Slipknot percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan has spoken about the band’s plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their 2x multi-platinum self-titled debut album and more next year. The masked metal band recently announced a European/UK leg of dates, during which they will be performing that album in its entirety each night. That trek was recently expanded with the addition of a second London, UK show.
Discussing their plans for that run, Clown told Kerrang!:
“Are you joking right now? You’re talking about the anniversary of one of the greatest metal albums to ever release in the thought process known as reality, and you think this 54-year-old man who just told you ‘I’m going out the way I came in’, you think for one moment that this album isn’t going to be played in its entirety in front of, like, a hundred people, 200 people, 300 people, 50,000 people. I’m not going to live forever, man. Neither is everybody else.
Things are changing very quickly. I ain’t got no more time to fuck around. That is the vehicle of my soul, and the remembrance, the memories, the heartache of lost brothers and even sisters – all these people that are gone and we’re still doing it. Yeah, we’re going to play that album from beginning to end. But I sure as hell am not going to just succumb to the corporate world and give all those people what they want. They’re going to get it.
But you know what we’re going to get? We’re going to have fun, too. So that means small shows and you won’t know until you hear it. And if you heard it, you’re already too late and you’re not going to see it. So you better open up your soul, because then you’ll feel it and you won’t have to hear it, because I’m being very serious. What I would say to you is, when do you think our first show is?”
As one might have expected, the below European/UK run is likely not to be the only trek the band have planned for the anniversary, as Clown in part offered, “We’ve got shows, brother. And I doubt you know when my first show is. I doubt I know when my first show is.”
In a separate interview with Metal Hammer, Clown confirmed that the band’s shelved 2008 album “Look Outside Your Window“, will indeed finally arrive in 2024. This past August saw frontman Corey Taylor suggest a potential 2024 release for it.
According to the aforementioned interview with Metal Hammer, those plans are now official. Clown said of it:
“It’s definitely arriving next year. You have my word. The art’s been done. It’s been mixed. It’s been mastered. It is definitely coming out in 2024 and it’s such a great album. Corey [Taylor] is my favorite singer ever, and you’ll never hear him sing in the same way as on this album, so it’s been worth holding it back. It’s such a different, timeless project.”
“Look Outside Your Window” has been described in the past by the band’s members as having a ‘Radiohead‘ vibe. It came to be amid the recording sessions of the band’s platinum-certified 2008 opus, “All Hope Is Gone“. Amid those recording sessions, Taylor, Clown, guitarist Jim Root and turntablist Sid Wilson, branched off to create that long-shelved record on their own. It has remained in the group’s vault since then
Clown also told the latter publication that progress is being made on a Slipknot documentary. Furthermore, plans to reissue Slipknot‘s self-titled album are also in the works. He commented:
“I’ve harvested relics from our whole career, I’ve just collected and collected all of it. Let’s call it a documentary, but really it could be a film. I’ve recently signed on with some forces for it and I’m going to get a director too.
A lot of the footage has already been captured, but there is a lot that still needs to be compiled for it to be what it needs to be. So yes, there’s something like that coming, and there’ll be a DVD which would be behind-the-scenes too. Also footage for the 25-year anniversary, there would likely be a package for that, and there’s going to be a reissue of the album, probably.”
“Slipknot” 25th anniversary shows:
12/05 Amsterdam, NET – Ziggo Dome
12/06 Dortmund, GER – Westfalenhalle
12/08 Stuttgart, GET – Schleyerhalle
12/09 Leipzig, GER – Quarterback Immobilen Arena
12/11 Zurich, SWI – Hallenstadion
12/12 Paris, FRA – Accor Arena
12/14 Leeds, UK – First Direct Arena
12/15 Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
12/17 Manchester, UK – Co-Op Live Arena
12/18 Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
12/20 London, UK – O2 Arena
12/21 London, UK – O2 Arena
