And for more exclusive coverage of this year’s Mayhem festival, pick up the July/August issue of Revolver on newsstands now, or in our online store here.

Now, to celebrate its 10th birthday, Iowa is being reissued on November 1 in a remastered and deluxe format. But 10 years is no joke, and Slipknot have not survived it unchanged, given their two subsequent follow-up albums and the recent death of bassist Paul Gray. When I contact the band’s percussionist, visual artist, and creative mouthpiece Shawn Crahan, AKA No. 6, AKA Clown, he is in his basement lab. “I’ll say this,” he says, “that we’ve talked to a lot of fans, and Iowa has always by far been their favorite album.”

REVOLVER It’s 2001, and you’ve just wrapped up the recording of Iowa. Where’s your head at? Where’s the band at?
CLOWN Extreme anger, and the need to pummel. Pummel one’s self, pummel the world for taking what was ours away. When you’re blowing up the way we were blowing up…the band got taken away from us. For obvious reasons, for money. And when the band got taken away from us, we knew that we had succeeded in spreading the disease to the world and infecting everyone. So Iowa was a threat. We made it a threat to ourselves and a direct threat to the world about just who we are, and it doesn’t matter what you want, or what you think you’re going to get, we made it what we want when we wanted however we wanted. So by the time that record was done… I just remember fights, people ready to do back-flips offstage, ready to set people on fire, just ready to kick the shit out of the entire world. If you go back yourself to that time period–I don’t want to talk about it that much because it hurts, and I don’t have the direct knowledge or the authority to go too deep into it because I didn’t directly suffer from it–but there was a giant tragedy that happened during 2001, and we were on tour for three months before that singing songs like “People = Shit,” and people were just staring at us like, “What the fuck is your problem?” And it’s like, ‘Take a look at the person next to you. Shit isn’t right.” It was the most painful time of our career. There were certain people in the band who I didn’t look directly in the eye the whole time we were recording. There was no fun to have. There was just pain and living that darkness and loving it. That was the high. People were trying to lead us down a road we were never going to go down, and we were just biding our time, waiting to sever all the snake heads. Eventually, it happened. That’s what the third record was, was the backlash of Iowa. When people call me up about Vol. 3, there’s going to be a lot of talk about Iowa, because that’s what Vol. 3 was, was a reaction to Iowa.

Are there songs on the album that best embody this pummeling, ugly state you guys were in?
Well, there’s something on Iowa that, in my opinion, had never happened before and hasn’t happened since. We were in my basement, and we were recording “Skin Ticket,” and at the end of the song, it crescendos, but while it’s crescendo-ing, it’s falling apart in a structured way. We were taking some chances with that song—chances with ourselves. And I remember being in my basement and playing that song, and just disappearing, everyone moving forward and moving up, everyone being in a different spaces, everyone moving in the same direction but moving in their own way…but it was so natural that I didn’t need to think about it. My eyes rolled back into my head, and I remember letting this thing that we are, this Slipknot thing, take over. I love all the songs on that record, and I’ve got something to say about all of them, but that song in particular let me know, “Wow, we are onto some serious shit. If this is where we are now, just think of what will come in the future, where we will be able to go.” We played two shows—I think it was Vegas, and House of Blues, I don’t know, I don’t fucking remember—and we brought that song in to soundcheck, and it was all right, a little disjointed. We’re always bitching about soundcheck. But then we played that fucker live, and the same shit happened—we disappeared. That’s why it’s on the live record—we caught it. “Zero is zero is nothing but zero.” What an amazing song.

Ten years on, do you ever throw Iowa on, just to listen to it?
People might be surprised by this, or offended by this, but…for me, I live Slipknot every day. I do things for Slipknot every day. I’m doing things today for tomorrow. So I like to let the past creep up on me, so that it’s special. It’s kind of like Shuffle on your iTunes—you put it on, and an old track comes on and you think, Wow, I forgot how awesome a track that is, and it makes you happy. That’s what I do with all our albums. When you play as intensely as we do live, you need a break, especially with how many songs we play and how many songs we’ll never play. I just don’t really go back. So it happens sometimes—“Metabolic” comes on, and I’m like, “Fuck, remember this?!” The last time I listened to the record was the day Paul died. And I’m not just saying that to say that. The only way I could collect myself… We had already been dealing with it for hours and hours… We had all gotten together at Corey’s house, for hours and hours…and…my brain just wasn’t my brain anymore. I remember coming downstairs, and it was just my youngest son and my oldest boy, and I took my youngest boy somewhere, so he wouldn’t be around me. And I went downstairs and I played Iowa, and the other records… I had already cried more than I could cry, and my brain was just…I didn’t know what to do! So I put on the record and listening to songs from Iowa… That’s his album. He was such a part of that. And I remember my son coming downstairs, and seeing me listening to our music, and just turning around and leaving.

You’re always gaining new, younger fans. So if a 13-year-old kid wanted to get into Iowa, what would you say to him about it? How would you pass it on?
The way I see it, I’d have to put it in context of reality. In reality, I’m a rogue, I’m a hermit, I’m an old magician living in his basement, so the chances of me talking to someone are pretty slim. When we wrote the third and fourth records, we had different people coming to the shows, and we were moving steadily away from the people coming to the shows for the first and second records. But they were able to make the first record double platinum. So even those people coming to hear “Vermillion” and “Vermilion Pt. 2” are going back to check out the first two records. Obviously, this is a reissue of Iowa, it’s a remaster of the album, you’re getting the live album, you’re getting a movie I’ve made about that time in our lives. So I went and redid all the artwork, the cover and whatnot…sort of a parallel being of where we are now. Ten years ago was 10 years ago, but this is now. So I had to create something as, maybe “disturbing” is the wrong word, but dangerous as that cover, but for the modern day. Ten years when that album came out, things were different. You know that chrome on the [futureusgalleryoriginal] cover? We can’t do that anymore, it’s too expensive. Same with the individual band portraits on the inside. So I had to recreate it, and make sacrifices, to have people today feel something. They’re going to get it, they’re going to feel it, they’re going to go, “Ugh!” But hopefully this package will bring them in and remind them of what was. The only thing I can do is show it through art. I don’t think I have the words to say what it is. I mean, I’m old. Ten years ago—I’m 32 then, I’m 42 now. So how can I say it? I have to give them this new package and say, “Hey, you want to know Iowa? Look into this. How’s it feel? Feels threatening? All right, cool.”

Disc One will feature the original album, along with a remixed version of “My Plague.” Disc Two will be an audio version of Slipknot’s Disasterpieces DVD, which is a recording of the band’s 2002 show at the London Arena. Finally, the DVD includes Goat, a new film directed by Crahan, which features unaired interviews with the band and footage capturing the full insanity around Iowa-era Slipknot, as well as four music videos.

Full track-listing:

Disc one: Iowa
“(515)”
“People = Shit”
“Disasterpiece”
“My Plague”
“Everything Ends”
“The Heretic Anthem”
“Gently”
“Left Behind”
“The Shape”
“I Am Hated”
“Skin Ticket”
“New Abortion”
“Metabolic’
“Iowa”
“My Plague” (New Abuse Mix)

Disc two: Disasterpieces—Live In London 2002
“(515)”
“People = Shit”
“Liberate”
“Left Behind”
“Eeyore”
“Disasterpiece”
“Purity”
“Gently”
“Eyeless”
Drum Solo
“My Plague”
“New Abortion”
“The Heretic Anthem”
“Spit It Out”
“Wait And Bleed”
“742617000027″
“(sic)”
“Surfacing”

Disc three: Goat
Hour long film capturing the insanity of Iowa—directed by M. Shawn Crahan.

Music Videos:
“My Plague”
“Left Behind”
“The Heretic Anthem” (Live)
“People = Shit” (Live)

“I had to have something of Paul there besides a memory. Besides a thought. I wanted something obtainable for the kids. Instead of all of us thinking in our minds the same thing, and pretty much trying to admit to yourself, Yeah, I bet they’re thinking this and we’re thinking this. Let’s put a factor. Let’s put some symbolism on the thought. Let’s go the extra step.

“I know Paul’s younger brother, Tony. He’s a very close friend of mine. He has worked for Slipknot. He’s been around since the beginning, when I owned my bar. I got the bar to help get the band signed, and we got signed out of that bar. He helped me run it. He was my partner. His brother, Paul, had given him his original Pig mask, and he also gave Tony his original bass. And both of those things are very significant things in Paul’s life, especially if you knew him. 1) His first mask. Who he was from the beginning. So that relic was obtainable. And the same with his bass. Anyone who jammed with Paul or knew him from the old days, he had this one particular bass, and it was in all the bands that he had jammed with until we got to the area where we could get more basses. [futureusgalleryBefore then] he had one particular bass, and it really represented him.

“Then, spiritually, all good ideas come together if they’re true. And one of my mentors, his name is Stefan Seskis, he took the very first two album covers of Slipknot’s albums. The self-titled one and Iowa. He’s, like, my mentor in photography, and I used to take him out on the road with us to take pictures and to help teach me to get into my world of photography. Well, we went to an employee Christmas party. He works for a gentleman who is married to a woman who is my wife’s boss. And both companies, her company and his company, throw a Christmas party. So we all went to this Christmas party and we all know each other, and Stefan grabbed me. He goes, ‘Hey, I’ve got to talk to you in private.’ He said, ‘I was cleaning my house when I moved and I found a bag and I opened up the bag and there were a couple pair of coveralls in this bag. And one of them is Paul’s.’ And I said, ‘Are they red?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘I can’t fucking believe it.’ I was asking the appropriate parties if they had any awareness of these red coveralls, meaning the actual original red coveralls that were on the [futureusgalleryself-titled album] cover. And nobody really knew if they were around. And sure enough, probably what happened was Shawn Economaki, who plays [futureusgallerybass] in Stone Sour, he worked for the band. He’s, like, the longest living employee of Slipknot. He used to live with Stefan, and he must have helped Paul and someone else in an interview or something, but somehow he had this bag and probably had to pick it up or get it together or bring it home. And it just sat there for whatever reason. And Stefan found it and was like, ‘Man, I have to give it to you, Clown. I know you’ll do what’s right.’ I was like, ‘You’re not gonna believe this, man. I want to take out Paul’s mask and his bass [futureusgallerywith us on tour], and I can’t believe you have the coveralls!’

“So I had this stand made, and the mask went to the top, the coveralls draped over it, and the bass went on the side. And it was a very eerie, almost scary image that will be burned, imprinted into many people’s lives for years to come. And I say ‘eerie’ because he was there but he wasn’t there, and that’s what brought up the idea of, ‘Where is he? He’s here but he’s not here.’ And it was beautiful, in the sense of what Slipknot creates. It was absolutely perfect.”

]]> http://www.revolvermag.com/news/interview-outtake-slipknot-percussionist-shawn-clown-crahan-on-the-paul-gray-effigy-onstage-this-summer.html/feed 0 http://www.revolvermag.com/news/slipknots-clown-reveals-plans-for-maggot-bible.html http://www.revolvermag.com/news/slipknots-clown-reveals-plans-for-maggot-bible.html#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:00:10 +0000 Jason Le Miere http://www.revolvermag.com/?p=22815 Slipknot’s Shawn “Clown” Crahan has reached out to the band’s fans to help him put together a book of art work that he is calling the Maggot Bible. Crahan said that he wants the initial book to consist of 1,000 works of art submitted by fans through the mail.

Writing on the specially created website for the project, Crahan said the following about his aspirations for the book:

“When you feel a certain way and you think you’re alone, you can open this book up and read stories, poems and glare at photos or other mediums of creation to help you breathe and realize you are not alone.”

You can find out more by clicking here.

This is what Crahan had to say:

“I also wanted to tell everyone straight from my mouth because you may have heard it already anyway, but Slipknot will be touring by next June in America only, but that does not mean things will not change, and as they do I will along with others tell you, our family, first.

“No album yet because it is too soon and there are no songs yet because the band needs to come together to write this next one. I cannot wait to feel the ideas like choking on color. Everything happens for a reason, so be ready.”

REVOLVER How did you meet Paul?
BRENNA GRAY We met through a mutual friend. He was working with a band called Reggie and the Full Effect. He was writing with them. And I used to work for Reggie and the Full Effect. I used to tour with them. James, the singer, was just a good friend of Paul and myself. And he introduced Paul and I to each other. And I was getting ready to move out of my house in North Hollywood and needed somewhere to move. And Paul was getting ready to move back to Iowa, and needed to sublet his place. And I said, “Oh dude, I’ll totally take over.” ’Cause his payments were the same as mine, and he never went back to Iowa. He never left.

Was it awkward?
No, we were just…he was busy and I was busy. So it was just typical roommates. When we were home, we’d just hang out. I had my really good friend Veronica, who’s still my friend, so me and her lived there. So it was kind of a little cramped ’cause we didn’t expect to have a third person. But he was there, but no, it wasn’t awkward. We were all really good, good friends. It was just awesome. We got along. I think we were, like, roommates for a good six months before I actually started dating him. But it was kind of funny ’cause she was always like, “I thought he was going home.” And I was like, “Yeah, I don’t know.” And the only thing he asked for was, “Can I come and stay here when I was on tour?” And I was like, “Yeah, of course. It’s your house. I don’t own it.” But we were friends. It was really cool. It’s not like I just met him at a show or anything like that.

Were you even a fan of Slipknot?
No, and it wasn’t that I didn’t like the band. I just never listened to them. I was like, “Oh, cool, Halloween costumes. I’m not into it.” That was my whole kind of shutting down and not giving it a chance. But that was before I watched that movie, Voliminal. It was right before it came out in theaters. I was just like, “Oh, God, I don’t want to watch this.” And he was like, “Why?” And I was just like, “I’m not a fan.” You know, I just kind of had this assumption about it myself. And he was just like, “Really? Wait a minute.” Once I watched it, I was kind of like, “Wow, you guys are really amazing.” I mean, I really had no idea about any of it. So it was kind of funny. He was just like, “I’m awesome and so is my band. You don’t know about this?” And I was like, “No.”

The first time I ever saw them play live was after we had already gotten married, for the All Hope Is Gone cycle. ’Cause he had already been off tour when we had started dating. It was exciting. I was definitely stoked. I had no idea what it was all about before I was actually in front of it.

Would he write at home?
Yeah, he wrote all the time. He would also go and practice at hotels a lot. And he was getting ready to restart his old band, Body Pit, right before he died. And that’s what he was practicing. He was totally working on that at home, and I was pregnant. So I kind of told him to take it elsewhere because he would set up at a volume of 10, practicing ’til 4 in the morning. So at that point, you know, I’m four-months pregnant, exhausted, not feeling good, throwing up all over the place. Honestly the last thing I wanted to hear was him and the other bandmate just making a loud noise in my house when I was trying to sleep.

Was he generally a positive person at home?
Absolutely, he was. Of course I’ve seen him stressed and upset and unhappy, but, no matter what, he was always happy, even if he was having a bad day. He wouldn’t bring his shit home with him. And of course we would talk about what was bothering him, but he always had a smile. And he was just always happy. And it’s really hard to say that about a lot of people, but he was. And he just had this huge heart. And he made everybody smile, even if a person met him for 30 seconds. He definitely made an impact on people very quickly. It wasn’t, like, months or weeks you had to get to know him. It was, like, the second that you were in a room with him, he made you feel like you’ve known him forever.

It’s funny, when All Hope Is Gone came out, we went out to Best Buy and he bought $2,000 worth of the CD. And then he just handed them all out to the employees, just gave it to them. And he did the same thing with Voliminal—that’s just how he was. We would go to Walmart and somebody would recognize him and he’d go in his car and he’d get the CD out of his car and sign it and give it to them. It was because he wanted to do it. He didn’t feel like he had to or people were bothering him. It was because he wanted to. Which was awesome. I’ve never seen someone so compassionate about people, just regular people and fans. He was just amazing with every soul I’ve ever seen him around.

How was his health when you met? Was he clean?
No. He wasn’t doing very well at all. And I really had no idea because I had never been in a situation like that. I knew something was wrong, but I just didn’t know. And of course I was forewarned by friends, but I loved him. And as soon as I did realize what was going on, we moved back to Iowa. Well, I came to Iowa. I never lived here before. I just got him out of the situation and just decided, “You know what, this isn’t working for me, and I know I want to be with you, but I can’t sit here and watch you do this to yourself. And when you’re living in Hollywood, there’s just so much bad shit.” And it just really was not conducive to his health, and I just made the decision to pack all of our shit up and just leave. And as soon as we came here, it was like day and night. I mean, he did great. He was awesome. And he worked really hard on his sobriety, and he did really good. And I think it was just getting him out of the “toxic city,” as they say out there, and I know it’s such a cliché, but that’s exactly what it was. I mean, I personally didn’t want to move—that was my home—but at the same time, I knew that’s what had to be done. And you make sacrifices for the people you care about. And for me, him living was way more important than leaving somewhere I was comfortable at. And I settled into Iowa fine. Of course, there’s not much around here. But we were happy, and he was happy, and he was healthy. To me, that was worth everything. I felt like if he stayed out there, he would have perished way sooner. I felt like I had a matter of weeks. That’s how bad it was. It was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. I don’t regret for a second leaving Hollywood. Ever.

Paul carried a lot of heavy emotional baggage from childhood. Did he talk about that?
Yeah, I think that was the majority of a lot of his problems with his addictions. His father committed suicide when he was a child. And his father also was an addict. And I think that just weighs a lot on your shoulders. I mean, he looked up to his dad. He had a really shitty childhood, moving here to there, here to there. A death of a father, or a death of any family member is not easy. I never pushed him beyond to talk about because it was such a burden to him. And I don’t know if he was embarrassed or just sad. But he would talk about it and get really upset. And I think a lot of that did contribute to his problem. I don’t know. I wish there was more I could’ve done. I tried to get him into counseling and to talk about it. But when they’re not ready to do that, you can’t push somebody. So I never pushed him. I let him talk about it on his own terms, but he was never like, “Wow, my life was like this so I’m bitter.” Or anything like that. He was always very optimistic and dealt with the cards that life dealt him.

When did he start slipping again?
You know, I couldn’t tell you. He was great. It was kind of like the old saying, “Idle hands do the devil’s work.” And I think I kind of started noticing after the cycle, after the tour was over, which was Halloween, their last show in Vegas. He was fine, and I got pregnant right before Christmas, and he was just so happy. I mean, I’d never seen him more happy, honestly. But I wouldn’t say I really noticed anything until six weeks prior to his death. And I knew something was going on, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Because he would be fine one day, and the next he wouldn’t. So I was kind of unsure, like, Hmm, something’s not adding up here. And it wasn’t ’til that Saturday that I realized what was going on when I found things in my home. Then he passed away that Sunday. So I really had no time to really make a move. That Saturday I said, “Hey, we need to do something. We need to fix this.” And he agreed, and he was getting ready to go out on tour with Hail. And he said, “I’ll go get help after I come back from this tour.” And I just said, “You’re not going.” And I called his manager, and I said, “You need to cancel this tour. He’s not going.” And I just think it was a little too late. I think there’s nothing anyone could have done. And it’s just a big shock because I don’t think any of us really knew this time. I mean, he played a good game. And it just happened so quickly that it was literally a blink of the eye. I had no idea. No idea. And once we found out he had a really bad heart disease, I mean…he was sick and none of us knew about it. None of us knew about it. And I think that was the most upsetting thing to me was that I didn’t knew. ’Cause I always knew, and I always brought him back when things were starting to take a turn. But this time I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell you what led him to do it. What was going on in his life? I have no idea, no clue.

Just the demon of addiction.
It is, and a lot of people don’t understand it. People are so cruel. I try not to feed into it, but I read so many awful things on the internet. And it’s just like people don’t understand it. And if they can learn anything from this, it’s that it is a sickness. And he didn’t do this on purpose. And he would have never ever put himself in this situation if he knew this was going to happen. I mean, you and I can say, “Of course something like this can happen.” But we’re not addicts. If I can let anybody know and learn from this, that’s what I want to do. ’Cause people don’t get it, and it’s sad ’cause so many people are having their lives taken by it.

There should be a lot more compassion.
Right. I guess I can kind of understand, but they’re just so close-minded. They’re like, “Oh, typical rock star who has money and fame and a wife and a child on the way. Why would you do something like this?” If he could control it, he would. I’ve had talks with him over the years, and he just wanted to be done with it. But it’s a life-long disease, that even if he stays clean for the rest of his life, he’d still have the disease. I mean, it was a full-time job for him. He had to completely rearrange his life and it’s hard. It’s really hard. And people just don’t want to get it. They’re close-minded, and they can just fuck off in my book.

How are you going to teach her about her dad, how he was and his music?
Oh geez, well, that’s easy. The good thing about her dad is we have the internet and videos. She can watch him at any point, and I’m having Clown make a video for her, just for her, where it’s dad unmasked and dad masked. I don’t want her to just think of dad as this great musician. I mean, yeah, he was, but he was also a normal human being. I don’t want her to have the pressure of, Well, my dad was huge rock star and that’s all I know. I mean, I’m just going to tell her everything I knew about him, which is all the good. How he made me smile, and how he had a huge heart. “He was so excited for you to come.” And she has a lot to live through with him. I mean, she’s surrounded by him. I have her whole room decorated with pictures of him. She’s going to know who her dad was even though he’s not here. That doesn’t worry me at all.

Do you see him in her?
Yeah, I mean, it’s almost scary. She went through this phase where she looked just like him. Like, identical. Like, Holy crap, kid. You are scaring me. And now she’s just coming into her little character. She’s a really good mixture of both, but she has a lot of features of him. And she has his smile. She has these huge dimples. When she smiles, it’s just like, Yep that’s Paul right there. When she sleeps, she sleeps with her hand on her face. And Paul would do that all the time, and it just cracks me up. It’s just really cool to see so much of her dad in her. It makes me really happy. I mean, it makes me sad he’s not here, but he is. He knows what’s going on, and I’m a strong believer that he’s watching down on all of us and he’s watching his baby girl grow, and it’s a great thing. She’s great. I couldn’t be more happier with her.

Interview by Dan Epstein. Paul Gray photo by Paul Brown.