METALLICA Drummer Pens Foreword To SLIPKNOT Percussionist's Photo Book

SLIPKNOT mastermind/percussionist M. Shawn "Clown" Crahan will appear at this year's South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas next week, premiering his photo book "Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey" with a press party and question-and-answer session on Thursday, March 15.

Earlier that afternoon, he will participate in a panel discussion, "Seeing Red: Aesthetics & Visuals of Metal", with Mike Williams of EYEHATEGOD. That will be held in room 11AB of the Austin Convention Center from 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. Then, at 7 p.m., he will be at The Jr (formerly Emo's Jr) at 603 Red River Street for the press party and question-and-answer session.

"Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey", which will be published by MTV Books in June, is a 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 styles in this hand-picked collection.

The foreword to "Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey" was written by METALLICA's Lars Ulrich; it reads in part, "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."

M. Shawn Crahan, better known as Clown, is the percussionist and founding member of the Grammy Award-winning hard rock band SLIPKNOT. Crahan is also the art director for SLIPKNOT and directed their DVDs, "Disasterpieces", "Voliminal: Inside The Nine", "Of The (sic)", and "(sic)nesses: Live at Download". He has been the creative vision behind the band since their inception.

Outside of SLIPKNOT, Crahan has had a few other projects of note: TO MY SURPRISE, who released one album (executive-produced by Rick Rubin) on Roadrunner Records in 2004, as well as the alternative group DIRTY LITTLE RABBITS. Crahan produced, played drums, and wrote in both groups. In 2009, DIRTY LITTLE RABBITS released the EP "Simon" on The End Records, which was followed by their self-titled full length in 2010. Recently, Crahan has been focusing his musical energy on his newest band, THE BLACK DOTS OF DEATH. In this latest project, Crahan can once again be found behind the drum kit in addition to writing, recording, and producing the band, whose debut album, "Ever Since We Were Children", hit stores in the spring of 2011.

In addition to producing his own work, Crahan has also worked as a producer for several bands, including GIZMACHI and DIRTFEDD, as well as serving as an executive producer to bands such as MUDVAYNE. Crahan has also remixed several songs for artists, including MARILYN MANSON, COHEED AND CAMBRIA, MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE and SUICIDE SILENCE.