Slipknot’s No. 6, percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan, sat down with RollingStone.com recently, discussing their second tour for their first record without Paul Gray and his dream of the Slipknot legacy carrying on years after with a new lineup.
With three different set lists now- “if you see us on a Friday night, the Saturday night set is definitely going to be different” -Slipknot are ready to reinvent themselves in an industry they see to have gone soft, their upcoming tour to be ‘dangerous.’
“Our stage show’s different. We’ve changed our lifts from electric to hydraulic, so now they move very dangerously, very quick, more machine-like. They’re very dangerous, very Slipknot.”
“They go fifteen feet up in the air, and they can spin around forever… they jerk left and right. They slam up and down. And I designed these things because I’m scared of heights,” Clown explains; “That’s total Slipknot mandatory thinking: to create something I’m scared of, because it will bring something out of me.”
Clown sparked slight panic among the ‘maggots’ a few months back, stating a few times in interviews the new bassist and drummer are just the beginning to eventually replacing every member of Slipknot- and carrying on the ‘philosophy and culture’ of the band.
“What I’ve been saying is that only my mind- this is all from me, this isn’t from anybody else- I look at it as I’m not going to be able to do this forever.
“I’m forty-five years old. Hopefully I can do it until I can’t walk. [But] sometimes I think to myself, because I have new guys and they’re so young, the drummer, I could be his dad… so I look at him and think, ‘Fuck, man, I could pound him into shape for the next twenty years and he’d still be fucking young.’ And if I wanted to continue to do other things, I could step aside.”
The ‘young’uns’ would come and learn ‘the Slipknot way’ in Clown’s dream, keep going for years as who Slipknot is today steps back and watch their art continue on. ‘Kings and queens’ alike.
Just released as well is an interview with frontman Corey Taylor with Full Metal Jackie from Loudwire Nights, sitting down with him at (a very moist) Welcome to Rockville Festival in Florida.
He speaks on their latest album, .5: The Gray Chapter, a stunning representation of what became of Slipknot after the passing of bassist, No. 2 Paul Gray- had it not come to light after years of silence from the band, it’d be Taylor’s regret, not having what Gray meant to Slipknot known.
Having to part ways with ‘a brother’ and still wanting Slipknot to live, Corey called it a painful process, but still, their strongest album. More below.
Their tour will scream “F-U to the pop world” with Lamb of God, Bullet For My Valentine and Motionless In White soon. All dates can be found HERE.
