PressThe face behind the maskBy
KYLE MUNSON He may be a clown on stage, but Slipknot's Shawn Crahan has more than menace and mayhem on his mind.Slipknot shot to fame as the brutal, nine-piece metal band disgorged from the unlikeliest of hometowns - you know which one - and spread its so-called "sicness" across the nation as the breakout act of Ozzfest in 1999 and 2000. The horrific masks, the matching jumpsuits, the numbers in place of names, the barrage of three percussionists, the army of young fans affectionately dubbed "maggots" - Slipknot's visual orgy and savage roar conquered the metal scene in short order. News flash: The Des Moines natives in this multiplatinum behemoth have long since matured into thirtysomething, business-savvy adults with more than menace and mayhem on their minds. There's no dismissing the band as a macabre Kiss knock-off or passing fad at this late date. Slipknot's third (and most accomplished) album, "Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)," recently reached platinum status (1 million copies sold) and helped push the band's self-titled 1999 debut past double platinum. Some things remain the same in Slipknot's world, such as the punishing physicality of the band's chaotic live show. Percussionist Chris Fehn, for instance, has been performing with a torn ACL and is awaiting replacement parts from a cadaver. "Here we are in this submarine, that I call it, living under battle conditions, and we go out and win the war every night," said Shawn Crahan, aka No. 6, aka the Clown. But other things are much different. "There's been a lot of things that have gone on in my life recently with my wife and it's really made me change my thinking," Crahan said. Crahan's wife has long battled Crohn's disease (a chronic inflammatory bowel disease), and her hospitalization in recent months forced him to skip the first Slipknot gigs of his career. "That's the thing I fight for most in this biz, is family," he said. "I've been married 12 years, and my wife has let me do Slipknot for 10. . . . Family can and is being incorporated into rock 'n' roll. You can have a wife, you can have a child or children and be a rock 'n' roller." Crahan chatted earlier this month from a tour stop in El Paso, Texas. "I'm still not dead!" lead singer Corey Taylor screamed from the background, referring to the rumors of his death that circulated last September on the Internet and radio. It was two days before Slipknot was due to shoot a music video in Los Angeles for "Before I Forget," the band's next single. "Right now has definitely been the hardest time in my life," said the father of four children (ranging in age from 15 months to 13 years). A band with nine guys in masks is complicated enough to keep together, let alone a massive arena tour that travels with a couple dozen crew members, four buses to haul everybody and five semis for equipment. Let alone family. Crahan said that "health is the most important thing you have on this planet if you're gonna have a successful life," and so he knows it's ironic that as his wife battles daily for normalcy, he's slamming his body around the stage each night. "The older you get, the wiser you get on how to benefit from taking care of yourself in your performance," Crahan said. "But my performance is to feel uncomfortable, so I'm kind of screwed any way you look at it." His service to Slipknot has taken its toll on his limbs, but Crahan said that he's "probably a lifer in the 'Knot." This is a change. It wasn't all that long ago that band members had predicted "Vol. 3" to be Slipknot's final bow. Intra-band relations were strained prior to a change in management. Various side projects took the musicians in different directions. But now the Des Moines natives seem to cherish Slipknot all the more for "the anomaly that it is," as Crahan put it, "the foundation to let all of us have other expressions." "This is the school I always wanted to be in," Crahan elaborated. "I didn't want to be in high school, I didn't want to go to grade school. I wanted to learn rock 'n' roll and paint pictures and throw pots and write haiku and study film." Crahan has a ritual on this tour. During the first song of the encore, he slips into the audience to walk around the arena, shake hands and distribute drumsticks to the maggots who have plunked down their hard-earned $35 to come see and support this anomaly that is Slipknot. "I feel like I'm out watching AC/DC, Van Halen, Kiss back when I was a kid," Crahan said. "I know that we're doing something socially for these kids." |