In a just now published interview from the Metal Hammer archives, SLIPKNOT percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan talked about mourning his father’s passing and why he did what he did to his remains.
The souce noted that “the rest of the mourners were still in the mortuary when Shawn Crahan went down to the basement of the funeral home, video camera in hand, to see what had become of his father’s body.
“He asked the attendant if he could open the crematorium, and after being granted permission, he videotaped himself scooping out his dad’s ashes with a $4.99 snow shovel. Crahan spread the dust across the stone floor and taped himself sifting through the remains. Some of the bones weren’t fully incinerated, so he picked up two rounded chunks and examined them.”
Crahan said: “They were pieces of my dad’s skull, and on the other side was an imprint of his brain that was left after it boiled off. I kept one of the skull pieces because I thought it would be good for my art. I don’t know why I put myself through that, but I know I had to, and it made me feel so good to be down there picking him up and blowing the dust off my hands. I was like, ‘Dude, this is f*cking real.’
“I just wanted to make my dad live forever because I came from his nuts*ck, and he gave me so much,” he continued. “And I answered my confusion in the process. I watched my mom try to crawl into the coffin with him when she was saying goodbye to him. He was all pumped up with embalming fluid, and I just sat there, going, ‘Dad, in 30 minutes, I’m gonna free you of all this sh*t.’
“It’s not weirdo sh*t. I’m not a sicko,” Clown added. “I just want to know. I got questions, and I gotta find answers. I mean, he’s dead. I’ve already downloaded that. I’m not bringing him back. But I gotta live on and, to me, that’s the most beautiful thing on the DVD because I got closure, and now it’s done.”
