Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan has spoken to NME about Slipknot’s ongoing 25th anniversary tour, as well as plans for new material and on the long-mooted ‘lost’ album ‘Look Outside Your Window’.
READ MORE: Slipknot’s Clown talks 2024 tour and new material: “This band has never been happier”
The tour – which sees them exclusively play tracks from their 1999 debut album – landed in the UK over the weekend and comes amid a big year of news for the metal icons. Over the past 12 months, the band have welcomed former Sepultura drummer Eloy Casagrande into the line-up and delighted fans by breaking out deep cuts and rarities for the first time in over two decades.
“It’s been good to do this with newer members, but I do miss Joey [Jordison, late drummer] and Paul [Gray, late bassist],” Clown told NME. “They, along with Chris [Fehn, percussionist] and Craig [Jones, sampler], were a big part of that music, so it’s been a quarter of a century of friends who have come and gone. Revisiting the debut album reminds me of what it felt like in the beginning, though. I was a bit of a naysayer about the idea at first, but the fact that we’ve been around this long and can now walk into these venues to play our first album, without having to put all the hits into it, has been mind-blowing.”
He continued: “I don’t like to drudge up a lot of those feelings. I work on being present more than anything, but for this tour I allowed myself to let it all in again. There are a lot of people who aren’t on the planet anymore and that makes it tough. There are also brothers who aren’t in the band anymore, so that makes it all the more personal when you’re on stage.”
Slipknot perform live onstage in 2024. CREDIT: Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images
Check out the full interview with Clown below, where he told NME about Slipknot’s legacy, progress on the follow-up to 2022’s ‘The End, So Far‘, his thoughts on Sleep Token and Bring Me The Horizon, how the world is awash with “horrible bands right now”, and when fans can expect ‘Look Outside Your Window’ to be released.
NME: Hi Clown. What has it been like to revisit early material as part of this anniversary tour?
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan: “Being on this tour, I remember when I could taste the dream 25 years ago and had the idea that this little organisation was going to take over the world. I’ve noticed that I get in trouble if I work in the past, and I get in a lot of trouble if I get too ahead of myself. That being said, to go on this trip down has been a real honour. I’ve had a lot of raw, rough emotions from it, but what is making it work is that the fans are coming out in droves to get a glimpse of what it was like 25 years ago. Some fans even want to recall the feelings they had when they joined us at the time!”
Rumours are circulating about a donkey being requested backstage at the upcoming London shows…
“Well, if there is a donkey backstage in London then the crew will have done what they need to do, which is not pre-tell me. If you tell me something like that, there’s going to be no donkey.
“I haven’t heard anything about it, but it does remind me of what was happening 25 years ago when promoters would call their friends and make up a story about something we did… but it was always a bigger fish story. ‘They sacrificed this, and then blah, blah, blah, blah’ – it was all bullshit.”
Earlier this year you said you were feeling “really spiritual” towards new music. Where are you up to with that now?
“As you know, Eloy has entered the thought process and the band known as Slipknot. There’s a spirit happening right now, and that spirit is going to be taken very seriously. When it comes to the business like organising a tour, taking time off, and going on some fundamental idea of what we’ve done before, the breaks have been hit.
“Eloy is in the band and there’s something happening between the nine of us right now that is very fun. A lot is floating around and we probably have several albums in us right now. As for how things feel, I’m being completely honest with you now, it’s like a cloud has left. Whatever that cloud was… everybody participates to the cloud. It’s looking great.”
Mick Thompson and Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan of Slipknot performs live in 2024. CREDIT: Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images
So new material is already starting to take shape?
“You’ve gotta realise, we’ve been on tour for a while and we’re slowly winding down from the long runs. We have some shows next year, then it’s back to healing ourselves from all the work we’ve done and drawing up the next material. Corey [Taylor, frontman] already has ideas and is writing lyrics that he sends over. It doesn’t mean it’s set in stone and it doesn’t mean it’s done by any means. We don’t know where any of these directions are headed right now, but I do know that there will be a lot [of ideas] brought to the table at the start of every day.
“It feels reminiscent of how it all started in the first place. It’s better than I could ever want and I think everyone would say it feels like a good time. It’s fun, like how it was when we were younger and writing music for ourselves. It’s all thumbs up.”
How has Eloy been contributing to the life of the band?
“He’s a phenomenal person and I love his passion for the instrument. It’s on a level that we’ve been around before. There was a heavy bar in Slipknot when we were coming up, way before we got signed, and if you couldn’t hold on you got left behind. This isn’t a stab at anything that has been, we’re just talking about now. There are a lot of OGs in the band and we have a lot of feelings that we acquired from the very beginning. It’s an important life lived, and it’s a lot to expect people to understand that and take it seriously when they enter this process.
“[Newer members] have only made it in because they’re able to understand that, add to it and become part of it. Eloy seems to be the final piece and, because of that, there’s a new lease of life on everything. It’s an honest pleasure to see him perform with us every night. It seems like it was meant to be because, here we are doing the anniversary tour which I had a lot of reservations about a year ago, but now I have those same great feelings that I did 25 years ago when we did it the first time around. It feels meant to be and it feels beautiful.”
Speaking of upcoming releases, last time you spoke to NME you told us that the ‘lost’ Slipknot album ‘Look Outside Your Window’ would be arriving in 2024…
“I did say it was going to be in 2024, and I gave it the best fight that I could to make it this year. What I can tell you is that I showed Corey the final artwork two days ago. It is happening, but unfortunately, because of Christmas and New Year and the way business works, I can’t slide it in this year. But you have my word, it’s out of my hands now. It’s being moved on, the money has been spent and there is a plan. The management has it and it is coming out.
“I’m really pleased about it and happy to finally be rid of it! What’s nice though is that it isn’t a hype thing, it’s just something we did while we were doing other Slipknot albums. It was a very honest action to make music that wasn’t Slipknot, but utilised the skills of guys with no rules. I don’t know if it’s ‘good’, but I know that I love it. I make music for myself, but I hope that the people who waited and waited and waited think it was worth it too.”
Jim Root and Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan of Slipknot performs live in 2024. CREDIT: Medios y Media/Getty Images
Download Festival recently divided fans by giving Sleep Token their first major headline slot. As a frequent Download headliner, what do you think it is about them that means they can step up like that?
“They have their niche and they must be doing their business well. The old me might have torn it down, but the new me, the real me, is just like ‘Hey, it’s always up to the fans’. The fans let the business people know what to do. The fans speak and the business people listen.
“They must be very popular, and you’ve got to remember that there’s not a lot of good music out there. There just isn’t. In my opinion, these days there are so many horrible bands right now. I’ve seen Sleep Token, I’ve watched them for a bit and I’ve downloaded their stuff. They have their niche and they have a fan base. It doesn’t matter if it has divided [Download fans] because that means 50 per cent are getting what they want. I no longer worry about these sorts of things, I just worry about being me and about being in the moment. If they’re a good band, and if they work hard – as it seems like they do – they deserve everything they get.”
Do you think it is important for organisers to be taking these risks by moving newer talent up the rankings?
“As I was saying, there are so many horrible bands who are going to be our future headliners. You don’t want me to start naming off names, because we’ll both start laughing and laughing. The days of great music have come and gone at the moment. We’re seeing the backlash of the computer and we’re seeing the backlash of everybody being able to get in [to the music industry]. But where is everybody that got in and did it themselves? They all need validation.
“I didn’t get in a band to get validated. I validated myself. When someone said I needed to work harder, I worked fucking harder. I didn’t need the internet, or socials, or anything to validate me. We have a real problem now, and bands that are good these days – which is few and far – are being prepped for this future. We saw that with Bring Me The Horizon. They’re a great band and I’m a fan. I’ve listened to the band since the very, very beginning and they’re doing big things like headlining Download because they can make that jump.
“Great bands are being pushed into these new circumstances. What else do we have [without artists like that] – a bunch of crap bands that won’t draw tickets. So yes, the business people need to take chances and push these few good bands in the right direction.”
Slipknot perform live onstage in 2024. CREDIT: Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images
What does the future of Slipknot look like right now?
“The future of Slipknot for me is a tiny bit more touring, and a well-needed spiritual, physical, and mental break. After that, I get the duty of getting together with my brothers and making music and putting ideas together about what we set out to do next. We’re not on a label, so we can come together like we did in the beginning with nothing dangling over us but us. That’s when the real shit happens, when the whole world is at bay and we’re together doing what we want. In return, that’s what you want too.
“I think the future is very bright. In the past, I’ve been anxious for the future, but now I’m content. I’m fine with just letting everything unravel and then winding it up to see where it goes. We got some surprises for people that I can’t talk about now too. There are always some things you’re not going to know about, and then, all of a sudden, you wake up and you’re on your way to work: BANG! There’s Slipknot.”
Slipknot continue their ‘25th Anniversary’ tour this week, before embarking on more UK and European tour live shows in 2025. Visit here for tickets and more information.
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