Multi-platinum masked metallers Slipknot have spent the better part of 2024 celebrating the 25th anniversary of their game-changing 1999 self-titled album. That 2x platinum effort changed the landscape of metal at the time, with the group’s breakout success allowing even more extreme forms of metal to further infiltrate mainstream culture.
With their newly recruited drummer Eloy Casagrande (ex-Sepultura, etc.) having been unveiled this past April, the Iowan marauders reinvented their trademark late 90s era red jumpsuits, while simultaneously fashioning a new array of masks which serve as throwbacks to the iconic ones they originally wore during the self-titled album cycle.
While diehard maggots have seemingly welcomed all of this nostalgia with open arms, the fact that the Slipknot of 2024 is not the same band they were in 1999 remains obvious. Outside of the passing of bassist/vocalist Paul Gray in 2010, and drummer Joey Jordison in 2021, there’s also been the contentious 2019 ousting of percussionist/vocalist Chris Fehn, and the 2023 departure of sampler, etc. Craig “133” Jones.
Slipknot have of course since reinforced their ranks over the years, but outside of missing a considerable chunk of the self-titled album’s original personnel, there’s also the issue of age and accrued injuries to contend with. Slipknot‘s early breakout performances were notoriously reckless, with daredevil antics and wanton acts of carnage occurring onstage nightly.
As if often the case for touring artists, those younger years also saw substance abuse rear its ugly head, ensuring the cost of their chaotic live shows and relentless touring schedule weren’t just taking a toll physically, but also putting a strain on their respective mental health as well.
Thus, while age may have slowed them down a step, the resulting surgeries, therapy, and for some, sobriety, has also changed the nature of the band’s live performances in 2025. And that’s not even weighing in the concerns of graduating to larger venues and having a small army of touring professionals relying on you to consider before potentially risking your personal health.
With all that considered, the band’s percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan recently spoke of how his 1999 self would view his current self in a newly published cover story with Kerrang!. He stated:
“That younger Clown would probably tell me to get up off my ass. But that Clown has beaten himself into submission over the last 25 years, in pursuit of this vision. My brain still wants to go 24-hours-a-day, and I’d still love to be out there doing flips into the crowd, but my body hurts, so I’m limited nowadays.
Like how I’m having problems with my left knee right now. It just dislocates on its own and I have no idea why. Back then, I wouldn’t care. So many people want to see that old Clown again. But he’s a hard Clown to talk to, a harder Clown to impress, an even harder Clown to find nowadays. That old Clown smirks a lot at the current Clown. And rightly so. If this ‘new’ Clown had to be that old Clown again, I don’t think there would be any Clown at all…”
Given his aforementioned views, revisiting an era that he is admittedly distanced from hasn’t been approached without a bit of trepidation and self-doubt. He told Kerrang! of that:
“Twenty-five years ago, getting into those red coveralls, I didn’t feel goofy. But I feel goofy in them now. Seriously, how do you [revisit] something that changed your whole life? The world was different. The fans were different. Rock’n’roll was different. Even Kerrang! was different back then.
At the same time, I think the old Clown would be proud to see how hard the new Clown works to still be the Clown, and how I don’t do what I do for anyone but myself. Clown doesn’t partake for money or fame, ego or popularity. It’s still about the inner turmoil; about trying to forgive yourself through performance; about getting out there day after day, year after year, to rejoice with people that you love and music that you’d die for; about cutting yourself open and letting all the filth and disgust bleed out. And there’s been a lot of blood lost. A lot of blood…”
Crahan also touched upon how thankful he is for the members who are no longer in the band, let alone on this mortal coil. He went on say:
“When you talk to the Clown it’s got to be about more than selling magazines and hitting the obvious points. I don’t understand how I can speak about 25 years of that first album without bringing up Joey and Paul, or even Chris and Craig. The grief is big. I don’t really have any regrets other than not having spent more time with those guys.
But you don’t start a band looking at your brother thinking, ‘Dude, you’re going to be the greatest drummer of all time!’ It’s more like, ‘Dude, wake up, we have an in-store today!’ You’re chasing a dream, then living the dream, then all of a sudden someone is gone and it’s like, ‘Damn.’ That’s life.
Joey and Paul show up every night these days, in my energy at least, and I just go down a wormhole of thoughts. It’s a completely spiritual reminiscence and it’s wonderful. I spend a lot of time thinking, ‘Thank you!’”
You can dig into the full read, which also delves into the band getting signed, producer Ross Robinson‘s impact on the group, and more over at kerrang.com.
