!Clawz Interview
By Bobic/BTTR
Interview With Mathieu Berthaud aka Clawz

by Bobic/BTTR Web Project


Introduction

Clawz is one of the most famous french scene musicians. He made the music for nearly every demo, which his friend Gengis created. Origin, Motion - Origin 2 or Extemporized are good examples. Together with his friend Gengis he has founded in 1995 one of the best demo groups of all time - Bomb!

Later in his outstanding scene carreer he joined an other well known french demo group - Oxygene. Also for their excellent Amiga demos Vision and Control as well as for the pc productions Contrast and Solex has he made the music and have given these demos this perfect touch, which all the demos have, in which he was involved.

Clawz has always composed the best trance tunes. And of course he has the talent to compose tunes, which are in perfect harmony with the demo effects, which not everyone is good in and you can find many excellent modules from him here on this site, including four never released mp3s from here.

But where has he been during the last years? What has he done? Why didn't we heard anything new from him? So many questions and it's time to ask the master himself a couple of questions...


Bobic:
Hello Clawz, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us. You've been out of the scene now for a couple of years, could you please tell us a little bit about yourself and when you started composing music for scene productions?


Clawz:
Hello, my real name is Mathieu Berthaud. I'm 24 years old, I live in France and I started composing music on Amiga in 1991.


Bobic:
Can you remember all the groups for which you've worked?


Clawz:
Oh I guess! My first groups were pretty unknown (Phantasm, Extreme, Interface) but I've met really cool people, like Gengis. After a little time in TSB, I joined Digital where I really started to compose music for interesting productions.

Then we (Gengis, Titan and myself) joined Complex and released "Origin" and "Real". In 1994, we founded Bomb and I started to do music for Oxygene, which I joined later on PC. Since 1997, I can't say I'm really involved in the demoscene anymore...


Bobic:
Out of the demos that you wrote the music for, which do you consider to be the best demo and which do you consider to be your best work?



Clawz:
I think the best demo I've contributed to is "Origin" : we worked nearly 6 months on this project (Gengis had a lot of ideas) and the fact we came first at The Party 3 was of course a great feeling (it was such a surprise!). I think my best music used in a demo is the one which was done for the end-part in "Real" : it's pretty simple, which a nice theme and it was fun to compose.
Bobic:
Why did you leave the scene?


Clawz:
I didn't really leave the scene, but I was more interested in game development together with Oxygene. I have composed the audio soundtrack for their game "Mad Trax" and also a few things for Gengis, too.

Bobic:
We haven't heard anything from you now for a long time. Could you please explain to us a little bit about what you are doing at the moment?


Clawz:
For about two years now, I'm pretty busy with my "real" job (I work for a life insurance company) so my music activities became pretty rare. I still compose, but only audio stuff and quite rarely...



Bobic:
Do you still have any interest in the scene today? Do you watch new productions?


Clawz:
Of course I like to watch new productions when I get them. I also really enjoy watching my favorite Amiga oldies, like "Hardwired", "DOS" or "Extension"... Great souvenirs!


Bobic:
Do you have any plans to return to the scene, to make a tune for a new demo in the future?

Clawz:
I don't have projects for the moment... But who knows ? I'm sure I would be pleased to compose a tune for a demo. So we'll see...


Bobic:
And finally do you have any plans for creating a CD? For example you could remix your old famous demo tunes and release them on CD like Jogeir did a few months ago? Or perhaps remixing them as MP3s? I think that would be really amazing, because I know of many people who are eagerly waiting for such a CD or MP3s.


Clawz:
I have thought of remixing a few of my mods but I think I would prefer to compose new audio tracks. Once more, the lack of time remains THE problem.


Bobic:
Oh yes - I know... Time is really a problem. Thank you very much for these interesting answers and we wish you good luck for all your future plans. Thanks for your great music!


Clawz:
Thank you for this interview and keep on working this way : Back to the roots is a great place to visit!


Taken with permission from the "Back To The Roots" site at http://www.back2roots.org