SLIPKNOT Percussionist: 'I Think We're More Dangerous Now Than Ever'

Andre Mihsin of ChartAttack.com recently conducted an interview with SLIPKNOT percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

On how, despite their immense popularity, in their minds, they're still the same outcasts:

Crahan: "I think we're more dangerous now than ever because good soldiers get to be good generals. That's where we're at. It's been 10 years of a philosophy, and I ponder it all day long. I remember not being able to walk down certain hallways just because we were brand new and misunderstood and misconstrued. People were discriminatory towards us. It was bad. But now, living the 'fuck it all' [mentality], we've pretty much broken down all the walls. We've pretty much kicked everyone who was going to be in our way out of our way, and all the naysayers are looking for passes."

On being different:

Crahan: "I enjoy knowing that what we create doesn't fit within these walls of efficiency. We're always the anomaly — the random chaotic thing in life that reminds you that you don't know shit and you need to always grow."

On avoiding recording hot spots like New York or L.A. for the band's new album, "All Hope Is Gone", and electing to record in America's heartland in Jamaica, Iowa, near their hometown of Des Moines:

Crahan: "We have a good friend who owns some land, just under eight acres. His place is called Sound Farm. It's about 40 minutes from home. It was a pleasure. I would leave and come back and sleep next to my wife. The vibe that I had to leave and go to L.A. and do this thing called 'record making' because that's supposedly where we're suppose to do it, and pay my mortgage while I'm sitting in an apartment waiting to do my parts — are you fucking kidding me? If I had to do another record in L.A…. fuck, man, I don't know. I probably just would have left because I'm tired of it. I don't need it. I don't need what comes with it.

"Now when it came down to business, it was like, 'I'm getting up at 10 a.m., I'm getting in the shower, I'm driving out to the farm, I'm laying down some parts, I'm getting on my RM250, I'm riding around, I'm looking at cows, I'm fishing, I'm shooting bottle rockets, I got my kids out and I'm back home in my own bed.' It was the shit. I just lived it up, bro. I had the best time, and it was so close to home."

Read the entire interview at ChartAttack.com.

Altitude TV's "Live and Direct" show has posted "pro-quality" video footage of SLIPKNOT performing its new single, "Psychosocial", on July 13, 2008 at the Rockstar Energy Mayhem concert in Devore, California. Watch the clip below.