{"id":2361,"date":"2012-07-26T10:36:19","date_gmt":"2012-07-26T17:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/?p=2361"},"modified":"2014-07-30T21:26:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T04:26:05","slug":"qa-with-slipknots-shawn-clown-crahan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/?p=2361","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Slipknot’s Shawn “Clown” Crahan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I have spent the last two mind-blowing days with the greats of heavy metal and their dedicated fans at Mayhem Festival in Cincinnati and Cleveland.\u00a0 We have experienced serious thunderstorms, crowd surfing and mega mosh pits together and all made it out the other side again this year. My experience was topped off with sitting down before the Cincinnati show\u00a0with Shawn \u201cClown\u201d Crahan, percussionist from Slipknot for a candid discussion about the band\u2019s dark and uniform persona as well as the effort they give to their fans every single night on stage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Slipknot is the heaviest of Heavy Metal. They are strong artists because they are the epitome of a group. Their masks and costumes on stage present a uniformity that makes them who they are. They refer to themselves as \u201cThe Nine\u201d even though they are now eight after the passing of their bassist, Paul Gray. The wildly popular band are wrapping up touring on their fifth album All Hope is Gone<\/em> which has gone platinum, a great success in today\u2019s age of music, with Mayhem Fest along with other great Metal acts like Motorhead and Anthrax.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: You guys are crazy on stage. Have any band members ever been hurt?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: Every day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: Really? Like Ibuprofen or doctor?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: Right now I have been sucking anywhere from 10 to 40 cc\u2019s of blood out of my knee every five days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: Have you calmed down because of it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: No, I had surgery from a jackass move in a tour in Australia about five months ago. I jumped off my lift, smashed my knee pretty good, my meniscus and everything. So I had to have surgery. I had surgery just up to the exact date when the first Mayhem show was starting. I had no time to really rehabilitate. I didn\u2019t even do physical therapy. It\u2019s not an excuse, I just didn\u2019t get it done. So the first day I paid the price. It\u2019s all good because I have kept all the blood. I have it all. I have all the syringes and everything. So I make art. I\u2019ll have a nice art piece of my pain. But everybody goes through something every day. Sid\u2019s dealing with some sort of hernia and some sort of shoulder stuff that he has to get an MRI for right now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: I see your photo on your pass with your leg brace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: Actually that is the day I had surgery. I hate to admit it but I\u2019m on a lot of morphine in that photo. I walked out to the car and took a picture. As you see I have a cigar and a GG Allin shirt on. I took him with me to the surgery. I turned around and was out. I had to get a picture. I don\u2019t know, somebody found it and made it my pass.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: You guys have different uniforms every tour. What is the process to go about designing them or picking them?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: I am kind of the visionary so to speak. That doesn\u2019t mean visionary of the overall whole thing. I take a lot of responsibility in evolving everything. Right now, since our bass player passed away, we are reminiscing a life spent. We toured last summer, and we re-made our very first coveralls and brought out our first masks in remembrance to remember where we came from and celebrate his life. The current ones are a mixture of our first album and our second album. His number was number two and he had a really big part in that record as he did all records. We\u00a0thought we\u2019d give the American kids something special. Usually right now if Paul wouldn\u2019t have passed, we would almost be getting done with our fifth record album cycle, getting ready to go home from it. This kind of stuff is all kind of inspired by him a little bit because we don\u2019t have a new album and we just are kind of sharing in this thought process with our fans together. We don\u2019t see him on stage; they don\u2019t see him on stage. We go through it together. We are getting ready to end that thought process of sharing that loss together. It doesn\u2019t mean there is an ending to something and a new beginning. There will never be a new beginning. There will always only be nine. But we have toured Europe, we have toured South America, Australia, and now America with this thought process of sharing this loss together. We will end that, that sporadic touring of understanding that he is no longer with us. Then we will take some time off, write a record, record a record, pre-prep tour, go out on tour, drop a record, and then support that record. But there will always be nine. I don\u2019t know if there will ever be another person on stage. There probably could be a bass player behind us. I don\u2019t know and I don\u2019t have to think about it because it\u2019s a long way off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: How did you get the numbers?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: The numbers kind of just fell into place. It\u2019s kind of a weird thing. Back when we started we were going to wear a mask and I started wearing coveralls so we all started wearing coveralls, then there were so many of us, we put our bar code on the back. Then we wanted numbers, I wanted numbers. It was kind of ironic, because everyone fell into a number. I wasn\u2019t going to tolerate any other number than six. Like if someone was going to fight me for it, I was going to fight to the death for it, but nobody wanted it. Joey wanted to be number one, Paul wanted to be number two, the original guitar player, and the other drummer three. Mick, he is like \u201cI have to have seven. Fuck everyone. It\u2019s my lucky number.\u201d Corey was like, \u201cI want eight, infinity.\u201d When Sid joined the band, \u201cI am not a number. I am zero. I am filth.\u201d It was kind of magical honestly. The masks were more of a representation of what you wanted to present as yourself. It was one\u2019s finding one\u2019s self, but the numbers were almost assigned to us subconsciously. It was really a kind of cool thing. I remember I usually try to go last, I am the oldest but an only child, so I like fight to the death for what I want. Because of that, I try to put myself last because it is healthy for me and I let people do what they have to do, and I usually get what I want by doing that. It is kind of like when we are recording a record, if we are all living together, I let everyone find their room and I take what\u2019s left, and I that ends up being the place I belong, not because I have admitted to myself that I should be there but I end up there going, \u201cI love this. This is where I should be.\u201d It is kind of knowing your brothers and knowing everything, but it is healthy for me to practice that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: Do you get hot in the masks on days like today?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: No one but the nine will understand that sort of submission. The only way I can explain it is when it is all done and you take it off and look at the mirror and you look at yourself you know that as you walked into the church of the Knot, onto the altar of the Knot, giving the sermon of the Knot to the congregation of the Knot, and when you are done and the doors are shut and you came back and you take off the attire, you look at yourself and you know that you gave 190% of your life lived today and there is nothing more than that. Even if I don\u2019t have time to call my wife, even if I don\u2019t have time to be creative on my computer, or I am lazy, or I am not getting anything done. One thing I know is I give 190% on stage and when I take it off and look at myself and know that I am alive and that I did it and I pulled through that, it is not even a good feeling, for me it is like salvation. I only do this because I am looking for peace. With peace comes war, and I am at war with myself. I have been since I was born. I love music, and I can\u2019t imagine life without music. My wife is always there for me. My kids are there for me, but they are their own people. The one thing that has always been there for me is music. Before I met my wife there was music. If my wife were to pass or something there would be music to help me through that. That\u2019s not going to happen but I am saying music has always been my life. I owe everything to it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: In the beginning, you guys wanted to remain anonymous by using the masks. You have liked being anonymous through the years, but now people know who you are. Do you still feel like it is necessary?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: It was kind of a trick because so many people in the beginning wanted us to fail because we are so great. We have been blowing up since day one because a good idea is a good idea and a good song is a good song and a good band is a good band with a performance. So, part of the vision was everyone wanted to know who was behind the mask and that was probably the least most important thing ever. Why ask that? Why not ask how that came about or why this came about or what is behind this? Not what is behind the mask? It is music people are into and music the kids are buying. Rarely do they even get to spend a night with us. It is usually in the car or in their headphones. So why ask that question? So slowly, it wasn\u2019t until the third record, I did a documentary called Voliminal: Inside the Nine<\/em> where when I showed behind the scenes footage, I blurred out people\u2019s faces, but when I did interviews, I would do nothing but faces. By our third record, people didn\u2019t care what we looked like anymore. They liked us better with the mask on. I always knew that would happen. There was never a conscious decision of trying to be out of the limelight without knowing who I am. Let\u2019s talk about the music, let\u2019s talk about the lyrics, let\u2019s talk about the why\u2019s not who is behind the mask, because I don\u2019t wear a mask. I don\u2019t wear a mask at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: Do you guys write together?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: We write together. There are core writers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: There are a lot of you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: That again is a special way. There are core writers. There are people that plant the seeds, and there are people that water it, and we all watch it grow and we all groom it and help it become what it can be. That is something that can rise to the light of day. So we all write, I am not a percussionist so to say but more of a paganistic, ritualistic, it is more, I won\u2019t say anger as much as it is ritual to put behind it. I want to drive what is being written and I only want to drive what needs to be driven. I don\u2019t necessarily have to put my mark or my scent on every single little thing and be over everything. I just want to drive what needs to be driven and it works best that day. I don\u2019t have to be involved from day one. I have always loved the music we write. There is no reason to mess with the will, the roles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: Any regrets?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: No, no regrets. To have regret would mean to have to do it differently and if I did it differently then I wouldn\u2019t be here today. There is no reason to think about regrets. Yesterday is lost potential. It is only a memory for tomorrow. Good or bad, it is what it is. There is no changing it. There is no touching it or molding it. There is no reason to look upon it, it is a memory. It can be a good memory, it can be a bad memory, but you shouldn\u2019t spend too much time. You just learn and you move on. I don\u2019t have any regrets. I wouldn\u2019t change anything. I would do it all over again just the way we did it. You come into a venue like this and you are like, \u201cThis is what I am dealing with today.\u201d Tomorrow you will be in a completely different situation, and that is what you are dealing with. That is half of what you learn of the greatness of what you are doing because of art. You can\u2019t always expect to have what you want. The point is, we are in Cincinnati. We are here to play for the people. It doesn\u2019t really matter what color the door of the bathroom is or where the showers are or what the circumstances are. We are just here to play. We\u2019ll get on the bus and do it again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amy: The band members have a lot of side projects going on. Is that cool with everybody in the band?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clown: Yeah. It probably was weird in the beginning because we are so focused on the Knot but I think it was accepted quickly because everybody in the band is so creative on all different levels. It could even be the level of staying home and doing nothing and allowing everybody to do what they need to do creatively to get it out allows everybody to be better for this. It took a little time to understand that, but why wouldn\u2019t it? We are all working for this. If I explained to everybody what it took to get here, I don\u2019t think they would really understand how much work we really put into making it happen. The work was unbelievable. I could tell stories people wouldn\u2019t understand the things we had to implement to make this work. The side projects are good. I wouldn\u2019t even call them side projects. I take Stone Sour very seriously. It is their own band on its own merit. It has its own fan base and they do very well. I would never call it a side project. It would be kind of insulting to Corey and Jim and the other guys in the band because they have worked so hard to make it what it is which is a band. My stuff is more of a side project because I jam because I have to. Since we have started, I have had three bands. None of which have done shit which I don\u2019t care because I just love to play and haven\u2019t repeated myself. I did a Pop record. I did a kind of Hard Rock record. I did a Psychosis Rap record. Ever since Paul passed, I am just kind of focusing on my art a bit, kind of burnt out on music. Side projects are elements of letting people be themselves where they can\u2019t necessarily bring that entity into this thing called Slipknot. It\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have spent the last two mind-blowing days with the greats of heavy metal and their dedicated fans at Mayhem Festival in Cincinnati and Cleveland.\u00a0 We have experienced serious thunderstorms, crowd surfing and mega mosh pits together and all made it out the other side again this year. My experience was topped off with sitting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1361],"tags":[1362,1620,1363,1850],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2361"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2364,"href":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361\/revisions\/2364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefirst3songs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}