Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan has spoken about how well things are going right now – both for Slipknot, and on a personal level.
Backstage at New York’s Madison Square Garden on the band’s current Here Comes The Pain 25th anniversary tour, the percussionist tells Rolling Stone that they’re “having a blast”, and all these shows have been “great”.
“We haven’t had this much fun as a band in a long time,” he enthuses. “I’ll be honest with you. I haven’t been this happy in a very, very long time, and I’m not saying there’s any one reason for that other than us coming together to figure out what it is we want, and that’s what we did. We came together and we decided what we want and we’re doing what we want. So not going to let anybody get in the way of that or interfere with pure love.”
However, Clown acknowledges how “awkward” it feels to be missing two key members, who of course played on Slipknot’s self-titled debut and yet aren’t here to celebrate this milestone: late bassist Paul Gray and drummer Joey Jordison.
“Something like a 25-year anniversary seems like a big selling point for a tour like this,” Clown explains, “but it’s really awkward for me because two of the most important people for all of this, for any of it, have both passed. So I want to express that I feel blessed to be in this band and still be alive and be here.”
As for what else is to come? Well, he teases that there’s a song from the ’Knot’s 1999 era that has still never been performed live, even on this tour. But Maggots can possibly expect to hear the elusive Diluted at some point… “I’m sure that’s going to show up any show now,” Clown teases.
Read the full interview here.