SLIPKNOT Percussionist Talks 'Antennas To Hell', PAUL GRAY And Next Studio Album

June 20, 2012

SPIN.com recently conducted an interview with SLIPKNOT co-founder/conceptualist/percussionist Shawn M. Crahan (a.k.a. Clown). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On SLIPKNOT's upcoming greatest-hits album, "Antennas To Hell":

"The songs were put in a certain order by us, so you get a very unique listening experience; it's like its own piece of art. Not even a machine could do that. Also, I spent two months on the CD booklet. You don't just get a little piece of paper that goes inside the album cover. You get a huge booklet of some sculpture, photographs and theory that kids can ponder, conceptualize and really enjoy."

On SLIPKNOT's original guitarist Donnie Steele, who will join the band on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival shows and will again be playing bass from backstage, out of the view of the crowd:

"What gives him the right to be onstage with us right now? When we're going through an experience like this with our fans, they need to concentrate on the eight members that are grieving [over the loss of SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray, who was found dead of an overdose of morphine and fentanyl at a hotel in Urbandale, Iowa in May 2010], not on someone new. This isn't a diss on Donnie. I love Donnie, but we chose to tour for just one reason — to share the tragedy, pain and grief of what happened to Paul with our fans instead of going through it alone."

On SLIPKNOT's plans to record the follow-up to 2008's "All Hope Is Gone" (drummer Joey Jordison has written 30 new songs, vocalist Corey Taylor has penned lyrics, and guitarists Jim Root and Mick Thomson are busy writing riffs):

"That's how everyone is coping with the loss of Paul, by writing. Will all of that stuff be used? No. Will some of it be used? Of course. But until we get to that area I can't tell anybody anything. It's like asking me who the next bass player is. I'm not gonna give you an answer 'cause I don't have to think about it right now. I need about a year to grieve get my shit together so I can control my emotions in the studio, which is something I can't do right now. I want to be able to go in there and realize my brother's not there. And then when I'm asked to do a part, I can control myself and give Paul, the band and the fans everything that SLIPKNOT needs to be."

Read the entire interview from SPIN.com.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).