Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan Talks COVID Impact: 'There's A Lot Of Other People To Consider Here'

Ollie Millington / Redferns – Clown
Festival D’été Quebec in Canada in 2019.

Slipknot founding member and drummer Shawn “Clown” Crahan is a creature of intention. By all accounts, his vision for Slipknot has come to full fruition, a plan that was presented to manager Cory Brennan, then at Roadrunner Records, in the ‘90s in a pitch that may have sounded crazy at the time but has led to a worldwide counter-culture phenomenon.

So, it makes sense that someone as calculated and deliberate would struggle with the current pandemic, which has seen the touring business come to a halt and put some major plans on hold.

“I’m completely aware of what’s happening and knowledgeable but I have to push forward,” Crahan tells Pollstar from his home in Iowa. Asked to elaborate on the situation, he pauses.

“I’m sort of the wrong person to take a kick at this kind of stuff. There’s nothing I can do about anything. The minute I start to complain, I have to think about the other people in my band. maybe they don’t want to tour. I have to think about the booking agent that’s normally involved and out of work at the moment.

“This is heavy duty, all the way around, even for the people who sit on chairs and check people’s laminates coming in and out. This is devastating. So I’m not in a hurry to do anything, I’m in line with the rest of us paying attention, trying to do what is correct to stay the course. If everybody stays the course and does what is correct, we may find a solution that allows us to get back to regular business.

“I’m talking about regular, mosh pits, males take their shirts off and smash up against each other at 40 miles per hour in some kind of windmill. As of right now, that’s not happening, man, maybe never again!

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“There are a lot of people that have to be considered just besides me. There’s a lot of people who make a show work behind the scenes, including yourself. This is everybody, and I would be lying to say I don’t miss it, OK, but I’m concentrating on things I need to do when I can’t do what I do. That’s the real trick here, that’s the real test. I’m working toward those days to tour, to create another album, to do videos, to do all that. I look at this as a hiccup, but it’s a hiccup that is concerning the whole world.”

However, Clown says he knows things will get back for himself as well as the fans and, just like his vision for the band, he sees that clearly as well.

“It’ll happen. I see it. I see myself on stage. When we come out and just nail three songs like we do, and then we take a little break and Corey Taylor comes out and he’s just in tears, because he’s shook up about being back, and how emotional everybody else is. I’ve seen it, it happens, man.

“When? I don’t know, but we all just need to fall in line and when there’s a cure or antibody or a solution, it will show itself. Right now it’s such a real thing, it’s hard to navigate. But just stay positive, work, be manual, sweat and get through it.” s