percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan has said the nu metal stars aren’t as “close” as they were during their early days. The 54-year-old, who co-founded Slipknot in 1995, confesses in that deaths and lineup changes have affected the band’s dynamic over the years. Key songwriters Paul Gray (bass) and Joey Jordison (drums) have both passed away, while turn-of-the-millennium members Chris Fehn (percussion) and Craig “133” Jones (samples/keys) have left the lineup.
“Brother, the band will never be like that again,” Crahan tells journalist Paul Brannigan when reflecting on 1999, the year Slipknot released . “I can’t tell you how close we were then: we’re not that close anymore. People are gone.
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.” Elsewhere in the interview, Crahan gives a passionate speech about how significant Gray and Jordison were to Slipknot’s development.
“I’m doing these 25-year anniversary interviews, and not a lot of human beings are asking me about them,” he says. “You can’t talk about any of this without talking about them.” Crahan continues: “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.
It’s very important for me to .