to explain that I'm on the Clawfinger guestlist... but no luck. All the guy did was looking at me like a cow that saw a train for the first time. Then he started looking into his papers, calling people on his intercom. In the meantime I hear the first notes of "Rosegrove" in the back. SHIT !! THEY STARTED !
My situation was getting better: I turned around and I saw about 10 angry 80's rockers looking at me with an expression that said: We also wanna get in... TODAY ! To cut a long story short: the guy ended up giving me a stamp so I could get in for free. No backstage pass, no guestlist, no nothing... Security is such a nice thing !
Oh well, at least I got in. So off to the stage 'coz they were playing their third song already. It was kinda funny to see the reactions on stage when the Clawz recognized me in the crowd. Damn it was great to hear those sounds again. It was a very good concert and the crowd was very responsive towards the Clawz.
After the concert I had to wait to get a pass from someone in the ClawOrganisation. But that wasn't a problem: they gave me an artist pass
So finally I was able to meet the guys. They were a bit tired 'coz they celebrated the Midsummernight the day before. Zak's voice was completely fucked up. He sounded like the Marlon Brando in the Godfather. He was constantly grabbing his throat when he heard the guy from Sepultura scream, hehe. He couldn't take it anymore.
It was also cool to see a part of the ClawFamily again: The Wolfmeister was present with his girlfriend, Maike was there and all the way from Denmark: Susie and Stinne Marie ! We had a few beers and lotsa fun. The girls went completely crazy when Peter "Ugly Muthafucka" Steele from Type O Negative walked by. What is it with this guy ? It's probably the size of his salami that gets 'em all insane in the brain. I guess Playgirl was a good career move for this guy. Maybe I should suggest this to Zak... who knows ??

After some time, the Clawz were back in Belgium. By this time the 'Use Your Brain' album was already released, so we all came to hear the "new" songs. It was a very cool concert. The 'Vooruit' is a very cousy concert hall. There is no barrier between the crowd and the stage, so this was the first time I was confronted with the concept of stage-diving... I was pissed at Andre because he kept swinging his hair into my face. Surprise of the evening: Zak had cut his long hair and instead he had these little white thingies hanging like spaghetti ;-))) No seriously, it looked cool. He wore the cool 'Fuck Racism' T-shirt (which is also in the 'Tomorrow' video)