Slipknot percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan was asked in an interview with The Fred Minnick Show if he could ever see the band ditching its trademark costumes and masks.
He responded in part, “There's not a day that doesn't go by that every member wishes we didn't have to wear that stuff. Especially since it was my idea in the sense of I brought it to the table. And for all I know, maybe some of the guys think it's the worst thing ever . . . It seems like it's what we wanted to do. And it's helped, and it really is who we are.”
He continued, “There's just never been any (thought) of anything else. I really couldn't fathom us any other way. I would feel cheapened; I would feel betrayed. I think that's the difference . . . we do not deter away from staying the course.”
Crahan told us a while back that the band's masks and images will always evolve: “We're not a Kiss thing. I love Kiss, they're the reason I play music, so no, you know, there's no disrespect here, but I'm not gonna be left to have, you know, demon eyes for my whole career. I can't do it. I'm too over here, there, and everywhere to ever have to be that one thing forever. I'm not. We're an ongoing experiment that we play, and we change.”
Crahan's comments echo those of Slipknot singer Corey Taylor, who told Overdrive in a 2019 interview that he couldn't see the band ever going unmasked. He explained, “It's such a part of our art . . . when we start trying to cut corners and try to make things easier, just so we can 'get on with it,' that's when it's gonna be time to call it a day.”
Slipknot recently canceled all of its previously announced summer 2020 tour dates, including the Knotfest Roadshow U.S. tour. The band is transitioning its Knotfest website into a portal dedicated to heavy music culture.