Tag: M. Shawn Crahan
0 M. SHAWN CRAHAN’s ‘THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY’
ART BOOK COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY
BOOK TOUR LANDS AT BOOK SOUP IN LOS ANGELES
VISIONARY AND PERCUSSIONIST FOR THE GRAMMY-WINNING, MULTI-PLATINUM GROUP SLIPKNOT,
ANNOUNCES DAILY BOOK SIGNINGS DURING
ROCKSTAR MAYHEM FESTIVAL ALL SUMMER LONG
“…Crahan’s soul shines through in his over-exposed snaps of urban decay, and the pictures of his Slipknot bandmates are absolutely chilling. A jarring view through an unsettling lens.”
–Chris Krovatin, Revolver, (July/August 2012)
M. SHAWN CRAHAN aka clown–the founder and visionary behind one of the biggest hard rock bands in the world, the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning Slipknot–stopped into the renowned book store Book Soup in Los Angeles this past Friday (June 29). For two hours, CRAHAN addressed the crowd–which included his friend and Slipknot bandmate, lead singer Corey Taylor–and signed copies of his first-ever art book and collection of photography, THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY (MTV Books).
Slipknot is currently headlining the Rockstar Mayhem Festival which kicked off this past Saturday (June 30) and continues through August 5. CRAHAN has announced he will do daily book signings for THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY on the tour and he’ll offer the large format, stunning coffee-table book at a discounted price of $30.00 (plus $10.00 shipping from the festival) to fans onsite. All dates listed below.
APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY is an art book collecting eleven years of manipulated medium format Polaroids, each an exploration in darkness and light, and a representation of CRAHAN’s second and equally powerful artistic outlet. Weird, wired, paranoid, and endlessly imaginative, ANJ is Shawn’s hand-picked collection of over 187 giant, never-before-seen images in numerous styles. For a 25-Page digital book preview of APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY (MTV Books). Click here:
http://bit.ly/ApocalypticPreview.
Lars Ulrich of Metallica penned the forward for Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey after seeing M. Shawn Crahan’s photography at a gallery show. From Ulrich’s forward:
“Let go of the bungee cord, do away with the safety net. Just go for it, and let the journey take you wherever the journey’s going to take you. And as you’re going on that trip through this book, occasionally imagine clown next to you. Imagine hearing his voice in your head talking about what these images and experiences have meant to him and where he was going with it. And you will end up on one fuck of a ride, that I can guarantee you will be unique, spellbinding, and potentially life altering. This book is everything that art should be.”
2012 continues to be a big year for CRAHAN, which started with the announcement of his new Film/TV production company Living Breathing Films at Sundance, the release of his first book THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY, a headlining run on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival and the creation of the first-ever Knotfest music festival (August 17 and August 18).
www.apocalypticnightmare.com/photobooks
http://www.facebook.com/MShawnCrahan
http://twitter.com/#!/MShawnCrahan
Current dates for M. Shawn Crahan’s APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY book tour:
DATE CITY BOOK STORE TIME
Jul 05 Tempe, AZ Changing Hands Bookstore 7:00pm, Free
Jul 19 St. Louis, MO Barnes & Noble (Mid Rivers, St. Peters, MO) 7:00pm, Free
Jul 23 Allen Park, MI Barnes & Noble (Detroit) 7:00pm, Free
Jul 26 Ridgewood, NJ Bookends 7:00pm, Free
M. SHAWN CRAHAN daily book signings (near 2pm) at the APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY/Slipknot tent on the Mayhem Festival grounds.
Rockstar Mayhem Festival w/ Slipknot, Slayer, Motorhead, As I Lay Dying + more
DATE CITY VENUE
07/03 Auburn, WA White River Amphitheater
07/04 Nampa, ID Idaho Center Amphitheater
07/06 Phoenix, AZ Ashley Furniture HomeStore Pavilion
07/07 Albuquerque, NM Hard Rock Casino Presents The Pavilion
07/08 Englewood, CO Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
07/10 Dallas, TX GEXA Energy Pavilion
07/11 Woodlands, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
07/13 Tampa, FL 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheater
07/14 Atlanta, GA Lakewood Amphitheatre
07/15 Indianapolis, IN Klipsch Music Center
07/17 Bonner Springs, KS Sandstone Amphitheater
07/18 Oklahoma City, OK Zoo Amphitheater
07/20 Maryland Heights, MO Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
07/21 Tinley Park, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheater
07/22 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
07/24 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
07/25 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
07/27 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
07/28 Burgettstown, PA First Niagara Pavilion
07/29 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
07/31 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
08/01 Darien Center, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
08/03 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center
08/04 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain
08/05 Hartford, CT The Comcast Theatre
*Slipknot headlining, As I Lay Dying supporting.
*08/08 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ
*08/09 Gilford, NH Meadowbrook US Cellular Pavilion
0 M. Shawn Crahan of Slipknot to Unleash ‘THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY’; First-Ever Art Book of Photography Due Out on MTV Books Starting June 19
M. SHAWN CRAHAN OF SLIPKNOT
TO UNLEASH
‘THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY’
FIRST-EVER ART BOOK OF PHOTOGRAPHY DUE OUT
ON MTV BOOKS STARTING JUNE 19
AN ARTFUL CONVERSATION WITH
THE VISIONARY AND PERCUSSIONIST FOR THE GRAMMY-WINNING,
MULTI-PLATINUM GROUP SLIPKNOT
SHAWN WILL APPEAR AT SXSW 2012:
“SEEING RED AESTHETICS & VISUALS OF METAL”
SXSW PANEL, THURSDAY, MARCH 15 @ 2:45pm
(Room: 11AB Austin Convention Center)
AND
‘THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY’
BOOK PREVIEW, SXSW PARTY AND Q&A WITH M. SHAWN CRAHAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 15 @ 7:00 pm
THE JR. (formerly Emo’s Jr., 603 Red River St, Austin, Rsvp below)
Step inside THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY…
From the mind of M. SHAWN CRAHAN, the founder and visionary behind one of the biggest hard rock bands in the world, the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning Slipknot–comes THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY. Set for release through MTV Books in late June (starting June 19), THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY is a large-format art book collection of explorations in darkness and light from SHAWN’s experimental photography, his second and equally powerful artistic outlet which he has honed for over a decade. Weird, wired, paranoid, endlessly imaginative and cancerously prolific, he’s created thousands of dangerous representations of reality through eye-gouging Polaroids in numerous artistic styles throughout this hand-picked collection of images.
CRAHAN will participate in a panel at SXSW Music Festival this week. He’ll join Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod/Arson Anthem), Orion Landau (Art director for Relapse Records), and Corey Mitchell (Metal Sucks) on Thursday, March 15 (2:45 PM, Austin Convention Center, Room 11AB) for the “Seeing Red Aesthetics & Visuals of Metal” panel to discuss the progession of art and visual themes in the hard rock and metal genre. Later that evening, CRAHAN will host THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY book preview, Q&A and SXSW party (7:00 PM, The Jr. formerly Emo’s Jr., 603 Red River St., RSVP below).
Lars Ulrichof Metallica wrote the forward for the THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY. Below is an excerpt:
“Throw yourself into clown’s world, throw yourself into clown’s book, throw yourself into clown’s images, throw yourself into the whole fucking thing. Let go of the bungee cord, do away with the safety net. Just go for it, and let the journey take you wherever the journey’s going to take you. And as you’re going on that trip through this book, occasionally imagine clown next to you. Imagine hearing his voice in your head talking about what these images and experiences have meant to him and where he was going with it. And you will end up on one fuck of a ride, that I can guarantee you will be unique, spellbinding, and potentially life altering. This book is everything that art should be.”
Visionary and percussionist M. SHAWN CRAHAN has long been the creative and imaginative force behind the renowned Grammy-winning, multi-platinum group’s haunting and grotesque imagery. CRAHAN has art directed and photographed both album artwork and helmed numerous documentaries on the group. CRAHAN co-directed all of Slipknot’s music videos and was the primary director for the band’s acclaimed short film for “Snuff” from their fourth album All Hope Is Gone in 2009. The 6-minute noir video for “Snuff” features legendary actor Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) in the enigmatic clip which has garnered over 14 million views on YouTube. Slipknot now has over 11 Million Facebook fans eagerly waiting to devour their art, music, videos, written word and vision.
Here’s a brief Q&A with SHAWN:
What photographers and visual art inspire you?
The American photographer Joel-Peter Witkin is my biggest influence in life. He is the be-all-end-all of everything I hope to become in photography. I have to study the masters of the realm before I’ll ever get to that level. The Impressionist painters have also made an indelible mark on my work as well as the Surrealist and Post-Impressionist styles. I love Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Cezanne and Gauguin, all the masters of painting. But Joel-Peter Witkin is the end all be all in photography. I would never copy Joel, but I desire the confidence to able to create unheard of visions within my soul and not worry about the risk of society or cultural retaliation. He creates the most horrific, insane, almost heinous at times, sexual, human images of the grotesque. I would never do it for the shock factor only for the exploration of my mind, to somehow make sanity tangible by bordering on the edge. I’m all about making art tangible, taking it from my brain and having you hold it in your hands. And that’s what The Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey is, you’re holding my vision. That is as close to god as I come. It’s the same thing with my band Slipknot, when we’re on stage it’s church. It takes two to make church, but we have nine. It’s my religion.
Describe your muse…
We’re all trying to understand the myth of life. Uncovering the myth is understanding that the truth is always in front of you. Both my peers and mentors that have taught me from music to photography, have all agreed one of my most prominent attributes in art is that I know how to commit. I don’t spend a lot of time trying to wonder if something can be better, I commit and I know right away that if I’m happy with a piece and this is how it’s going to lie forever. The truth is in front of you, and you have a right decision and a wrong decision to make at all times. Being in a Catholic school for 12 years I’ve grappled with my own questions on with mortality and dying. I don’t have a morbid sense of fascination or even think that death is something I should study but it’s in everything I do because “death is more proof than god.” I’m more in touch with my own death clock than I am with god. I’m not religious, but I am spiritual and fairly dark hence the TheApocalyptic Nightmare Journey.
Describe your process as a photographer.
On The Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey, my emphasis is on medium format Polaroids. During our first cycle album in 1998, Rolling Stone sent a photographer to Des Moines, IA for a photo shoot of our masks. Being the arist guy in the band I gathered the masks together and met him. We got along and I became curious, so he let me position the masks so he let me positiion the masks and look through the camera’s eye so I knew how the picture would feel. After seeing what I’d envisioned he became the photographer and snapped the photos. It was a medium format camera with a Polaroid back that he used for tests to make sure everything was perfect then he would switch to a film back. Not lnowing what the film would look like I became fixaed with the instant gratification of the Polaroids. It felt and looked exactly like what I’d seen through the camera’s eye. The Polaroid is something completely original. They’re never perfect, since the pulling process leads to imperfections, so I became obsessed with the idea of creating something original. I convinced myself I wanted to get a master’s degree studying Polaroid. Once you snap the picture and pull the Polaroid, the two rollers squeeze out emollition, the chemicals that develop the film, and I got it down to where I knew every second what happened. I am able to rip the pictures in half, I’m pulling the pictures off, I’m turning it upside-down, pushing it hard, creating a double exposure, sliding it, making the chemicals slide like it’s constantly in movement, I created something completely new and original every time I shot a Polaroid. You can never re-create what just happened, you’d need 10,000 cameras and people with stopwatches and notebooks to study ever movement. Afterwards, even if you had that information you would still have to take in the circumstantial randomness of life; the heat, the sun, where the moon was, etc. and these kinds of things cannot be reproduced.
Tell us about your home life growing up and how you feel this shaped you as an artist.
I’m an only child and not unlike any other child, some complex things were going on at home. As a result, I spent a lot of time by myself and lived in my own imagination. As I isolated myself more and more single pictures and images came in my mind ending with nothingness, the void of color, black… I was young 4, 5, 6 years old, studying the absence of color in my own mind. I began to move towards color. Maybe looking for a little happiness, a little bit more understanding of the reality going on outside and seeing fall, winter, summer and spring colors. Also, I grew up on Dr. Seuss which brought me all the color, and all the words, and all the stories, and all the imagination I could have wished for. In particular there is this book, it’s called The Digging-Est Dog and I felt connected to it because the dog just kept digging for the bone I’ve always been digging for something in my life, dealing with isolation and Dr. Seuss brought me a lot of color and the rhymes and the on-going sentences and sometimes sentences that made no sense which made all the sense in world to me. I credit my mom for recognizing I was interested in visual art, in general. She bought me books on Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Rembrandt. I was fascinated with all the biblical and mythical metaphors between heaven and hell, the duality of good and evil and by the downfall of the human race, where humans get greedy and gluttony takes over. I remember paintings of voluptuous women being pulled down into the cracks of the earth into a fiery hell by goat demon characters, even as a young man it aroused me, in a way, that wasn’t exactly sexual but extremely thrilling. I was so young I just had to try and figure it out. I was affected by the masters and I was able to really look at these things and try to figure them all out myself at such a young age. And as I got older, I began to understand the human connection between what people think and feel and creating it on canvas, paper, poetry, etc. I was obsessed to the point where, my mother was called into my grade school because I was drawing pictures of naked women. I went to a catholic school and they thought it was inappropriate. My mom took one look at the first picture I drew and said to them “This is a picture of me. He’s my son and he’s seen me like this so it’s all he knows. He doesn’t have these ideas on his mind he is just drawing, he’s interested in the human form”. That was it, she went to town for me at my catholic school and really had to make them think differently about what’s was going on in my mind.
And that’s where it all started and it’s taken me from there till 2012. Art is a vision, a bigger picture, I follow my instincts and I go find it. It’s euphoric, like sex.
When did you start shooting and did you have any formal training? What is coming up next in the art world for you?
I started shooting as young kid. Now that I look back, I see that I took at a lot of photos of my Dad and Mom, who are now deceased. I was shooting them with an eye. I only would take a picture of my Dad when he was a certain way. I realize now that I had the eyes then, but I wasn’t aware of being a photographer. In High School I took Photography, but I didn’t have patience for the class, or enjoy the assignments. Once I learned the form and technique of the camera, I moved beyond being taugght since I am spontaneous. It wasn’t until I got on the road with Slipknot around 1998, that others such as the Rolling Stone photographer took note as my vision was developing. He said, “You’ve got the eye man, you’ve got the gift. You know what you want, you’ve just got to learn the camera.” That’s when I knew I had to focus on the craft. I had a mentor who I used to take out on the road, one day and the situation wasn’t his fault, but he just wasn’t getting what I wanted, I asked him if he would hand over the camera. He looked me dead in the eye and said, “Oh no, things are never going to be the same again.” And sure enough, I haven’t stopped shooting seriously since. I give myself goals, I took pictures with the Medium Format Camera for years. Then finally I hid it away in my storage unit and bought a digital camera, to learn it and that’s what I am doing now. The Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey is a reflection on all of my Polaroid work up until this moment. My next book will be of models of beautiful women and the stories that we have of collaborating with each other and creating art.
Which image or overall theme from The Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey is your current favorite?
The photos that people allowed me to take when they were emotional and outside of themselves, in a moment, those are the pictures I’m most proud of. They trusted me enough to take a photograph. They gave their whole being to me without hiding. Overall, it took me 8 years to make this book. I’ve got over 5,000 Polaroids, I could have done all of them, but I held back and pulled the best of the best, which added up to 175, 200 photos in this first book. My goal is to take you through my life, in little portions of it, there’s members of my band with masks, without masks, with other humans that are big stars, or not stars, there’s my family, there’s segments of different areas that I studied, including animals and the goat that’s on Slipknot’s second album cover, Iowa. I held a lot back, but I’d rather give out a few select, profound images, that I love to introduce the world to my work.
What appealed to you about the SXSW panel “Seeing Red Aesthetics and the Visuals of Metal”?
It’s just insanity and an honor to go speak at SXSW again. I love it, I’ve done it before and I’m honored to be asked again. I’ve watched some of my friends do panels and I learned so much. I love that outlet, to be able to shed some of your knowledge and ideas as well as learn something new, all good teachers are good students, and all good students are good teachers. I go there to learn something from someone who is asking me a question that I may not be able to answer, and that might be the epiphany that drives me to the next level of evolution.
http://www.apocalypticnightmare.com/photobooks
“Seeing Red Aesthetics & Visuals of Metal”
SXSW Panel with M. Shawn Crahan (Slipknot), Mike IX Williams
(Eyehategod/Arson Anthem), Orion Landau (Relapse Records),
and Corey Mitchell (Metal Sucks)
THURSDAY, MARCH 15 @2:45pm
Room: 11AB Austin Convention Center
AND
‘THE APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE JOURNEY’
BOOK PREVIEW, SXSW PARTY AND Q&A WITH M. SHAWN CRAHAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 15 @ 7:00 pm
THE JR. (formerly Emo’s Jr., 603 Red River St, Austin, Rsvp below)
5B Artist Management Showcase to follow with performances from:
Turbogeist: 8:00 pm
The Soldier Thread (acoustic): 9:00 pm
Trivium (acoustic): 10:00 pm
0 Clown – The Hard Rock Hideout Interview!
CLOWN – The musician, songwriter, music producer and artist known as Michael Shawn Crahan, aka Clown. He is comfortable with being called Clown for that is who he truly is, on or off the stage, whether performing with the legendary Slipknot or with his new macabre and Extreme band called The Black Dots Of Death. With his side projects To My Surprise and Dirty Little Rabbits in-between, there is only one Clown associated with them all. Clown is not your stereotypical “Rock Star”, instead he is an artist that delves deep into the human psyche, revealing what he finds along the way, while never being bashful to push the envelope.
There is much more to Clown than his being a founding member and percussionist for Slipknot. Oh, there’s so much more. All one needs to do, when a golden opportunity arises, is talk to Clown and find out for oneself just how unique, open minded, brutally honest and caring he unmistakably is. Hard Rock Hideout recently had the opportunity to talk with the legendary Clown… only Clown did the most talking. That’s the way it should be. When a man like Clown, who holds such hard earned status in today’s Heavy Metal climate and Rock Music history, coupled with his volumes of knowledge on life itself wants to speak… I’m going to listen. Here is what Clown had to say:
HRH: “Ever Since We Were Children” combines a mix of music styles that carries it’s dark themes in a maniacal sense of emotions. This album flows so well and it works for me. How do you pull this off? What’s the method to your madness?
CLOWN: Well, “what’s the method to your madness” is a good question! Anyone who spends a lot of time with me really knows me. When I was young, I used to think I wouldn’t make it to forty one years old! Now, I’m hoping to make it to sixty one! (laughs)
HRH: (laughs) Let’s hope!
CLOWN: I took a physical the other day and I filmed the nurse taking blood from my arm. I sent the video to my wife’s phone and said, “look what I’m doing today”! I filmed my parents cremation too. I was invited and asked by Paul Gray’s wife to film the birth of their child. I’m always searching for more truths and answers. In schools, they should be teaching us about death and preparing us for death. I have a friend who is suffering from a life changing and traumatic experience, I spoke to him two weeks ago. He said don’t take life for granted, live for the day because you can’t predict what will happen. You have to get as much done today because you don’t know if your gonna get killed in a car wreck tonight.
HRH: How true it is, Clown.
CLOWN: I’ve lost my Mom, Dad and now my best friend last year. My first best friend. It has all struck a chord with me, that life is fragile, life is random.
HRH: I couldn’t agree with you more, Clown.
CLOWN: This new album is something I’ve been working on for ten years now. The whole psychosis audio experience and dangerous thinking is happening on this album. I’m always opening my minds eye into different ways of thinking. I’m not wasting anymore time and not waiting for the next Slipknot album. I want to facilitate the art that’s inside of me and bundle it together. Just because I’m a percussionist, people don’t know I’m an all around artist. I play drums with The Black Dots Of Death, only you are getting more from me, a freedom of artistic expression and more than just a percussionist.
HRH: Which do you prefer to be addressed as, Shawn or Clown?
CLOWN: People who know me, know me as Clown and call me Clown. I’ve always been Clown and always will be Clown. It’s who I am, a reference in a sort of way. My real name is Michael Shawn Crahan. You can call me Shawn, still, calling me Clown is correct.
HRH: Okay, Clown it is! I thank you for clarifying that with me.
CLOWN: Not a problem.
HRH: Is it fair to think “Ever Since We Were Children” imitates aspects of life that no one wants to talk about?
CLOWN: Yes. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, through being a member of Slipknot and living a life of Rock and Roll, is I’ve received a Phd… a Doctorate in Rock and Roll. I could give a class on passports, different currencies, countries, pyrotechnics and drum lifts. I have a real sense on all that through experience. I tell a lot of people that my career in the old days was based on extreme danger and extreme violence. Now, I search for salvation through music. In my last twelve years, my feelings of salvation were brought on by being a member of Slipknot.
HRH: That’s really cool, Clown.
CLOWN: Twelve years later, I’m still searching through my feelings and applying them to The Black Dots Of Death. Two other bands I was in were based on how I was brought up in the seventies and the music I grew up on. Listening to my mother play guitar and the whole Monterey Pop Festival thing had an affect on me. This record is all stories and situations that a lot of people want to ignore and not talk about. It’s been a waiting game to reinvent my anger. I recently did an art show on my lifes work… no parents could attend and losing my best friend who couldn’t be there really hurt.
HRH: What comes first for you, an album’s theme or the song’s lyrics?
CLOWN: Basically, the music is written first. With “Lower Than Dirt” I remembered that I had the “fat kid” reference hit at me while growing up and it hurt, it made me feel “lower than dirt”. I wrote a song a day while writing this album, the experience was great with the producers and engineers. The songs on the new album are short stories, written for people like they’ve gone through them. I’m an only child, so the closest thing to a brother I’ve ever had in my life is my lead singer. He thinks a lot like I think. He is willing to fight to the death and not give a shit what other people think… with responsibility that is. There is responsibility in the way I act and the things I say, of course. He’s very ready to stand up to what he believes in. He builds his mindset around all his lyrics and he is the lead singer. I give my lead singer all these songs, then on a certain day and depending on how he feels is how he approaches the songs. Something will happen in “his” life and that is how he approaches writing songs.
HRH: The songs on “Ever Since We Were Children” are dark, melancholy and do make me feel nervous!
CLOWN: I’ll start my mindset around the sound of a song, combining both frequencies that are audible and inaudible. When you mix in audible with inaudible frequencies, it creates psychosis audio. Something is taking place there that truly affects people!
HRH: Whoa, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before! (laughs)
CLOWN: I purposely do it, I’m diagnosed with severe depression and I go from one state of living to a next state of living. I like to get paranoia, stress and heart rates up with people! If someone tells me, Clown, I had to eventually turn off that Slipknot or Black Dots Of Death album because it made me very nervous, then that is the greatest compliment I can ever receive! You’ve listened to the first Slipknot album, I’m sure.
HRH: I certainly have!
CLOWN: There is a lot of psychosis audio happening on that first album.
HRH: I realize that now! (laughs)
CLOWN: I like to take music to the realm of insanity, it’s like, take me to that zone! Back then, when we made the first Slipknot album, you were dealing with nine guys who would cut their hands off and do anything to get somewhere in life and in this music business. I put all of my life experiences into my music and I have to write a song a day. I’m going in for minor surgery next week and I have anxiety over it. So, I incorporate this into my music. My wife celebrated this past Thanksgiving away from me, so I was invited over to a friends house for Thanksgiving dinner. Their food wasn’t my wife’s food, so I wrote the song “Thanks For Nothing”. It was the anxiety I experienced that day, from not having my wife’s food. All the riffs and the way this song was written reflects the way I felt that day.
HRH: Based on what is happening in the world today, is there any hope for mankind?
CLOWN: None. It’s very disturbing about how I and others feel about it. Let’s look at the facts. The end of the world has been written about and discussed since man has been able to write, paint and make music. Bigger, faster, quicker and cheaper is our downfall. I’ve watched the talking heads on television, each giving their reasons as to why the world is a mess. They say it’s economical aspects, a shortage of water and over population. I’ve turned to my wife and said, if you add up all nine ideas we’re listening to on television, then you have the recipe for disaster. We have beings in space studying micro gravity already. We’re already off this planet! To quote Radiohead, “dinosaurs already ruled the earth”, there was a T-Rex running around this planet, devouring this planet. Now, it’s us making a mess of it! We’re not doing very well when we have an oil spill in the ocean and it takes that long to cap it! That was an insult to our Earth and mankind.
HRH: Apocalyptic Nightmare.com has been launched. This should prove to be an excellent outlet for you to showcase and sell your art. Will you consistently add your art to this site?
CLOWN: It’s taken me a long time within the management family to get this site launched. If I had waited for management, my site would not be up as we’re speaking. I want things to fly around and get to the facts. Like my friend I mentioned earlier said, “get it done today”. About one eighth of this site is done. There are no videos or film uploaded just yet. I want my album covers, poetry, short stories and all my paintings up. Three bands I’ve produced are on it and I played drums and wrote songs for them too. There will be a remix section along with a photo and painting section. I had and have a certain way to get things done. There will be a link to get my book when it’s done. Contact information for signings, public speakings and slide shows of my life experiences as well. It’s going to take a lot of time, there are thousands of pictures I want to share and more merchandise to be sold with my artwork on it. It’s kinda like my tombstone and what my Mom always said, “I was a renaissance man”.
HRH: That’s going to be a fabulous site once it’s all complete Clown.
CLOWN: Once our website comes out, The Black Dots Of Death.com, everyone will know who our lead singer is. In the meantime, let everyone know we’re coming for them! The Black Dots Of Death is a dangerous band, with danger all around us!
HRH: Where do you draw inspiration from?
CLOWN: I work with Make-A-Wish Foundation. I get incredible strength from these kids. To be a part of this is an amazing and surreal feeling. It gives me a serious mindset, to speak with a kid that is terminal. I get disturbed by talking to a terminally ill kid who is way more positive than me, then they ask me, what’s wrong with you? I’ve seen kids who have had their arms and legs blown off at a children’s hospital. We get invited to go in and it’s so surreal, I’ve seen some crazy things, mind blowing things that I want to share with people. I’m funny sometimes, yet I’m really serious too.
HRH: That is just admirable Clown, your working with Make-A-Wish Foundation.
CLOWN: As kids get older and healed, they’ll have a family, find us and thank us for the time I spent with them. I like to be next to kids and sometimes I’m brought to tears by the questions they ask me. I’m good at public speaking and a lot has happened in my life, so I like to tell kids my experiences. I’ve met kids who cut themselves, they come to our show with their parents and they are embarrassed by being with their parents. I always say to them “you are lucky and very fortunate to have parents like this”. Management will always ask me the day before or night before a Make-A-Wish engagement. They know full well that it gives me anxiety thinking about the engagement, in the days leading up to it.
HRH: All requests go through management then?
CLOWN: Management is my direct connection for me to produce a band, do a remix, drum clinics and public speaking as well. I like speaking about going from a small town to a big band.
HRH: Will there ever be another new Slipknot studio album again?
CLOWN: In my heart of hearts and soul of souls, I think there would be another Slipknot record again. I would love another Slipknot record! Please, don’t print this and quote “Clown said there would definitely be another Slipknot album”. Nothing is in the works right now. I live for the day, one day at a time. It would be a special day for a new Slipknot record to come out. Still, there are no guarantees in life. I cannot predict the future, I’m not a fortune teller. Right now, I want to celebrate my bass player’s life, (Paul Gray), our love for him and love for our band.
1 Slipknot’s Clown Unveils Apocalyptic Nigtmare!
M. SHAWN “CLOWN” CRAHAN UNVEILS APOCALYPTICNIGHTMARE.COM
CUSTOMIZED MERCHANDISE AVAILABLE
THE BLACK DOTS OF DEATH DEBUT ALBUM ‘EVER SINCE WE WERE CHILDREN’ OUT MARCH 29
M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan, best known as one of the founding members of Slipknot, has just unveiled www.apocalypticnightmare.com, his new home on the web. The site will be the new one stop shop to see everything going on in Clown’s world from art to music. The features on the site will include an online gallery of Clown’s photographs and paintings, as well as an extensive music section. The music section will include streaming tracks of bands Clown has produced, remixed, and played drums on, as well as his solo project Brain Wash Love, To My Surprise, Dirty Little Rabbits and his latest venture, The Black Dots of Death.
While To My Surprise and Dirty Little Rabbits paid homage to Clown’s musical upbringing on classic rock and pop, Slipknot fans are more likely to embrace The Black Dots of Death. The band’s debut album Ever Since We Were Children will be released March 29th through Sopra Evil/Rocket Science Ventures. There is a familiar dark theme and ominous sound pulsing through the album, which will be instantly recognized by Slipknot fans.
The Black Dots of Death have allowed Clown to combine art with his music at a new level. The cover art of the album features a baby doll head, and expanding on that, Clown will be offering custom baby doll heads in a very limited series – personally painting and defacing each head, making it a one of a kind piece of art. Other items in CD bundles include an original song composed by BDOD, autographed 8X10s, t-shirts, hoodies, shot glasses and more. Fans can pre-order now at http://myplay.me/192. Anyone who pre-orders can forward their confirmation with their name and phone number to BlackDotsContest@gmail.com and each Friday until release date, 10 people will be randomly chosen to receive a five minute thank you call from Clown.
The Black Dots of Death have unveiled another track from their forthcoming album titled, ‘The Hunt Is Over’ streaming now at http://thehuntisover.viinyl.com
Make sure to check ApocalypticNightmare.com regularly to stay up to date on Clown’s latest projects. More features are in the works including a forum, video section, collected writings, expanded store and a larger Discover section with more artists Clown will be collaborating with.
