CLOWN: ‘How Many Bands Are Still Relevant Like SLIPKNOT Is Relevant From 1998?’

Shawn Crahan

During a recent appearance on “Mosh Talks,” SLIPKNOT percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan talked about the band’s longevity and staying relevant after more than 20 years.

Clown said: “How many bands did it? How many bands are still relevant like SLIPKNOT is relevant from 1998? I’d like to think it’s all of them because I still listen to all the great ones. And because we still listen to them, they’re still relevant, but we know what SLIPKNOT does — we still get out there and we push the envelope — we create new music, we do things, we take chances, but we try to remember most importantly what we are.

“But it’s good to be at the end of the cycle and be Clown. And if my dad was alive, he’d give me a big hug and say, ‘Congratulations, you’ve struck by something in life. You fueled something, you worked it, you didn’t give up, you learned where you had to. You were going down one path – it could have been harmful, you got off it, you tried new things, they panned out for you, tried new things they didn’t pan, out you got off it.

“‘You have new friends, you’ve let go of people that, unfortunately, have a hard time and make your life harder, and you have to learn you need to let them go, and you found the strength that you could…’ Life’s hard, not just for you and me. For you, for me, for ghosts back there…

“For SLIPKNOT, being a very visual band, and beyond the art side of it, the music side — I don’t know how I get together with everybody on lockdown, go through a set to make special for you where we are convinced that it’s coming through to you absolutely the way you need it,” he continued. I need time for that! I don’t know if everybody’s got time. We’re not even allowed to get out of the house in some places. So I do realize many bands have done it, and I do realize it works, I realize fans like it. But for Slipknot, I don’t see it being much longer.

“The live album never even came to mind. Live stream? I have people breathing down my neck about the live stream. I will not waste money on a live stream because if I am, it’s gotta be wasted on you.

“I can’t just get with a bunch of people that all of a sudden may or may not be working and aren’t used to taking two and a half years off and having to figure out what to do! I’ve done it! I’ve been home for two and a half f*cking years!”

SLIPKNOT released their latest album, We Are Not Your Kind, on August 9, 2019 via Roadrunner Records. Album was once again recorded at a Los Angeles studio with producer Greg Fidelman, who engineered and mixed SLIPKNOT‘s 2004 album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) and helmed 2014’s .5: The Gray Chapter.