Slipknot's Clown: My Wife's "Not Feeling" My New Mask "At All" | Revolver

Slipknot's Clown: My Wife's "Not Feeling" My New Mask "At All"

Founding percussionist Shawn Crahan also hypes band's "biblical" upcoming album
Clown 2018 Press, Vladimir Artev/Epsilon/Getty Images
photograph by Vladimir Artev/Epsilon/Getty Images

Following the mysterious appearance of a countdown clock on a new Slipknot website yesterday, an interview with the band's percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan has been published on Kerrang! wherein the Iowa musician discusses topics ranging from the dynamics within the band to his wife's feelings about his new mask.

"I can only speak for myself, but let me tell you, this one's biblical," he enthuses about the group's forthcoming album. "This is the oldest tale of all. Is there any specific one thing? No, because Slipknot is a unit and a group effort that projects ideas. ... There's no changing this band. It's amazing, and it's a lifestyle that only the nine of us — even the two new members [drummer Jay Weinberg and bassist Alex 'V-Man' Venturella] — know," As the only remaining founding member, Clown has seen the group through every iteration and calls the experience a "beautiful journey" and "probably more intense now than it was in 1998." 

Referring to his masks as his "children," the drummer elaborates a bit on what's in store for Slipknot's latest incarnations. On why the looks of his headgear changes, he muses, "I grow up. I'm a year older every year, so fuck it. It changes." But he acknowledges that many fans — including one very close to him — aren't as enthusiastic about those changes. "My wife is like everybody else and likes the brilliant idea of 1998 Slipknot: in your face, fuck you, middle finger pressed up against your forehead, 'We are the 'Knot, we do what we want when we want,'" Crahan says. "She's stuck in that. I get it all day: 'You gonna wear the red coveralls?' 'I don't know, I have no idea!'"

"My wife doesn't like the new masks — I'll just let the whole world know that," he admits. "She's not feeling it at all. When I sewed the hair on, she liked it better."

Below, see Slipknot's Shawn "Clown" Crahan and Chris Fehn join Stone Sour for an epic cover of Black Sabbath: