“The band will never be like that again” – Clown shares some new details about the beginning of Slipknot

In a recent Metal Hammer article, co-founder and percussionist of Slipknot Shawn “Clown” Crahan reflects on the history of the band while making careful to give credit where credit is due, recognizing the contributions of former band members who are no longer in the group. Now that the band is commemorating the 25th anniversary of their breakthrough album of the same name from 1999, it’s an especially contemplative moment for the musician who has been evaluating the trajectory of their career to far.

Brother, the band will never be like that again. I can’t tell you how close we were then: we’re not that close anymore. People are gone. Craig’s [Jones] out, Chris [Fehn] is out, Joey’s [Jordison] out, Paul’s [Gray] out. The band is different. But, back then, there was nine guys that wanted to be in the same place, and we made it work. And we wound up here, which is wonderful. I’m doing these 25-year anniversary interviews and not a lot of human beings are asking me about them. You can’t talk about any of this without talking about them. They’re greatly missed, and every day that I go through this 25-year anniversary, I miss them more, but also appreciate, love and just acknowledge who they were to all of this. It’s very important for me to say that because these are two gentlemen that should be talking to you and they can’t. Joey and Paul… Oh my God, they wrote this shit man. Number 1 and Number 2. The path changed for us after they passed, and we had to keep going, and take a new path, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t know where we came from, or ever forget what brought us here.

At the age of 38, Gray, the band’s bassist and lyricist, passed away on May 24th, 2010, 14 years ago. The drummer for the group, Jordison, died on July 26th, 2021, at the age of 46. Jason either penned or co-wrote the lyrics for the songs “Surfacing,” “Spit It Out,” “Prosthetics,” “Only One,” and “Scissors” on Slipknot‘s self-titled 1999 album. Gray received credit for the songs “Spit It Out” and “Only One.” On later albums, Jordison is also credited with authoring the lyrics to the songs “People = Shit,” “The Heretic Anthem,” “Sulfur,” “Psychosocial,” “Vendetta,” “Gehenna,” and “All Hope Is Gone,” while Gray was given composition credit for the same songs.