Slipknot is not as close as they used to be. In a new interview, the band’s founding percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan Clown got candid about the state of Slipknot, as well as the deaths of late members Paul Grey (bass) and Joey Jordison (drums) and how they impacted the band.
“Brother, the band will never be like that again,” Crahan told journalist Paul Brannigan in the new issue of Metal Hammer, while reflecting on when Slipknot dropped their acclaimed debut album in 1999. “I can’t tell you how close we were then: we’re not that close anymore. People are gone,” he continued. “Craig’s out. Chris is out, Joey’s out, Paul’s 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, and here is wonderful.”
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Later, Crahan delivered some heartfelt comments on how impactful Gray and Jordison were to Slipknot developing their sound. “I’m doing these 25-year anniversary interviews, and not a lot of human beings are asking me about them,” he said. “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 this,” Crahan continued. “I need 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 s— man. Number 1 and Number 2,” he added. “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.”
On May 24, 2010, Gray was found dead at the TownePlace Suites in Urbandale, Iowa. He was 38 years old. On June 21, 2010, autopsy results revealed that Gray died of an overdose of morphine and fentanyl, and that he had also developed “significant heart disease.” The autopsy also showed traces of the anti-anxiety pill Xanax in his system.
More than 10 years later, in July 2021, Jordison died in his sleep at the age of 46. He’d unceremoniously exited Slipknot in 2013, later revealing that he’d been suffering from transverse myelitis, a neurological disease that cost him the ability to play the drums toward the end of his time with the band.
Slipknot are currently touring North America to celebrate 25 years of their debut album.
