Shawn "Clown" Crahan: New Slipknot Album About "Evil vs. Good" | Page 3 | Revolver

Shawn "Clown" Crahan: New Slipknot Album About "Evil vs. Good"

Percussionist gives update on concept behind Iowa band’s next record
shawn-clown-crahan-slipknot-2013-ollie-millington-wireimage.jpg, Ollie Millington / Wire Image / Getty Images
Shawn "Clown" Crahan, 2013
photograph by Ollie Millington / Wire Image / Getty Images

Slipknot percussionist M. Shawn "Clown" Crahan recently spoke with Billboard about the Iowa band's forthcoming sixth full-length album, for which the band already surprised-dropped the single and video for "All Out Life" on October 31st of this year.

"Right now there's other pieces of this puzzle called Slipknot that are happening," said Crahan, of the band's progress on the as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2014's .5: The Gray Chapter. "Right now we are gearing up the machine that we've built, and it started with Touché [the anonymous app the band employed to tease 'All Out Life'] and 'All Out Life' and the video. Touché will grow, of course, but right now I'm wanting it to self-destruct a little bit. I had a point to make with it, and the point was made."

"'All Out Life' means get the f*** up, go live your life and live it all-out. The band's been gone for three years. You want blood from me? You got it. That's what I've been giving you for 20 years. But I want blood from you, too. We're no longer just a band. We're a culture."

In the interview, Crahan didn't shed any light on when the record would be released, but shared that the band is working with producer Greg Fidelman (Metallica, Slayer) who previously helmed the boards for .5: The Gray Chapter.

Crahan does goes on to hint at the concept of the forthcoming album, stating "What I can tell you is I've known all the words all the time, so I've been able to paint the dream world and the nightmare in my mind …[the album] breaks down to...good vs. evil, or in this sense, evil vs. good. It's about being a human being and experiencing what you have in correlating it to this world. This world is ugly and it's supposed to be, and it has to be in order for art to lead to grandness and beauty."