Shawn Crahan

Personal life

Crahan was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1969. He majored in Creative Writing. Crahan's first band was "Modifidious", which he was a member with former Slipknot member Joey Jordison. He also once performed in bands such as Heads on the Wall and One Cup of Fat before forming The Pale Ones, which would later become known as Slipknot. Crahan married his wife Chantel in June 1992, in Des Moines, Iowa. They now have four children: Alexandria, Gage, Gabrielle, and Simon. Crahan is also a filmographer and photographer, having published a Slipknot photo album "The Apocalyptic Nightmare" in 2012. In 2012, he also made his debut acting appearance in the film The Devil's Carnival. He is a smoker and has been willing to break the law to smoke inside venues along with other members of Slipknot, even when subject to a significant fine. He is also a collector of baseball cards.

Film career

In June 2016, Crahan made his directing debut with the film Officer Downe based on the graphic novel Officer Downe written by Joe Casey and Chris Burnham. Casey wrote the script and Skip Williamson and Mark Neveldine produced the film. Shawn "Clown" Crahan also directed the Music Video for the song "A-M-E-R-I-C-A", by Motionless In White and We Are by Hollywood Undead.

With Slipknot

In 1993, Crahan formed a metal band known as "The Pale Ones" with fellow musician Paul Gray, which featured himself as the band's drummer. Wanting to expand the band's percussion section, Crahan brought in Joey Jordison to fill in as drummer while Crahan's efforts were focused on custom percussion. The vocalist playing a second percussion kit gave the band their layered, particularly intense drum sound. In 1996, they released a song known as "Slipknot", and through Joey's suggestion, the band changed their name to Slipknot and released their first official album. This album would later become known to the band as their demo. Crahan felt that the original vocalist for Slipknot was too guttural, and was the primary reason for Slipknot's inability to get a record deal. He brought in Corey Taylor from another local band called Stone Sour, whose vocals were more melodic. In a 2012 interview with Loudwire, Crahan explained how the band's numbers were assigned. When numbers were being assigned to each band member, Crahan insisted that he wasn't going to tolerate any other number than six. If someone were willing to fight him, he'd have fought to the death for it, but no one wanted it. Hence, he also came to be known as (#6). Three years later, however, in another Loudwire interview, he claimed this statement was false. Slipknot got a record deal a couple years later and released their first official album in 1999. Slipknot gained major notability the same year by touring with Ozzfest. In Slipknot's early years, Crahan brought several dead cow heads on stage.

As well as lending his percussion talents to the band, Crahan has also sung backing vocals on a number of songs Slipknot has both recorded and performed live. He also wrote the original draft of "Tattered & Torn," which originally appeared on the band's first album, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. which featured the original singer of Slipknot before Corey Taylor was brought in as a replacement. This album has since been considered a demo by the band, and their 1999 self-titled album is now considered their first actual album. A second version of "Tattered & Torn" was released on their self-titled album, and is the version that most people know.

Outside Slipknot, Crahan has founded Big Orange Clown Records, a vanity label within Sanctuary Records, which has so far signed the metalcore band Gizmachi. He also acted as director for, and assembled Slipknot's 2005 DVD, Voliminal: Inside the Nine, while the band engaged a brief hiatus.

He also performed with To My Surprise, recording guitar and vocals for the band's self-titled debut album. The band received little interest due to their album being released amidst the success of Slipknot members Corey Taylor, James Root and Joey Jordison's side projects, Stone Sour and the Murderdolls, respectively. To My Surprise was later dropped by Roadrunner Records. In 2007, Crahan began performing as drummer for Dirty Little Rabbits. The band was a supporting act for Stone Sour during their North American tour in Summer 2007, and have released one EP, titled Breeding. They have since signed a deal with The End Records as of November 2008.

In 2009, he contributed to Bring Me the Horizon's remix album, Suicide Season: Cut Up!, by remixing the track "Sleep With One Eye Open". Also in 2009, Shawn remixed Coheed and Cambria's "Welcome Home" and a Suicide Silence track on their Wake Up EP entitled "Wake Up (Clown of Slipknot Remix)". In 2010, he contributed to Escape the Fate's This War Is Ours deluxe edition, by remixing the track "This War Is Ours (The Guillotine Part II)," and in 2011, he remixed "Angels of Clarity" for Dead by April on their compilation album "Stronger." Crahan has confirmed the formation of a brand-new side project called The Black Dots of Death who released their debut studio album Ever Since We Were Children on March 28, 2011. He is the director of many of Slipknot's music videos, DVDs and other artistic projects. He also directed the 'We Are' videoclip from the band Hollywood Undead

Crahan generally wears clown-style masks while performing with Slipknot; however, on occasion, when performing the band's song "Vermilion", all band members will wear their own death masks instead.

He also features as the carny "Tamer" in The Devil's Carnival, a short film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman to be screened on tour beginning in April 2012.

Influence on Slipknot

Crahan has been credited with several things that Slipknot is known for, such as their distinctively large percussive section and their masks. Crahan began wearing a clown mask to rehearsals when the band was still fairly unknown, spawning the mask theme that the band is known for today.

Crahan has had several masks throughout his career with Slipknot, all of which are clown themed except for his "death mask", which was used in the video for the song "Vermillion". Crahan's earliest known mask and perhaps his most referenced one is one that he used during Slipknot's earliest self-titled album which is a happy looking clown mask, balding with long orange hair.

Other

Recently, Crahan has announced that he will be working on a documentary which tackles eating disorders. He has since recruited volunteer interviewees by announcing his intentions for the documentary on Facebook.

With Slipknot

Crahan is known for his innovation with additional percussion in the metal genre while recording or performing with Slipknot. When he's with Slipknot, Crahan uses a wide variety of percussion, including a customized set that includes Anheuser Busch beer kegs, which he is usually seen to strike with a metal baseball bat. On occasion, he has also been seen to use a 55 gallon steel drum. Conventional percussion includes Gretsch Drums, bass drums, and floor toms, and Pearl Competitor Marching Snares.

Conventional:

Conventional Items

Unconventional:

Unconventional items

With Dirty Little Rabbits

Crahan uses Gretsch Drums and Sabian Cymbals.

Drums:

Cymbals:

Discography

With The Black Dots of Death

Guest appearances and remixes

Albums produced

Filmography